Trump Visit to Tulsa:
For me personally it was a breath of fresh air for our great president to kick off his 2020 campaign here in T-town. It was a great speech, engaging, down to earth, entertaining, and most of all inspiring. When this man is long out of the White House, he will have left a legacy of populist, anti-Establishment social conservatism, and a real effort at reviving the Christian, Western foundations of this country. An effort we can never set aside.
Trump Speech in Tulsa
The wife for our wedding anniversary surprised me with this present: Trump Hat. In fact, I'm wearing it now. For ten bucks, it is very well made and comfortable. And I plan to wear it all over town, even among the liberal elites, until President Trump is most certainly re-elected.
Btw, my take on the BOK center not being full during the speech is that a) people were deterred by the liberal media from attending under the false pretense of preventing the spread of covid, b) people are generally much less likely from going to such events right now because of covid. For relevance, compare Trump vs. Biden crowds going forward.
One of the best parts of the speech I most appreciated was when Trump said while pointing to the crowd of Tulsans, paraphrasing here, "the real elite in this country are people like you, not the left wing radical liberals, but people who believe in God, faith, the family, and the future of our country." And he is right. Those who are truly successful in this life are not the rich, popular, with a polished veneer about them to impress others. Rather, take a simple country family, usually lower income, like most in Oklahoma, that is those who are raising their family in the fear of God, putting service, friendship, community, and simple living above the frills of this world; they are the ones truly successful in the eyes of God and reality.
As a side note, I truly think the presidency has changed Trump to be more humble, religious, and putting priorities in the right place.
Given recent events like his online response to Archbishop Vigano or Taylor Marshall, I think we have reasonable hope to see Trump convert to Catholicism, and for Melanie to come back to the Church. Heck, if that happened, I could easily imagine them attending the TLM given their appreciation for tradition, culture, and the historic Church. Something to pray for anyway.
More Blue Hole Outings:
I just can't stop talking about this place. If you live in Tulsa, go east on 412, then north through Locust Grove to Salinas, hang a right at the stop sign, go maybe seven miles east and Blue Hole Spring is on your right. $10 per car! Lots of picnic and camping sites, a concession stand (where you can blow up your floating devices for a dollar), cheerful Wanda the owner sits out front in the shade every day being I think in her 80's, and then of course there is the crystal blue, ice cold spring that cascades across her property, with a waterfall and several swimming holes. One gets fifteen feet in places.
Blue Hole Springs
Oklahoma Oasis for Families
One of my favorite memories as a kid was snorkeling during canoe trips catching crawdads, so I decided this summer to take up that hobby when going out to 'ol Blue Hole. We've already been I think five times. Haven't seen any crawdads, but with my new snorkeling gear I've seen a variety of fish and some interesting underwater rock formations. At any rate, my personal rule of thumb, once the severity of deep summer heat/humidity hits Oklahoma in July, is to confine myself more or less indoors until temps subside in September. But perhaps should there be a cooler day, we might head out there for any evening bbq/swim.
Blue Hole Springs--check them out on FB!
Home Alone Trad:
Talk of Creation brings me back to talk of our Creator and our Catholic Faith which brings us into a personal relationship with Him. I know this covid crisis has been hard on everyone, in a special way us Catholics who normally attend Mass every Sunday as an obligation. Masses are opened back up, but with limited seating. And there is still the danger of spreading covid, especially if you have contact with it, and may spread it to the older, more vulnerable parishioners at Mass.
And so we are finding ourselves for the first time in our life not being able to attend Mass much now. For one, we only attend a traditional Catholic liturgy, not the Protestant-ized Novus Ordo Mass, so that already severely limits your options. And on top of that, both me and my wife, working in the medical field, often have contact with covid patients. We ourselves actually had covid back in April having to be quarantined. We likely now have some acquired, natural immunity, but we can still transmit what we could pick up from our patients, so it is hard to tell at this moment when we can prudently resume normal weekly Mass attendance. It would be for some time, maybe into 2021. In the meantime, on Sundays we watch live-streamed TLM, pray the rosary, and otherwise observe holy leisure that day. There is a peace still in that, knowing throughout Church history, and still in many parts of the world, Catholics have persevered not having weekly Mass.
Anyway, good to touch base with you all and put some thoughts down in writing. In the past blogging has had its set backs and distractions, but I am glad to keep this, one of my hobbies, going. Gotta wash the car, run some quick errands, then play around with my drone! (note to self: consider showing drone footage on The Okie Traditionalist blog one day). Happy Saturday!