Thanksgiving has been my favorite holiday since I married
Joe Coehlo thirty years ago. His non-traditional meals have opened up a world
of flavors. This year we are cooking a traditional Thanksgiving meal. Last year
we helped Megan cook her traditional meal.
This year, Megan, Jeremey, Caleb, Charlotte, and Baby Bean (due
to be born end of January 2025) will come to our house for dinner
and have been promised
leftovers to take home.
Turkey, ham, dressing, mashed potatoes and gravy, green bean
casserole, sweet potato casserole, steamed carrots, cranberry sauce, and Hawaiian
rolls as the main event. Appetizers of deviled eggs, olives, pickles, summer
sausage, and cheese and crackers with a rest in between should be sufficient to
keep us all from starving. Dessert will be pumpkin pie and Joe’s cheesecake.
This past month has been eventful for us. My friend, Kim,
came from California and spent four days hanging out with us. We enjoyed having
her here! Then on November 16th we had about twenty-five people in our home for
a baby shower for Megan and Jeremy. The guest list included family, friends, and
Jeremy’s co-workers. The shower was hosted by Megan’s best friend (Shasta and
her wife Jackie), Jeremy’s mom (Shelly), and me. One of Jeremy’s sisters, NaTasha,
arrived early and helped Shasta and Jackie decorate. The house was full with nine
kids, ranging in age from four to twelve, taking over the lower two levels of
the house while Megan and Jeremy opened gifts.
A few photos from the shower:
Megan and Jeremy with their cake. Shelly's niece, Amanda, created
the Woodland themed cake.
Close up of the cake.
Megan's step-mom, Kathy, made the most beautiful sweater and a blanket. Beautiful work!
Shelly created a meat and cheese tray using Woodland animal cake toppers.
My contribution was an owl and raccoon veggie and olive trays.
After everyone left, Joe walked through the house and did
not find anything amiss. We did gain a white headband with a bow on it (courtesy
of Charlotte). Joe found it in the lowest level guest bedroom.
This month I also had the joy of a video chat with my friend
Anne in Pennsylvania. A conversation with Anne always lifts me up.
Of course, this was pre-election day. In the week leading up
to the election, I worked as an election judge for three shifts and then eight
hours on election day. On election day I got to do four different jobs which
made the time go fast. In Saint Michael 92% of registered voters voted – with 50%
of them voting during early voting. On election day I was rotated from checking
in and registering first time voters; handing out ballots and giving ballot
instructions; ballot counter judge [the voter inserts their paper ballot into
the ballot counting machine) which monitors the space around the ballot box to
make sure that people are given privacy, assists voters with instructions if
they have difficulty feeding their ballot, and thanking the person for voting
while handing them an “I VOTED” sticker and finally, I helped at the end of the
night to count and make sure all ballots for our district matched the number of
people who came in to vote.
I am happy that I participated in the election judge process
and would gladly serve again. I did get paid a lovely $14/hour for my work. The
money was not the reason I served though. It does allow me to buy more items
for Baby Bean!
The hardest part of November has been the election results.
I have felt many emotions – none of them positive – about another four years of
President Trump. Along with his new side-kicks Elon Musk and J.D. Vance. There
is so much to unpack with the damage they will do to our country and economy if
they do put through the tariffs they have been talking about. The massive deportation
they are promising will also have an impact on food prices. Thank goodness Joe
and I plan to have a big garden this coming spring and summer. Our son-in-law
works for a produce company, with Mexico as one source, and this could impact
them negatively.
Frankly, food costs are the least of my concerns with the
new administration. I am more concerned about the lower and middle class
devolving further with billionaires running the show. And frankly, being able
to say, “I told you so,” when more and more money is fed into the coffers of
the ultra-rich and less to working people does not make me feel better. Then
there is Project 2025 which should scare anyone who does not want to live in a
religious state/country. I worry about my friends who identify themselves as
part of the LGBTQIA2S+ community. I worry about women’s rights. I worry about what
has happened to responsible free speech. I was reared to believe that free speech
had a responsibility and that was to tell the truth. Please, do not ask who’s
truth. I do not believe in alternative facts. A fact is a fact.
I could write ten pages about my concerns. Instead, I am
trying to take each day as it comes, meditate, eat healthy, and build up my
stamina in case I get thrown in a concentration camp as an enemy of the government
because I am a liberal and thus classified as an “enemy from within.” I hope I
am in the same camp as Heather Cox Richardson, Joyce Vance, Robert Reich, and
all of my friends who care about democracy. My conservative friends may be
laughing by now. Go ahead. I will still worry about you and how you will feel
when you discover that President Trump and his ilk never intended to drain the
swamp, instead they created the swamp.
