Tea with Kathy and tornado talk

Yesterday, while working in my yard and garden, cleaning up from the hail and rain, my dear friend Kathy, who lives in another town about 50 miles from me, drove into my driveway.  I was so surprised, I forgot to get any photos, even when I showed her how far I had gotten on her scrappy journal.

 Kathy had a doctor appointment on the opposite side of town from where I live, so I decided to take her to a new Chinese restaurant I had heard of.

 I ordered hot tea for both of us, but the server had not brought our tea, yet.  So, you have to settle for watching us drink water this Tea Tuesday.  Although this was a Chinese buffet, you could buy various buffet lines, including sushi, which we opted to not get.

Next, it was off to the doctor's office.  I fell asleep sitting in a chair in the waiting room while Kathy waited in frustration in an exam room for over TWO hours to see the doctor after they took a few X-rays.

When finished, she insisted on taking me to the Singer Sewing Center near my house, after I had told her on a previous visit I wanted the belt (seen above upper left) to fix my Grandmother's treadle sewing machine.  Before we went, we stopped by my house and I picked up the instruction manual to my sewing machine.  It's no secret I have wanted to do some free motion stitching, but my feed dogs don't drop.  I learned they had a foot I could use for my machine.  These people are SO nice to me.  They even showed me how to set it up, or I would never have figured it out myself.

I apologize for these photos.  Even though my camera sucks, the late afternoon light and shade cast severe shadows and a few washed out spots.

Did I not mention these people are nice?  They also showed me I have a plate that I can place over my normal plate, which is plastic and will take the place of my feed dogs dropping.  I remembered seeing it in my kit of accessories, so opted not to buy it.  I actually paid about the same price for my new free motion foot as Kathy paid for my new sewing machine belt.  Now I just need to get busy.

Once Kathy went home and I went to my office to remove these photos from my camera, I learned about the Oklahoma tornadoes.  I was shocked because it was like I had lived in a bubble.  I felt I had missed so much, and yet, I had only been gone a few hours.

Watching the scenes of destruction to the state to my south, I was reminded of a friend from Oklahoma City, OK who had visited one year during tornado season.  When we learned there was a tornado warning, we headed to the basement.  My friend was shocked that I didn't have a weather radio or TV in my basement studio to watch the impending storm.  She told me that all the stations in Oklahoma City (OKC) would be focused on the weather, the storm, and the radar.  She said there would be spotters and storm chasers in the field, along with helicopters in the sky flying around the tornado as it passed nearby.  I was well aware of storm chasers, but was shocked there were so many other activities revolving around, and dedicated to, tornadoes in Oklahoma.

Last night as I watched the devastation unfold on TV, the body count rise, and the helicopter shots of the various storms, I was reminded of what she had told me those many (about eight) years ago.  One channel spokesperson said these meteorologists were treated like gods in Oklahoma because they were so dedicated to saving lives.  I can only hope all of my Oklahoma friends' lives were spared during this time of destruction.

I'm well aware this is off topic, especially for a Tea Tuesday post, but I wanted to be on time this week and couldn't help worrying about the people whose lives have been disrupted in Oklahoma.   I hope you'll drop by and tell me what you are drinking today.  And if you want to leave a nice thought for our Oklahoma friends, even if you don't know anyone who lives in Oklahoma, I'm sure they will be grateful.