843.

Goooooood morning and Happy Happy Saturday folks!

I do hope everyone is somewhere safe.

Fingers crossed that no one stepped on any cracks or whistled indoors yesterday! 😜

It is Saturday morning here, in my tiny part of the globe. But maybe it's not where you are?

If it isn't, Happy Happy Happy _____day and good afternoon or evening to you! 💋

So, my Friday evening was pleasant.

I had dinner with my neighbor. She cooked hamburgers, chili, and baked beans. We also had fixings for a green salad, starting with the six or seven types of salad dressing she lined up on the table. There was also Cole slaw, chopped onions, sliced tomatoes, gherkins, shredded cheese, and several types of sliced cheese.

We laughed and chatted while we ate then watched telly until she nodded off a few times. I got drowsy too and she encouraged me to nod off on her sofa, a nice gesture but I wanted to get home and into my comfy loungewear so I could loll about properly.

Shortly after I got in, I tuned into Dateline. The special topic was the Jonestown massacre of November 18, 1978, a tragedy that has both haunted and fascinated me since it happened. 😕

Haunted me because I always felt that if I had been living in San Francisco during that era, there is a chance I could have been swept into that madness.

Let me explain:

When I was 9 or 10, I somehow became obsessed with the idea that I had been born in the wrong era and should have been a flower child out in the (California) Bay Area. Maybe I had seen too many movies or something. I don't know...

But I was enamored with all things San Francisco, anything hippy-esque. And I thought of running away, to San Francisco. Seriously. (As discussed in post 176.)

Then came the headlines about Jonestown, Guyana, The Peoples Temple, mass suicide...

I was devastated when I learned the details, gleaned from newspapers and news reports. I felt personally impacted, sickened, when I saw images of the bodies and bodies and bodies, laying out in the Guyana heat and sun, a place so far and alien from anything I could imagine, from the free and loving vibe of San Francisco.

There was no laptop then, no desktop (for me), no Google. All I had was the library and any place I could buy a newspaper.

I remember clipping every article and bit of information about it, a whole expandable file full. It must have gotten lost before or after I moved out of my mom's because it's been missing for over 35 years.

In the 40 years since the tragedy in Guyana, I have read many books on the subject, seen quite a few documentaries on the topic, even seen television shows and movies about it.

I have also discovered too many websites to list, but this one is my favorite because it's the most comprehensive of all that I've found and is a dynamite gateway for anyone who wants to learn more about the history of the Peoples Temple and all that is currently know about what led up to the Jonestown massacre: Alternative Considerations of Jonestown & Peoples Temple.

My prayers for everyone still living who is affected by the ugliness that became Jonestown.

My prayers...