Spider season

There's an additional season in Oklahoma. Spider season.

Webs between car and tree, car and carport, car and house.  Huge webs everywhere.

Even huger spiders (one almost as big as my palm) in the driveway, or on the porch.  Carcasses of huge spiders in the driveway, or in the HOUSE.

Dangerous spiders all around, black widow and brown recluse.

Another reason I dislike Oklahoma.  Seriously.

Fortunately, there are sprays that help.

One of them gets sprayed all around the outside of the foundation of the house, and into the crawl space vents, and all around the doors and windows.  It seems to help for a while.

Poison sprayed all around my house.  How do you think I feel about THAT one????

Gods....

 The other spray is pet safe, and gets sprayed around interior side of doors and windows, and under things.

I hate having to spray, but I can't live with that kind of wild life.

Never have been comfortable with them...and especially here, where they are MUCH larger than up north, and much more dangerous, and much more profuse.

In other news...  Our friends from Switzerland (Dave has known them since the 1980s), who  moved from OKC to Seattle in late 2014, have moved back to OKC.  They moved to Seattle because Peter lost his job here, and his replacement employment was there.

They hated everything about Seattle, though, so he quit his job, and moved them back here a couple of months ago. Without a job.

He still doesn't have a job.

It's scary for them, but they have faith that they will be okay before the money runs out.  I sure hope they're right.

Anyway, they have revived their tradition of having a party at their house to celebrate Swiss National Day, and it was so nice to be able to attend again, with many of the same people we have seen at their parties in the past.

I made Welsh cakes, because the idea was to bring something to eat or drink that says something about who you are.

Since Dave and I are both of Welsh descent, that was an easy decision.

We also tried to stop and buy a bottle of Helfrich (my maiden name) label wine from Alsace, but there wasn't any at the store where we have found it in the past.

The party was nice, as always, except for one thing.

One guest witnessed to me about her cancer journey (VERY minor compared to mine.  She had a lumpectomy and 3 chemo treatments), and how scary it was, but how THE LORD JESUS CHRIST got her through it.

How did we get on the subject?

Well, that was initially my fault.

It started out with general small talk about growing old, and I said "It's better than the alternative!"

She actually disagreed with me about that, and, in reply to her disagreement,  I said:

"It's all about perspective, I just got through with 15 months of chemo.  I'd personally like the chance to grow old!"

That was my mistake.

She piped up and proudly said "*I* am an 18 year survivor of BREAST CANCER!"

I congratulated her, and that was the end of my being able to say ANYTHING about it.

She went on to say that getting cancer was the most positive experience of her life.

And, unfortunately, Dave, who has the next part of the responsibility for what happened next, insisted that she explain that comment.

It would have been fine...I totally respect that ANY cancer journey is a scary one, and I totally respect religious faith of ALL kinds, and, of course, it's GREAT that she survived.....but she ramped up, and hardly stopped to breathe once she got going.

The only question she asked me about any of MY experience had to do with aesthetics... was I considering reconstruction?

Because she wears a prosthesis due to being lop sided, and she doesn't like being lop sided, and blah blah....  I was allowed to respond with a shake of my head, but no real words, because she just kept going.

She was not sharing, she was lecturing...and she was all about holding the floor to go on and on about The Lord and how he told her everything was going to be okay, quoting the bible "at" me.

Dave, and other person at the table, got up, and they walked away.

I was alone with her.

I literally felt  cornered. Trapped.  Like an animal in a cage.

It was very awkward, and strange, and I was VERY glad when our host asked for everyone's attention so that we could learn a Swiss song and some Swiss traditions.

Other than that, the party was lovely.

She never spoke another word to me the whole evening, never asked me anything at all about my journey, aside from the question about reconstruction, which, to me, is the one thing that matters the least in all of what I went through.

When it was time for her to leave, she hugged me long and tight, then looked deep into my eyes, hands on my shoulders, and called me her "sister in cancer."

Ugh.

It was SO WEIRD!!

I guess I should get used to it. Stuff like that is probably going to happen a lot.  Especially in the bible belt buckle where we live.

Anyway, it was good to see our friends again, and put it out there that we will get together again soon under more intimate conditions.

Besides the party outing, this weekend has been routine.... mostly about cleaning, laundry, and yard work.

Dave did errands for his dad yesterday, while I vacuumed the floors and area rugs, did laundry, and cleaned the bathroom.

Later today, I will be cooking, as usual.

May your Sunday be lovely, and may you not be plagued by ranting, one sided, evangelical conversations!!