Fulton Christmas windows, Washu and pecan pie.

The big event in Fulton last week was the revealing of the Christmas windows. All week, the shops, all 8 of them, have had their windows papered up so that on friday evening there could be a grand unveiling ceremony and window competition. This is serious stuff. It's not just the shop windows being decorated. All the lamp posts in Fulton have been wrapped in artificial greenery and had a big red ribbon tied on top. It is only November19th!
The shops are all serving food and drink- again. Not just nibbles, hot dishes and cake. There are 4 judges, who take their duties very seriously and ponder over the various merits of each display. Actually, some were pretty good.

There are also mule rides. Missouri is famed for it's mules. They are the state animal. There used to be a big mule fair in Fulton not so long ago, held in front of the Court House.

It's all good fun. They are trying so hard to keep the centre of town alive, but Taylors, the jewellers, are closing down and selling all their stock. They are an old Fulton business, and it is not good news. There is a glimmer of hope though. It has been announced that a second nuclear reactor is going to be built. Now in England this would bring howls of protest. Here, the majority see it as an influx of new people to revitalise the town. It takes a long time to build a reactor.

The weather has been going up and down, but remains incredibly dry. We haven't had any real rainfall for a month and a half. It has made walking a pleasure and I have enjoyed looking at the piles of autumn leaves. Sad person, you might think, but they are such beautiful shapes and colours, and different varieties of trees to England.

I have been picking them up by the bag full, I feel you ought to be able to do something artistic with them.

Some of the seed pods are also interesting and I've been collecting those too. I think I'll turn them all into a large, but tasteful, Christmas wreath. I'll photograph it if it turns out ok.

We had another visit to St. Louis as Roland was giving a paper at Washington university or Washu, as it is known. In college league tables, this place comes high, about 10th. The university is big by Fulton standards, about 15,000, but not by american ones.
It is a very attractive campus, with a lot of trees and green spaces and you would think you had suddenly been whisked back to Oxford or Cambridge, except the scale is wrong. It's bigger!

They even have the look alike chapel!

They are adding a huge new science department on one corner of the site and it is in the same mock, Oxford/Cambridge style. We asked why they didn't build in a more modern style and basically their benefactors and parents like this style and insist on it. If you are forking out $50,000 a year for your child to go to Washu, you expect to be listened to. I can hear architect friends howling in agony at such pastiche, but I rather like it!

The university has a rather good but small art collection.

We revisit the art gallery in the middle of Forrest Park and do the basement. It has some lovely stuff.

This is one of Missouri's Caleb Bingham's paintings.

I can't remember the name of the artist, but I think this is great.  I know it won't be to everyone's taste.

We explore a bit more of the park. There is a rather unusual Art Deco greenhouse which I love

Just to the west of the park is the relatively modern- 1907 cathedral Basilica of St Louis. It is Romanesque on the outside and Byzantine inside. It is quite amazing. You would think you had stepped into St Marks. This is the largest mosaic collection in the world! 

Sorry, a rather dark photo.

From dark to blurry! 

Most of it is beautiful, some of the later stuff is a bit tacky, but luckily is high up!

We go to the loop for dinner, and end up at Blueberry Hill, famed for The Duck Room, where Chuck Berry still performs. The loop is slightly alternative. It has it's Hall of Fame in the pavement. Rock and Roll stars, not actors. It is full of bars and trendy clothes shops. All the publicity for it stresses it's ethnic 'diversity', in other words you get black and white together!!

The place is packed and buzzing and the hamburgers aren't bad. Chuck is performing in december, but it is sold out before it's advertised.

It is Thanksgiving tomorrow and we are heading down to Jeff City, with three international students, to spend Thanksgiving with a lady who works in the Churchill Institute. She and her husband already have two international school students living with them, but it seems people here do take the message of Thanksgiving seriously, and nobody is left on their own. 

I have made a chocolate pecan pie to contribute to the feast, so I hope it tastes alright. The ingredients here are that little bit different. It looks good!

Unfortunately you can't seem to buy cream here, except sour cream. We'll just have to have to eat it straight.

We have been here three months and I'm not mad yet!

