Thanksgiving is upon us (yikes!). My favorite Thanksgiving was probably my first one in my house in Descanso where all kinds of friends showed up and my friend Kris helped me cook and clean up. We put the turkey in, headed up to the Lagunas for the Thanksgiving hike (my personal tradition), then came home to finish up everything and welcome company. I wish I had photos of that, but it was before cell phones had cameras.
I am, this morning, thankful I don’t have to go to the store on my way home from school (work) to get cranberries or anything else. That said, it was always fun to wander into the supermarket that was crammed with shoppers — also on their way home — and look for that ONE thing. One year my friend Adriano and I were met in the canned fruit aisle by my Iranian colleague and her insistent recipe for cranberry relish (the best — mix the cranberries with orange marmalade…) Naja was amazing, brilliant, passionate and wise in matters of cranberry relish.
Possibly tomorrow on this blog I’ll delve into Thanksgivings loved and lost, but last night I read a short op-ed in The Atlantic that said, essentially, that in spite of the good work Brandon (President Biden) has done in the short time he’s been president, his approval rating is abysmally low. The article says “Biden needs an enemy” (other than Lauren Boebert) around whom the American people could unite to protect their president and that, “If he wants to win reelection…he needs to shed his nice-guy persona.”
My suspicion that politics in this country is a team sport (like Rollerball) was confirmed by that op-ed piece. I see it as a conspiracy of team mentality vs. individual achievement. I think anyone should be really happy to have a nice guy president who quietly goes about the business of running the country. The team mentality obviates that.
I am not now and have never been much of a team player, more an individual sports kind of person, track in particular and, well, baseball, which is a team sport in which individuals contribute, uh, individually. Hiking, trail-running, all that? A person does that alone (with dogs in my case). I never really got the team sport mentality in spite of joining pep club in high school and cheering on the Mitchell Marauders.
The other thing is a second-term? I think the biggest mistake Biden could make would be hauling his geriatric (yet spry) ass up for re-election. The Dems really need to come up with a young, intelligent, well-spoken, unifying, male candidate with awesome leadership skills who could win. Seriously.
(“Thanks for sharing, Martha,” says the DNC. “We’ll be sure to follow your advice to the LETTER.”)
Thanks for your understanding and support yesterday with my very personal post (“Poor me. I sold a painting.”) I hesitated about posting it but then I thought, “Am I the only person?” I knew I wasn’t, but… Thank you. There’s always the possibility when dealing with land mines that you’ve stepped on the last one but more important, when you step on one (and don’t die) it means you’re moving forward. ❤️
Featured photo: Lily T. Wolf and me in 2012 on the Garnet Peak Trail in the Laguna Mountains (CA), Thanksgiving hike with stepson and his wife. Another great Thanksgiving.
Political Musings
“Summer is the season of inferior sledding” - Inuit proverb 
As long as the next Prez isn’t Trump or Trump-like, I will survive. You’re right about Joe, but the whole thing, both sides, is effing effed up.
Yep. I like Joe a lot but… it is all effed up.
We don’t have thanksgiving here, only one chance of fun and games in December except of course there are different religious festivals x
From across the pond here I’m impressed with Biden. Couldnt Kamela Harris stand? Biden seems thoughtful and intelligent. I hope the Republicans have a change of heart and grow up!
Kamala can’t win. She’s mixed race (none of them white) and she’s a woman. We are a misogynistic culture, I’m afraid. 😦 It’s going to take a very special female to win the presidency in this country. She has to be low key, intelligent, with a voice that doesn’t sound like fingernails on a chalkboard, who is just generally smart, friendly and non-threatening. IMO Kamala is all those things but she’s black and Indian.
😢 Sas to say I think the same would happen here although we have had two (white) female prime ministers. The current incumbent seems to be a bumbling fool, but I think he’s very sly.
I think he’s sly, too.
👍
I appreciate HOW you write what many are thinking~and incredibly combine it with an amazing photo and thoughts of tomorrow and your memories. You always “paint” such vivid pictures of life. Leadership~yikes. It’s all a mess. I’ve been a team player when meeting collective goals~but have so many individual ways to grow my own self. Hiking is definitely one. Finley’s my team and she likes me taking care of her! I gotta make tough choices, Finn! It’s just the way it is. 😉💛❤️ Finn and I love you all. Happy Thanksgiving. 🍁💛
Hi Finn, Bear here. Take care of Karla. She thinks she’s taking care of you, but we know better. Your pal, Polar Bear Yeti T. Dog ❤
Polar Bear Yeti T. Dog, I’m taking good care of Mom! Yes, I let her think she’s in charge 🥰😉 your pal ~Finn 🐾
🐾
I used to work in a grocery store. The day before Thanksgiving was my favorite day of the year. Weeks of planning, then 12+ hours of nonstop running. As Katherine Hepburn said in “The African Queen “, “I never dreamed a mere physical experience could be so exhilarating!”
I understand! I worked in a small toy store in Boulder for a Christmas job. Christmas Eve! Wow.
I get your meaning. You don’t nominate people because they fulfill a diversity requirement. You nominate them because they’ll win.
