Serenity Now

Hi everybody.

How are you?

It just keeps getting worse, right? I am struggling a little bit more than usual today, but my walk helped. Let's take a minute and look at the good sunrise.

This beech leaf is encased in ice on the pond. It's hard to tell in the photo, but it was really shiny and golden.

I spent a chunk of time surrounded by trees.

Interesting fungi, this time with ice crystals.

There is FINALLY water in the stream.

The little guy there with the black and white head is a hooded merganser! You don't see THOSE every day around here. 

Geese.

Every morning when I come upstairs to write, I bring Rufus with me. He stays for a minute and then goes downstairs and comes back up with a toy. He has accumulated quite a pile. 

Today, he came back up with his bone. 

He likes his routine, and I like that he is very predictable.

Last night for dinner, we had what we lovingly refer to as That Sandwich. It really is the best sandwich. Toasted ciabatta from South Street Under, pesto, mozzarella cheese with a drizzle of balsamic, a grilled portobello mushroom that was marinated in olive oil, balsamic, salt, pepper, basil, and oregano (and sometimes crushed red pepper flakes), roasted red peppers, and bacon if you want (and I did). Wrap it in foil and stick it in the oven for a few minutes so it gets nice and warm and the cheese starts to melt.

Seriously good eats. 

I'm sad at the state of the country, and extremely worried about the world we're creating for our kids. I would love for you to take a minute and read Heather Cox Richardson's letter for today. It is eye-opening, especially if you haven't been paying attention. We all need to be paying attention.

Then, please take action in whatever way you feel you can. You can get involved in your local community. You can donate to an organization that supports marginalized communities. Or you can make some calls. If you are afraid of making calls because you don't know what to say, please check out 5 calls. There, you will find actions you can take along with scripts that you can use to guide you. I'll add it to the link list.

All hands on deck. This is not a drill.

But also keep doing things that help YOU, too, whatever they are. I'd love to hear about them so I can share...they might help someone else. 

Onward.