I am Thankful

So much to be thankful for on this Thanksgiving and so much to be distressed about.  The oddest thing is how normal the day to day is while democracy is being torn apart by those in power (or those who cede their power to autocrats).  

The house is warm, electricity flows conveniently to lights and appliances, water appears at the flick of a tap.  This computer connects me to the greater world from a comfortable chair.  In retirement, we can spend a day in our yard among our beautiful garden, preparing the beds for winter (finally).  Birds sing in our trees and cranes fly south overhead.   

But TCF continues to rail against his perceived enemies.  Sitting Senators state the Uniform Code of Military Justice and are condemned for it.  Two National Guardsmen are shot in DC and are critically injured.  ICE continues their inhumane methods to reach their artificial body counts for deportation.  Red states continue to gerrymander districts to the GOP's advantage.  The economy sputters along, held up largely by $$ spent on LLM data centers.  Grocery prices creep upwards while morale among government workers plummets.  COP 30 ends with a depressing lack of political will to overcome the forces of greed who extract and lay waste to the very world that sustains us.  Humanitarian aid is cut off and hundreds of thousands suffer or die.  The rich get richer at everyone else's expense.  

The holiday boycott of Target, Home Depot, and Amazon has begun.  Who knows if it will make any noticeable impact?  We enter the dark, cold months when it will be hard to gather the tens of thousands of protesters to match the enthusiasm of the second No Kings march.  Fingers crossed that Albuquerque keeps a Democratic mayor.  

But I remain thankful.  I've learned that our Nature's Notebook group will be part of next February's Urban Tree Care Conference.  The forecast for Monday's observations is partly cloudy with temps in the 40's.  We watch, measure, and record.  

In the kitchen, I am thankful that my experiment with whole-berry cranberry sauce worked well.  Sweet potatoes are baked ahead of a whiskey-inspired casserole.  The turkey is defrosted and a compound butter awaits.  Friend Debbie will be joining Caro and I for dinner in the afternoon.  

Ty and his family are busy hosting a gathering up in Chamita.  Nirankar's pregnancy is continuing apace.  Ric and McGoey are staying in touch regularly while Kent stays busy with his projects.  Others in our circle of friends are well, or at least on the mend.  The various parts of Clan Horak are doing well despite concerns in Charlotte for Hannah.  The weather in Wisconsin is probably dreadful this morning, but people there are used to it.  Kathie and Blake are enjoying Las Vegas.  So much is going right.