Done. I am so done with trying to be considerate. Please, if
you voted for Trump, do not tell me. I would prefer not to know anyone’s
politics. Voting is a private issue. When someone tells me how proud they are
and excited to have Trump in office, I automatically am appalled. I am grateful
to my neighbor Ellen, who gently reminded me that we can focus on local offices
as this is where a lot of the important work gets done for our communities. If
I were a decade younger, I might even consider running for office at the local
level where most offices are nonpartisan. Anyway, I have no idea how my
neighbors voted. I cannot assume that the neighbors, who told me they were
conservative, voted for the new administration. I do not want to know. I just
want to enjoy the time I have spent in their company and look forward to seeing
them in the near future.
On to a new topic. I had my annual wellness visit with a new
physician’s assistant (PA) two weeks ago and my blood pressure was an
incredible 107/74. All of that meditation is paying off! Also, almost two full
years of retirement has also been a powerful help! My 2024-2025 goal is the
same as all of the other years in my life: More activity and losing weight to
improve the odds of living longer. I am still medication free and still
battling keeping my cholesterol in check through diet. Joe also got a clean bill
of health and remains cancer-free.
We had a bit of snow this afternoon. Between October 30th,
our first snow fall, and today we had one other snowfall that came and went
fairly fast. The temperature is in the mid 40’s to low thirties since I last
wrote.
Joe and I went to the movies this past week and again
yesterday. The first time we saw Red One, which made me laugh and cry. This
week we saw WICKED. It made me cry. Joe fell asleep. He does that when it is
quiet and comfortable or when his senses are overwhelmed. In the case of WICKED
it was sensory overload. The volume was too high, and it took me the first ten
minutes to adjust my hearing enough to understand the words being spoken or
sung. I had read the novel years ago, so I had an idea of what to expect. At
the end of the film, I could barely breathe I was so overcome with emotion. Joe
did get the gist of the movie even though he slept through parts.
Another way I am keeping myself occupied is with a 1000-piece
jigsaw puzzle of Terry Pratchett characters. It is made double challenging by our
cat, Alto, who has now jumped twice on it and knocked completed sections to the
ground. The first time I had just completed the bottom edge. That setback took
me two days before I wanted to even look at the puzzle (or the cat). Today, she
jumped on it, reached under the Styrofoam I had placed on top of the entire
completed outer edges, and knocked one side to the floor. She looked at me as
she did it, so I know it was intentional. There are now heavy books on top of
the puzzle – let’s see her try to move those!
As usual over the past twenty-seven days there have been multiple
trips to Menards. While Kim was visiting, we went to Buffalo to shop at Target.
Except I was busy talking to her as I drove and ended up in the Menard’s
parking lot. Thankfully, the two stores are less than a mile apart. We also did
two trips to Wright County Recycle with cardboard from Joe’s shop purchases.
The second trip included dropping off our microwave that died. (I think in fact
we were going to Target to get a Microwave when I ended up in the Menard’s parking
lot). On one of the Wright County Recycle trips, Joe was able to scrounge in
the metals discard bin for scrap metal to practice his welding.
Joe has been studying up on welding and then practicing in
the garage for four or five hours at a time, three to four days a week. One
day, a neighbor boy saw what Joe was doing so Joe gave him an extra helmet and
let him watch. Thrilled Joe to no end to have a youngster (I think it was one
of the ten year olds) interested in what welding was all about. He has
fantasies about teaching Caleb and Charlotte how to weld. He wants to come up
with a welding badge for girl scouts and boy scouts …
My second video chat with a friend this month was with my
cousin, Eleanor. She told me that she checks my blog every day to see if I have
written anything. She is not on Facebook. I told her she will know when she goes
to check, and the title comes up Hello Eleanor! So now you know why this entry
is entitled as it is. I have not lost it! Also, I will send her a text to let
her know.
I’m not sure when I will check in again. Just know I think
about my family and friends, I do miss writing on the blog each day but think
it best I limit myself to what I post as I am working through my plan for surviving
and thriving over the next four years. Stay strong. Keep the faith (in whatever
religion you practice) and be kind. Count your blessings – an attitude of gratitude
really can brighten your world view.
Happy Thanksgiving.