We have been here for about three months and it seems so much longer. I think we have settled into the rhythm of small town life and are finding it rather relaxing. I'm not sure if it's the novelty of it all, but so far so good. I think I'm going to survive!
We have found people incredibly friendly and helpful. In public, we haven't heard swearing or seen examples of impatience or bad temper. I'm not saying it doesn't exist, but we have only come across good manners. It has a very calming effect on you. Even the roughest looking customers in Walmart, and there are some pretty rough ones, behave impeccably.

I'm still fascinated by religion here. The variety, the way it is part of everything. Churches are not struggling along with meagre congregations of old people. Here the churches are full, with lots of teenagers, young families, going often twice a week for hours. All through the countryside there are new churches. Maybe we were like that in the nineteenth century in Britain, why is it still like that here?
There seems to be a lack of cynicism and world weariness here- very different from Britain.

There are fewer safety nets here. No massive welfare state, so people seem to be more self reliant. If you don't work, you don't have any money. The lack of a universal health system I find scary. For example the football coach in college recently had a stroke and his insurance, which from a college, one would have thought was good enough, did not cover all his medical bills. They have been having fund raising events to help him out. We have seen posters in town of similar examples. As someone who has had to use the health service a lot, I can only think if I lived here I would be homeless, bankrupt or dead!

So far, I have survived as a non driver, largely because Roland has had the time to get out and about and other people have driven me. I would find it very hard to live here permanently always having to get lifts. Some of the international students in college are really stuck. At holiday times the only way some people can get to the airport is by advertising in the college paper, asking for a lift.

 We have found a very good local radio station, which once you get used to the advertising and their mentioning their name- KBIA- every two minutes, is informative both on domestic and international news. It is funded through listener subscription, so every few months they have to have a fund raising drive, which is fairly relentless. It's not radio 4, but it's not bad.
We have also been quite impressed with the newspapers. They have not gone the tabloid, sensationalist way of most british papers. A bit dull maybe, but it's not all sex scandals, murder and rape. The international coverage is good.
Television news we have found not so good. The sort of interviewing you get on television is very unconfrontational and frankly rather useless. They spend too much time trying to be fair and impartial. CNN has a smarmy presenter Anderson Cooper, very slick, very smooth, but lacking the killer instinct. I yearn for a british rudeness!

The weather has finally turned. Mid seventies on thursday, today down to freezing, though we haven't yet had the snow which is just to the north in Iowa. I think we may be getting the wind off it though. I know it's going to get a lot colder, but this is a bit of a shock after all that warm weather.

I thought I'd leave you with a few pictures I haven't managed to use yet! The Wren church- again.

The columns beloved by all american universities.
Finally, the gymnasium, where Churchill made the speech. It was the biggest venue they had at the time.

Now it's the real test. Winter!!!

Christmas, Attorney Generals and Fraternities.

I have just spent the last two days helping decorate christmas trees and lay out a Christmas bazaar. The Churchill museum hosts a Victorian Christmas every year, but they hold it nice and early, november 11th to be precise. It seems Halloween merges into Thanksgiving, which merges into Christmas. The decorations don't really come down, they just change slightly. The temperatures have been in the 70's in the day, so to me it feels very unlike Christmas. However, I love decorating trees, so have had fun.
I was made to do the British tree first, worst luck.

As you can see, it is fairly vile. The ornaments, all of which are for sale, are collectors items and therefore not cheap. There are Big Ben baubles, bulldogs (yuk), red telephone boxes, crowns and the like. Not my idea of decoration, some of it not particularly british, but all in a good cause.
Some of the others are better, the children's one is absolutely smothered in toys.

To start the event off they serve british tea- PG tips and sandwiches and biscuits in the day, then cocktails and shopping in the evening. There seem to be a lot of these sorts of events in Fulton. You end up eating a lot of gunk if your'e not careful.

While this is all going on they have a celebration of the anniversary of the donation of their large outdoor sculpture, which is basically a large chunk of the Berlin wall. It stands next to the church.

