HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Snow is expected tonight at our house. The forecast was preceded by a frenzy of preparation: snow stakes pounded into the hems of the driveway, the remaining porch chair escorted to the barn, one last leaf pickup before exchanging the tractor sweep for the plow blade. And because stringing Christmas lights and hanging outdoor wreaths is easier on a 70 degree day than on one in the freeze zone, those things got done too. Thanksgiving is only one week away; it isn’t too early for ‘Christmas: Part I’ is it?

It feels like the end of something to be soberly marked - more than the usual entrance to winter.  An unendurable national election has finally finished and with it the inescapable proof that our culture and societal mores have shifted into territory that feels tainted, raw, ugly.  One journalist wrote this week that this election - every part of it - disproved the exceptionalism we Americans claimed as uniquely ours. The “Highest Office in the Land” will go to the most vulgar if he/she throws enough bloody meat to the masses.  God Bless the U.S.A.

I need the solace of my house, my family, my friends. No rehashing, please! No more explanations, no recounts, no justification.  I’ve listened and heard all sides. I hate to sound so dramatic - so naive! -  but I feel like something good and fine is gone. I will continue to plan for Thanksgiving and Christmas this year and for as many more as I have left.  Snow will come every winter here. And each time, the first snow (not the second!) will be anticipated, expected and met with childlike wonder. 

But mostly, quiet!  Snow is quiet.

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Odds and Ends 

It’s almost time for the end of year “blessings count”…it’s going to be a tough one for me this year!  Meanwhile…on my desk…

An 11 foot landscape painting by David Hockney just sold at auction for $11.7 million, slightly more than a million dollars per lineal foot. What do you make of that?

“There is a crack in everything.  That’s how the light gets in.” (Leonard Cohen who died this week)

A news story:

To help save the economy, the Federal government has announced that the Immigration Department will start deporting seniors (instead of illegals) in order to lower Social Security and Medicare costs. Older people are easier to catch and will not remember how to get home.  

I was worried about you.  Then it dawned on me:  I’ll see you on the bus!

Maybe my all-tiome favorite artist, Cy Twombly