I don’t think being a woman or a Person of Color is a prohibitive issue. Obama won twice. Clinton won the popular vote, it was her incompetence as a campaigner that lost the electoral college. I know people for whom race and gender and sexual preference are hot button topics but sometimes I think they get in the way of actual progress. Getting people of diverse backgrounds to the top has to happen as a product of cultural change. You can’t just put people up and expect them to run on diversity as their main issue and win.
A candidate like Pete Buttigieg will be elected if he can convince *the people who don’t care if he is gay* that he can protect the country from enemies foreign and domestic, promote national prosperity and domestic tranquility, ensure equal protection under the law for all, and not walk off with the White House silver. Not a minute sooner. Generally to get there you need to work your way up through the ranks but if you are po’d enough you might go for a crappy businessman- reality TV star who happens to be a good conman.
I prefer to see people who came up through the ranks because there is a track record. I can predict their future decisions based on their past record. Anything else is a crap shoot. Personally I’d love to see the GOP give Trump the boot and run Liz Cheney. (Let him take his minions and see how far he gets as a 3rd party.) She is a credible candidate and would “grow” the party in the direction it needs to grow. Cheney v. Harris would be a hell of a race.
I know. A fantasy. Sometimes we need a good fantasy to keep going.
I love your fantasy. Liz Cheney has ethics and backbone. It would be a good race and the country wouldn’t lose no matter which of those women won.
I think Clinton only won the popular vote because she was running against Dumbass. I had to drive really fast to Del Norte to put in my ballot before I tossed the whole thing in the trash. Her thing about being the first woman president turned me off and I don’t think I was alone. BUT I also thought her experience was important and that she would pull good people around her; definitely a better candidate than Dumbass. I agree with you about track record and knowledge of how government works. That people can win on the inexperience platform is sickening.
Decades ago I had a fantasy of Elizabeth Dole running for president. (I’m sure you remember her.) I believe the Senator from Texas could have won.
She was good.
The issue of electability is a big one. I’d love to see someone as smart as Mayor Pete (he’s local for me) with the experience of Joe and the charisma of Obama! It would be a bonus if they were female and or a minority. Sadly our political system right now reminds me of 4th grade class elections!!
Happy Thanksgiving to you and Bear and Teddy! I hope you have a little snow to romp around in!
No snow but so much to be thankful for. Snow might be just a little too much. ❤ Happy Thanksgiving to you, Sparky and family!
Early in my college career I took a couple political science classes. A bit later I was elected as an officer on my school’s student body. Those experiences were enough to turn me off of politics as a career choice forever. I won’t even consider small stuff like school board or town council (especially in these acrimonious and divisive days). Like you, I’m just not a team player if/when it means foregoing my ethics and beliefs to be “part of the team.” Screw that. No wonder we don’t/can’t trust politicians; we never know what they really believe or stand for because they’re having to posture for various groups to garner votes. Those with true ethics and pure hearts? They know better and never run for office.
Happy T-day to you, Bear and Teddy! May you enjoy amazing, peaceful walks in the wildlife refuge that are devoid of all things political.
🐾🐾🐾🐾❤️❄️❄️ You, Finn and Conall from all of us. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.
I agree about a second term. I like President Biden, but I’m not sure that he’s the guy – or the person – to lead the party forward. I thought it would be the VP but that was a short-lived dream. The approval rating confuses me. It would be nice if a president’s approval was based on what that person is doing, has done, or prevented being done, rather than, as suggested by the op-ed, an ‘enemy’. This is life, not pro-wrestling. And maybe I’m naive but I like to believe that people are more aware than that.
I don’t like going to the grocery store at any time of the year because there’s always way too many people there (thank you for 24-hour stores!), but this: “it was always fun to wander into the supermarket that was crammed with shoppers — also on their way home — and look for that ONE thing.” I do that, too. I can’t explain it. I did it yesterday on the way home. And I think I might do it again today.
Enjoy the holiday!
I like to believe people are more aware than that, too, but I do not think they are. 😦 I think the “approval” rating is not based on anything but a bunch of peoples’ knee-jerk reaction to having had to pay more at the gas pump. I don’t think that — over all — people are deep thinkers. I don’t see how (after 2020) we wouldn’t have inflation (for one thing). That doesn’t mean I like it, but I get it, I get why. I dunno…
You enjoy the holiday as well!!
[…] because you feel you need one thing. This is a feeling I learned this morning that’s not unique to me. It’s not that I really need that one thing, or even know what it is going in, but I need it, […]
Thank you!
It is sad that people now elect their leaders like it is a popularity contest. I don’t watch a lot of news from the US now but you would think that people would be happy to have a President who just gets on with the job. Instead, it seems that all a section of the media wants to do is make fun of him. That said, I don’t think his running for a second term would be a wise move. The Democrats do need to use this next couple of years to find a really good candidate.
Yeah, I don’t understand people. Well, I do understand them. They want to be entertained. The monster who is the Congressional representative from my district ONLY wants attention and right now the media is giving it to her. She says outrageous things just to get that. I wish she’d just become a TV personality and go away.