It is sculpture, because Edwina Sands, a granddaughter  of Churchill, carved two human figure shaped holes in it and entitled it Breakthrough.
This could have been a nice little ceremony, the weather was perfect, and the setting is lovely. They made the mistake of inviting ex Attorney General, John Ashcroft, to give the address. A controversial choice I gather, as he is a man not known for his liberal tendencies. The president has been bombarded with emails complaining about him coming and an 'un-invite him' campaign was set up on facebook. Well you have never heard such a lot of drivel in your life. It was embarrassing. He hadn't even got any structure to his speech, just a lot of waffle. He talked about Reagon as if he was Jesus Christ and was most unimpressive. He got a standing ovation from quite a few of those that turned up. Roland and I sat and didn't clap. I hope it was noted! Sad and rather worrying to think that people like that get into quite powerful positions. They anticipated protests of some sort, but nothing happened. Everyone is too polite!

I think we may finally be hitting colder weather. By the weekend, the temperature will have dropped over 20 degrees. The skies look quite threatening sometimes.

No rain for a month now, but we may get some tomorrow. As predicted, Roland has a brand new Walmart winter coat to cope with whatever comes. I knew he wouldn't be able to resist. He is developing a fondness for the men's clothes section and spends ages looking at the stuff.

Roland was invited to dine at one of the fraternities on tuesday. I don't really understand fraternities, but they all seem to have greek letters as names and seem a bit like houses in private schools. People join the fraternity their dad was a member of. Weird. I'm going to have to find out more about them.

These are some of the Frat houses lined up along Westminster avenue. They are like small boarding houses.
As usual dinner was at 6 and the whole thing was over by 7.15! Of course they are not allowed to drink alcohol. These are alcohol free premises, so the party never really gets going. Not much of an occasion.

The next item on the agenda is Roland giving a lecture at Washington University in St Louis, and then it's Thanksgiving.
I was hoping to get an invitation to share Thanksgiving with an american family and sure enough, we have had one. I want to see how it's all done- Missouri style. Should be fun.

Reflections on elections.

Well, that was a very different experience. Politics in this part of the world is about as far away from Islington as you can get.  Walking round town yesterday, you would not have known an election was going on. The students, the ones that Roland deals with, seem to have absolutely no interest in politics. They're not interested in history either, their own or anyone else's, but that's another matter. Anyone who was fool enough to associate themselves with the Democrats round here is having a hard time! simple as that. In Missouri, out of the the nine districts, only three are now democrat. In Jefferson City, the Republicans have taken hold. There apparently is a big Tea Party movement in Callaway County, which is where we are. I'll have to investigate that further. I might have been associating with the Tea Party unawares! A lot of the campaigning was of the negative type. Some of it quite nasty.

This is Republican headquarters in Fulton.
Some of the electioneering was interesting. One Republican candidate was selling himself as 'you won't find anyone more conservative'. Round here, and it appears around the country, that's a plus point. In Britain it would kill you stone dead.
Also big in this election the rights of the middle classes. It seems most working Americans see themselves as middle class and are not prepared to pay for handouts to anyone is isn't working or trying damn hard to work. Again, you'd have to approach this much more cautiously in Britain.
 Tax rise is a really dirty word and so is central government. They don't like being told what to do. No rules, no regulations, responsibility for yourself. No relying on the State.
The attitude seems to be that Washington is a bunch of smart arse, over paid, out of touch lawyers, spending the ordinary persons hard earned cash, not so wrong there!
Some other interesting leaflets came through the door. One was equating the right to have guns with the green movement. The argument being outdoor pursuits, namely hunting, is preserving and paying for the environment. There is quite a lot of truth in this one, and frankly having been here a while, the anti gun lobby hasn't a hope in hell of ever changing anything. The democrats tried to do it by curtailing the import of bullets, which mostly come from abroad, but that was voted out very quickly.

We have to be thankful that some of the sillier candidates didn't make it and one shouldn't assume that all Tea Party candidates are of the same ilk. Some actually sound quite sane!
The people I've talked to were pleased with the result. They got what they wanted.
 Why anyone wants to go into politics is beyond me. What a thankless task. Roland asked our college president if he had ever thought of going into politics. He is ex army, served in Iraq and Afghanistan, but a Democrat. Good credentials. He said he had thought about it but frankly, he was too nice! Enough said.

There wasn't anything political to photograph, so you can have autumn colour instead.

 

This area is not known for it's autumn colour, but you get the occasional tree which is lovely.

