Facebook Friends......

Another trip around the sun....and this year my 76th fell on Thanksgiving. I always "tease" that many in the Country are celebrating my birthday every few years. Not. Our delicious meal was out at Megan and Mike's house. Sharing the holiday with them, the two boys and three dogs was a lovely way to spend the day.

And living in our apartment meant that neighbors dropped off cards and notes to add to the ones sent by good friends and family around the USA. It was fun to be remembered again this year.

The other part of my day was seeing how many Facebook Friends posted good wishes. And, even though Facebook has a lot of things to "dislike",  seeing all these specific entries made me smile over and over. Maybe I use Facebook a little differently than some others because we've moved so often leaving good friends behind. For me it's a little connection.

Seeing posts from Delaware, New Hampshire, Florida, Indiana, Japan, Maryland, Nevada  and all my Wisconsin friends, to name a few, meant a lot to me. Corny maybe but still, for me, very much appreciated. A special thank you to all of my Facebook Friends for taking a minute to send me a message, and often include a fun picture or gif.....I did enjoy and read each and every greeting. They "helped" with the 76 part of the day!

 

Texts......

Emails. Cell phones. Text messages. So many ways to quickly get in touch with people. Quick but also a little impersonal. Most texts I get are quick check-ins, or about a meeting that's changed, or a group text trying to organize a lunch gathering. Most texts are good. Some are not.

Two texts today from two different friends about their loved one who is now/suddenly going to be put on palliative care. Two friends who have been battling challenging diagnoses and it seems medical care can only do so much. 

One has been an amazing man.....with a cancer diagnosis expected to end his life at least five years ago. All this time he  has been a more-than-strong example of positive attitude in the face of new treatments and therapies. He beat the odds for a long, long time. Today this partner, who has loved him for years, sent me a message that my friend is in the hospital, can no longer communicate and the end is near.

The other is a new friend, someone we quickly grew to enjoy and were looking forward to building fun memories with him and his wife. His battle only began about six weeks ago with mystery symptoms, ongoing exams and diagnoses. He's been in and out of hospitals and rehab several times. Back in the hospital a few days ago his wife's quick text this morning said he's moving into palliative care. Her text was accompanied by a sad-face emoji.....and my eyes grew damp.

Shit. Just shit. Finding out by text and quickly responding by text......for now at least it's a way to keep in touch.

Waking Up.....

November 9th - the day after election day. I did not watch any of the returns last night...just refusing to see taking head after talking head giving statistics early in the game and saying they couldn't predict the results yet. Nope....I read a book, talked to a friend on the phone and watched HGTV before bed.

I woke this morning to see that the results so far were, frankly, much more positive than I had feared. The voters' common sense in some states held strong and send some of the more unqualified candidates packing. 

One of the first things I did read this morning was a letter from Heather Cox Richardson, history professor and author that I have been following since 45 took office and she began to write about current day America from a historians perspective. It's been helpful all along this bumpy road.

Today she compared this mid-term election to the "momentous election of 1884." I won't even begin to paraphrase what she said about that (read it for yourself please!) but part of the letter was a poem written by Walk Whitman:

"If I should need to name, O Western World, your powerfulest scene and show, 

"Twould not be you, Niagara - nor you, ye limitless prairies - nor your huge rifts of canyons, Colorado, 

Nor you, Yosemite - nor Yellowstone, with all its spasmic geyser-loops ascending to the skies, appearing and disappearing,

 Nor Oregon's white cones - nor Huron's belt of mighty lakes - nor Mississippi's stream:

-This seething hemispere's humanity,  as now, I'd name - the still small voice vibrating - America's choosing day"

"America's choosing day".....I think, from now on, I will have more confidence in the electorate and the fact that so many know we hold our democracy in our hands.

The Question....

It's election day - the mid-terms. Dave, Fenway and I walked to our polling place about 8:30 and took our turns voting. There was a steady stream of voters coming through the door so that was encouraging. We were more than happy to put our "I Voted" stickers on our coats and head for home.

Moving down the sidewalk we both agreed that we would be SO ready to stop using the "mute" button to silence all the negative, name-calling advertising. Just so sick of it all....and the money wasted. Just want it over - for a few months until the rounds start for the Presidential contest. 

Of course we wondered about the other voters casting their ballots. What were the results going to be and just when would they be finalized (if ever).

Dave had Fenway on his leash ahead of me and I happened to notice a little stick on the sidewalk. A perfect comment on my thoughts for the day.

We don't expect to hear final results on all the races before we head to bed in the morning. I have to say I'm not all that sure I want to open my eyes to the news in the morning.....but I will.

In the meantime if anyone from the MAGA party sees this they will no doubt challenge the results at our precinct.

It's Over....

And, within a matter of days, the color is gone. We had a very windy day and some rain....so now I walk Fenway through a carpet of leaves.

There are a few hangers-on, but most branches are bare and will remain that way until late March or early April when we start to see the green buds of 2023's leaves. We enter the next almost six months with big grey/brown/black trees pointing at winter/spring skies. 

Sigh....I miss them already.

The Annual Beauty....

On the last Sunday in October Dave and I took a short drive up to Whitefish Bay and back. I wanted him to see the amazing fall colors I'd noticed while driving the route the day before. After the drive we stopped at Lake Park and walked Fenway along the trail to enjoy some of the beauty up close.

The thing that really struck me this year was that one tree could have SO many different colors. I'm sure this has been the case in other years, but it really caught my attention this fall. I stopped at one maple and picked up a number of leaves from the one tree.

I keep thinking, as a quilter, that if all of these hues could be transferred to quilters' cottons I would buy yards and yards for my stash!

Impact.....

I can't remember not enjoying a good book. I loved to read for fun probably starting about fourth or fifth grade. A good book can transport me and once it grabs my attention it's hard to stop turning the pages. But, to be honest, most books are just "fun or good reads" and not ones that stick with me after I close the covers.

I picked up Beartown, by Fredrik Backman, in our ECP library downstairs and brought it up to the apartment last week. When I first started I soon realized this novel was about a high school hockey team in a small town in Canada....and I thought "Oh, I will never get into this!" I could not imagine reading a book about hockey that would keep me engaged. 

I was wrong. This novel is so well written and has so many layers that I was sad to page 415 and realize I was done. There were so many sentences and paragraphs that made me stop and think....but I literally read the following paragraphs three times.

"Hate can be a deeply stimulating emotion. The world becomes much easier to understatnd and much less terrifying if you divide everything and everyone into friends and enemies, we and they, good and evil. The easiest way to unite a group isn't through love, because love is hard. It makes demands. Hate is simple.

So the first thing that happens in a conflict is that we choose a side, because that's easier than trying to hold two thoughts in our heads at the same time. The second thing that happens is that we seek out facts that confirm what we want to believe - comforting facts, ones that permit life to go on as normal. The third thing is that we dehumanize our enemy. There are many ways of doing that, but none is easier than taking her name away from her.

....

It doesn't take long to persuade each other to stop seeing a person as a person. And when enough people are quiet for long enough, a handful of voices can give the impression that everyone is screaming."

This book's copyright is 2016 and the author is Swedish. His thoughts perfectly echo so much of 2022.

If you want a more-than-good read find Beartown. You won't be sorry.