Skip to main content

We round out the week with Graeme twisting in the wind but finding something to cling to

 Edited BY

G P Kennedy

Graeme - The Metro-perplexed, Texas


 This week has been one of twisting in the wind, somewhat. With the start to my teaching semester put back two weeks there has been a lot of hurry up and wait, in the time spent at my desk. Classes have filled with students then emptied or been given away. I think my teaching schedule is now set…but I have said that more than once before now.
 
 The week after teaching starts I begin the final year of my terminal degree. The goal is to immerse myself in teaching, reading and writing for the remainder of 2020 – whatever the vicissitudes of these strange times offer externally. After three solid months of work I will take a breath then gear up for the final push. Instead of going over the top into a hail of bullets and whizz-bangs I will be gleefully facing a torrent of ideas and unremitting showers of words.
 
Ziggy being good - for now

 For now – the rest of this week – I am wrestling the pup into something approximating a routine so that I can reliably hit my desk from Monday. Ziggy appears to be growing daily both in stature, personality and confidence. Golden Retrievers are very smart dogs and our guy certainly knows what he wants and believes he knows how to get it. He has his last round of shots this week so he is free to hit the lap of the lake we take with the big dog, Zeus.
 
 Our son’s immigration case is finally making the necessary moves towards its conclusion. I am hopeful that we can be booking plane tickets before Christmas with a view to him being here before my birthday in February. Stick a pin in that and we will see whether the State Department moves at anything close to the speed of realistically dumbed down expectations.
 
How it feels to be en route with a simple green card application

 Americans continue to suffer as north of 40,000 people every day contract the virus as nearly 900 perish every 24 hours. We simply don’t have a lid on this thing and I cannot see how we will while we are supposed to believe that it is okay for the nominal leaders of the richest nation on the planet to talk about COVID-19 in the past tense.
 
 Irrespective of what happens in November’s election this administration is in place till at least late-January 2021. Long enough for a winter flu season and a second wave of the virus to collide, unchecked in these 50 United States, to unfathomably deadly effect.
 
 Stick a pin in the following statement, too. Our dear leader will announce an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for a coronavirus vaccine on or immediately after October 22, 2020. His hope is that he will swindle re-election by giving people premature good news. Between Election Day and the late-January inauguration for his second term, POTUS will have his apparatchiks quietly withdraw the EUA and the real vaccine – tested and reviewed by real scientists - will be released no earlier than Spring 2021. ‘Cos we live under a post-facts government.


The measure of a whopper - the biggest lie of them all

 Heady days. In spite or because of everything, stay safe and well. Big Texas love x.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A hearty entrée from Karachi

 Edited BY G P Kennedy Qeema Matar by Tassy  It's food week, so I am very happy to share a recipe of one of my go-to comfort foods. It is hearty, wholesome, and hugely satisfying. Not surprisingly, one of my favorite foods to cook while we live in uncertain times.    The dish is called Qeema Matar in Urdu, roughly translated to mince with peas. It is a rich and aromatic dish that is cooked with a lot of spices. The dish originated at the time the Mughal dynasty of Turkic and Mongol origin ruled the vast Indian subcontinent from the 16th to mid 18th century. On average we have Qeema Matar at least once a week, usually with a "chapatti", flat bread made with unleavened wheat flour.    It is pretty much a staple dish for us and also for a vast majority of Pakistanis. The dish is so popular that it is often prepared even as a festive dish on special occasions or at weddings. When I first learnt how to cook, this was probably one of the first recipes I wanted to...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Turkish dessert for all to enjoy

Edited BY G P Kennedy            AŞURE, NOAH ’s ARK TO SHARE                                 from Gul   This month you see an odd food traffic around, a dessert swapped continuously between neighbors. It’s called aşure (pronounced as aah-shoor-ey) ,   or Noah’s Pudding in English. Every year, Turkish women compete each other to create the best aşure while I wait fo r my neighbors whose names I don’t even know to bring one to me .    Luckily, our summer neighbors are more generous than the winter ones. I have already received three different aşure so far. The other day one of our neighbors dropped a tray in his hand as he was walking 20 bowls on it. Luckily my share was in his wife’s hand. Yummy...   ONE FOR ALL AND ALL FOR ONE  Aşure means one for all and all for one. It’s cooked in appreciation to God and the celebration of diversity and equal...
Post a Comment
Read more

The finest coffee from the caffeine capital of the world

Edited BY G P Kennedy Coffee by Ellie    If you have been following these stories for a while, dear reader, you already know that I have mentioned coffee in several of my coronavirus reports. That is because coffee  is not just an important drink or ritual in Italy but an essential item, too. A marker of life, social standing and measure of sophistication even.    Since coffee shops were closed during the lockdown, coffee was necessary sustenance that often went unfulfilled. Since we didn't make coffee at home (long story), we resorted to tea. And you might remember that once the prohibition was lifted, coffee shop bonanza opened and we could flock to the so called "bars" (that is, coffee shops), we were utterly disappointed to discover that coffee was now served in reusable cups. Blame it on the prohibition to stay inside. Luckily, it was only temporary.    So, the irony is, once the clouds of the lockdown were lifted, we actu...
Post a Comment
Read more