Now all the excitement of the election is over it's Thanksgiving then Christmas. It seems to all roll into one and decorations are up already.

Halloween, Prehistoric man and politics.

The weather is still sunny, warm and dry, although we have had the first frost. We decide we both need warm coats before winter comes with a vengeance. Nearby Columbia has very good shops and we are realising that if you want anything other than loo paper, you really have to drive the 30 miles to Columbia. We have even found a supermarket with good meat.
I find myself a very neat, goose down filled coat, which doesn't make me look too much like Michelin man, with silly fur trimmed hood. Roland can't quite bring himself to buy one, as they are not cheap. He is tempted by the polyester filled Walmart one, which only costs $30. He ends up buying neither.
We also buy a duvet. The house only has nasty, synthetic blankets, which are heavy and not warm.

Feeling rather pleased with our purchases, we decide to consult a travel agent about a short break after Christmas. We end up booking a 4 day stay in New Orleans over the New Year- Yippee! I've always wanted to go, and it's now or never. We also can fly from Columbia airport, via Memphis, which will be interesting.

It's Halloween weekend and the weather is going to be kind.

On friday afternoon there is a huge procession through the centre of town, where all the shops and businesses do trick or treat for kids. I've never seen so many people in Fulton. Bankers, shopkeepers all dress in silly outfits and so do all the kids. The costumes can be anything, not just ghosts and ghouls.

This little girl is a grape. The centre of town is closed to traffic.

There are going to be a lot of hyper active kids after the amount of gunk that is being handed out- by the bucket full. This is all going to be repeated on sunday- real Halloween.

We decide between these celebrations to visit our nearest state park, just up the road to see Graham Cave. The temperature today is 70F. Lovely!

This is an unusual cave formation, but also the first archaeological site in the USA to be designated a National Historic Landmark.

The cave was used by a local farmer, who owned the land, to keep his hogs in. He kept on finding artefacts and became interested in archaeology, eventually sending what he had found to the university of Missouri. They did further excavations and found evidence of man's use of the cave as early as 10,000 years ago, at the end of the ice age. The finds were mainly arrow and axe heads and pottery. The cave and surrounding land became a state park in 1964. I never think of America in terms of prehistory for some reason, so it was interesting to read about and see this. I have never seen a cave formed quite this way either.

It was the last farmer's market, sadly, and I had to take a last look at pumpkin man.

I have also been collecting Halloween pictures. These are just a few.

This is clever, because the trick or treaters have to go under the evil looking figure to get to the door. It is just opposite us.

This one was really quite scary. It looked like a lynching.

There is always something new each day. I will be interested to see how soon it all comes down.
This afternoon we are trick or treating with some parents and kids to see how they do it. We are fed our evening meal at 4 in the afternoon!!, then we go......

Well we have just experienced american Halloween. This is the group of kids we went with.

In Fulton, most people come to Court Street in the centre, where most of the inhabitants go to a great deal of trouble.

Some of them were really quite dark for small kids. The dead body in this one sits up every now and then!

The decorations are macabre but the costumes on the whole aren't.

It was fun, and didn't go on for too long. Most of the kids were young and they were all accompanied by adults. All very controlled and well behaved.

The group that we went with, a mixture of university and town people are all very nice, but I realised afterwards, they don't ever seem to discuss anything like politics or the war in Afghanistan or religion. They never argue about anything or have a good old set to over some issue. I found myself yearning for something a bit more stimulating than pleasant chat! There is an election tomorrow and not one word was said about it, as if that's all in a different world and it has nothing to do with them. Strange and very alien to me.
The election is getting plenty of coverage in the papers, radio and TV. There has been a lot of negative campaigning, some of a rather unpleasant nature.  The ignorance of some of the candidates is astonishing, and it doesn't seem to bother people. I don't think someone like Christine O'Donnell would get anywhere in Britain.
More money has been spent on this election than ever before, which is obscene in a recession. Unlike Britain, they have recently passed a law that allows big businesses and groups to put any amount of money behind a candidate and they don't have to declare it. It's seen as a right. Too much money, too many interest groups!
Listening to Obama yesterday, I must say. I still like what I hear. Roland thinks the Democrats will do better than predicted. We will see.