Thanksgiving Day

It was a different Thanksgiving day but it was a good one.

In the morning I did my exercises while Tom got the garage set up for wreath making later in the day.  We watched a little of the parade and then were pulled upstairs to our office to try some more stuff on our new laptop. Actually I did that while Tom worked on  saving photos and files from our old desktop to an external hard drive.

I apparently was successful yesterday in setting up iCloud and connecting my iPhone, because photos began arriving on my laptop today! We're going to have to get technical support to figure out the email mess, but I am actually posting this blog from my new laptop, using the photos in the photo storage! Yay!

Jake came by a little after noon to pick up his pie before setting off for the Oregon coast. Then we left for our restaurant dinner. It was good!

 We had a salad buffet, then the turkey/stuffing/gravy main course, then the dessert buffet, all for just $20.00 each.  This is a small neighborhood family restaurant where we know much of the staff because we eat there every Friday morning. 

We left there stuffed, and then went for a walk at the nearby DesMoines Marina and DesMoines Creek trail.

 We could see Mt Rainier over the marina. It was cold, but very clear. 

 There were lots of ducks afloat.

 I love how our shadow looks like two more people on another bridge.

 We walked about two miles all together. That was enough to settle our dinner.

 We are only about three weeks till solstice, so the sun never gets very high. This was about 3:30.

 After we got home we got busy in the garage making wreaths.

 I designed and made the bundles and Tom attached them to the wire frame. 

 Here's ours. We made one for Jake too. We'll get one made for Jill in the next few days, and I'll put a few embellishments on ours.

Now I'm playing with my new laptop a bit more . When I hit "publish" it will be time to pack it in for the day and go watch some TV. We have some shows recorded and more to explore on Netflix.

It was a good day. 

Thanksgiving Baking

We are not having Thanksgiving at our house. 

Jill and the grand kids are in Colorado with their other grandparents. Jake will be going to the cabin at Rockaway for the weekend. He'll skip Thanksgiving in favor of the freedom to do as he wants. By tomorrow evening his cousin and family will be joining him there.

We are not joining other family this year. With my brother-in-law battling cancer, I felt my sister had enough going on with just their big family. 

Tom and I will be going to dinner at 1:00 at the restaurant where we have Friday morning breakfast, because they have a Thanksgiving buffet. Then we will go for a walk before coming back home, perhaps to make wreaths.

But I baked pies anyway.

The berry pie is for Jake, his favorite. He will stop by in the morning on his way to the Oregon coast. The pumpkin pie is for me, because we have to have pumpkin pie!  It's good for breakfast, lunch, or dessert. :-)

I also made fruitcake today.

Now it has been wrapped in brandy soaked cheesecloth, sealed in a plastic bag, and will sit on a shelf in the pantry until Christmas. 

I had my baking done by 12:30, and after my lunch hour, we spent the rest of the day setting up my new Levono lap top. Our tech guy bailed on us, so we are on our own. Progress is slow, but we're coming along. If I can get my iPhone to send photos to it, I'll be in business to blog on it. Our big hang up is an email glitch and account/password issue. On line Microsoft help was no help. We'll get back to it later.

Once we get this little one set up, we'll tackle that big one you see on the counter to the left. The process should be similar.

We'll be balancing baking and decorating with computer learning for a while. Oh, and I'll need to figure out the gift shopping. I guess we'b better keep this old desk top computer going until the online shopping is done!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. We'll be adapting to change. As they say, change happens.

Giving Thanks Week

It's late on Sunday afternoon and I am settled into my recliner in my warm, cozy house, with my beloved husband here beside me, as he so often is. In a bit I'll get up and fix us a simple supper. It has been a good day.  I am grateful.

This morning I had time to do my physical therapy exercises, which keep me physically functional and moderately fit. Then I watched our Seahawks win while I baked the first batch of this year's Christmas cookies. Ooops, that sideways thing again. 

 This afternoon we attended our grandson's final soccer match of the season. It was a chilly but sunny autumn day.  Isaac looked good on the field. We had time to visit with our daughter Jill. 

 The sun set behind the hills as we sat on the sidelines. 

I am grateful for a healthy family and the opportunities they have here in our beautiful Puget Sound Country. 

Given the topic of my last post, I have decided to put the discord and the anxiety of politics away for a week. I want to spent this Thanksgiving week feeling gratitude. 

Tom and I have built a beautiful life together here. We have much to be grateful for. This week we'll count our blessings.  

Impeachment

Roses bloom even in the cold fog.

I am a Democrat, but I am not one of those Democrats who started calling for President Trump's impeachment from the beginning of his term.  Even six months ago, after more than two years of lies and malfeasance, I held on to the hope that we could just vote him out at the end of his term. But I came to see, much as the Democratic congressional leadership did, that there is a limit to what we can allow.

Trump is a narcissist, and as such, everything is about him; his ability to make money, his need to promote himself, his demand that he be praised and agreed with, his denial of anything unfavorable, and his need to defeat and demean any opponents. Being elected president gave him, in his view, the ultimate power. " I am President, you're not!" He considers himself above the law.

His need to please himself is so great that he willingly links himself to other powerful world leaders, the more ruthless the better. He eats up their praise, especially that of the Russian leader, Putin. 

Trump is also corrupt. His business dealings gave us a window in to how he might act as a president, and despite hope that he might actually become "presidential", he has not. His appointees have come and gone until he has surrounded himself with those who will support him and allow his corruption. 

So it was that he seized the opportunity to try to coerce a newly elected president of a fledgling democracy, Ukraine, to do his bidding to dig up dirt on a political opponent and please Russia by trying to blame Ukraine for Russia's interference in our 2016 election. By withholding an official meeting with the new president Zelensky he denied Ukraine important status and support, and by holding up money for military aid he threatened their security and therefore international stability. 

Trump got caught.

I have devoted many hours in the last two weeks to watching/listening to the Impeachment hearings. There is no doubt that Trump is guilty as charged. The witnesses, some wonderful patriots dedicated to the rule of law, have laid out the case beyond the shadow of a doubt. 

Every effort has been made by the Republican spokespersons to discredit the witnesses and belittle the importance of Trump's actions. They want the American people to believe that this is all no big deal. There will be an asserted campaign to get us to believe that, no doubt with the help of Russian bots. 

Trump will be impeached, and there will be a trial in the Senate. So far there is no sign that the Republican support of this corrupt president is weakening. Trump may be acquitted. While an outcry from the people might change this, acquittal will most likely be the outcome.

Then what? Being acquitted by the Republican majority in the Senate does not make him innocent. It says that it is acceptable for Trump to behave above the law. 

We are facing a political crisis, not just here at home, but around the world. Our international allies know that our president cannot be trusted. He is destroying our alliances, and much to Russia's delight, weakening NATO.

We cannot afford to bury our heads in the sand. We all need to sit up and take notice. We need to get our country back on a lawful track. 

Saturday Wanderings

We met up with son Jake in the city on Saturday morning to have breakfast and just spend some time together. It was good. 

After dropping him off at his apartment in Ballard, and since it wasn't raining, we decided to spend some time walking and wandering in some of our favorite places.

The Ballard Locks, or officially the Hiram Chittenden Locks, is one such place. We especially like the park/garden there. At any time of the year we can find something in bloom.

Maybe one of my gardening friends can help me identify this small tree with the gorgeous seeds/fruits.

The large lock was undergoing repairs.

There wasn't much boating business for the smaller lock either. 

Lots of water rushing over the spillway. 

The fish ladder viewing area was also closed for repairs, so we made our way back across the lock gates to the park. 

Canada geese are year round residents.

A winter blooming viburnum.

Witch hazel. 

A yacht out on the canal waiting to go through the locks. 

Rhododendrons and camellias. 

From here we drove north of Ballard to Swanson's Nursery.  They are getting all set up for Christmas, of course, but it was the plant displays that really attracted me. 

They really know how to use color and texture in their displays.

The reindeer have arrived for a little pre-Christmas vacation. 

And of course there are poinsettias. 

We arrived back home mid-afternoon, happy with our wanderings.