No progress

Always some little part of me, in these days when I've managed to get the tree up and lit but not decorated, that wants to just leave it like this....

A photo a day over at Chicken Blog, too.

Should have remembered the umbrella

Slogging through the post-holiday let down, without quite the next pre-holiday zip in the air yet. We're all feeling it.

A photo a day over at Chicken Blog, too.

Frozen

We've had just some snow flurries so far -- nothing lasting. But it's been freezing, and there's a glaze each morning over everything on the ground. The weak, filtered morning sunlight does little to warm things up, and there's no pretending that it's autumn anymore.

A photo a day over at Chicken Blog, too.

Natalie knew

 ...right where that tree would go. Feeling accomplished that the Thanksgiving dishes are done and the lights are on the tree. Also feeling overwhelmed, and trying to parse it out. I've made a secret pact with myself to ease off a little this year -- simplify, choose some but not all of the decorations, get things done and not fret over what's undone. I make a little more progress each year, and it's important to me. I just want to find the balance, and be happy.


A photo a day over at Chicken Blog, too.

Sure sign

...that it's getting to be that time.

A photo a day over at Chicken Blog, too.

Lingering

Learning the game.

A photo a day over at Chicken Blog, too.

Worth it

Grateful, especially in the midst of all the insanity going on in this country right now, to be able to sit down with my family and celebrate making it this far.

A photo a day over at Chicken Blog, too.

It takes about 15 hours or so

...to make all the Thanksgiving feast ingredients, no matter how many people you are serving. Are we there yet?

A photo a day over at Chicken Blog, too.

Leaving

Heading home from work, thinking about getting some Thanksgiving meal prep done tonight; Ken and Dean are planning to have dinner in Boston to wait out some of the traffic. And the sky shows me a picture I've never seen before. A reminder to pause, to see, to breathe, to be.

A photo a day over at Chicken Blog, too.

Season's first

Didn't stick around for too long, but a dusting of snow this morning announced that we really have turned from fall to winter. Not ready.

A photo a day over at Chicken Blog, too.

Since forever

Spanikopita for appetizers = every Thanksgiving since forever. Made ahead, frozen, and then baked for about 12 minutes -- then they disappear until it's time to make more next year.

A photo a day over at Chicken Blog, too.

Date night at the rink

A photo a day over at Chicken Blog, too.

When the accidental photo tells the story

Caution: holiday approaches.

A photo a day over at Chicken Blog, too.

I know it's a point that's been made

...and maybe I keep coming back to it because it reflects my mood. Trying to find the joy while feeling done and defeated.

A photo a day over at Chicken Blog, too.

Wintering

It was just the other day, it seems, that Natalie was here exclaiming over the beautiful fall foliage; already the season has changed.

A photo a day over at Chicken Blog, too.

The absolute last

...of the backyard harvest.

A photo a day over at Chicken Blog, too.

New leaf

The school where I work opened a new health and fitness facility this year; long overdue, and magnificent. All of us in the adult community were offered the opportunity to request keys, and to use the building at our convenience at no cost. No barriers, at all, to getting some exercise back in my life. So in mid-September I started going, 3 mornings a week (with just a few exceptions). I leave the house at 5:15 -- basically just rolling out of bed, putting on my workout stuff, and grabbing the bag packed the night before with everything I need. The key is that night before preparation, and kind of just getting going before I have a chance to think about it. I'm not sure yet if it's *habit,* and I don't know what will happen once winter comes and the early morning roads are treacherous, but it's definitely a part of my story of this last half of the year.

A photo a day over at Chicken Blog, too.

Always watching the sky

We planned and craned out necks and watched, evenings and very early mornings, to see the extraordinary moon. So full and powerfully bright and cheery and glorious; it's always worthwhile to keep an eye on what's happening in the sky. Something about the endless cycles of nature, the power of things that continue on no matter what happens, is deeply reassuring.


A photo a day over at Chicken Blog, too.

Home

Seems more precious now.

A photo a day over at Chicken Blog, too.

Out in the world

Looking for the good.


A photo a day over at Chicken Blog, too.

Feeling broken...

...but still have to do the work.

Here's what I'd like to ask of you, you who are looking at this. My blog stats tell me, amazingly (and perhaps incorrectly?) that somewhere between 60 and 80 people look at each post. My friend Natalie is my stalwart comment-leaver, and I treasure her for that (and so much more!). But, here's what I am asking of you: have you read this? Say something. Take 30 seconds to comment, to say something, to show that you're here, to connect. Please?

A photo a day over at Chicken Blog, too.

Red sky at morning

I don't know how I did it. I don't know how I managed to get up and get on with my day today, given how hopeless and gutted I feel. Take warning, indeed.  I didn't think I'd be posting here anymore -- I didn't see the point in much of anything anymore. But as I post this, a few days after the fact, I reach for some hope in action, in not giving up, in fighting whatever evils need to be fought. Not taking it as *normal,* not expecting a different person to lead from the one who was, incomprehensibly, elected.

A photo a day over at Chicken Blog, too.

An accidental photo, with the ground beneath me giving way, seems right for today. Trying to find hope.

A photo a day over at Chicken Blog, too.

Darkness falls

The time change means that it's already dark, nighttime, when I get home from work; already counting the days until the light returns.

A photo a day over at Chicken Blog, too.

Sundaying

Luxury of a lazy morning at home, ready to watch Liverpool, Dean upstairs still sleeping (best weekend surprise!), and letting a chilly morning slide by out the big windows.

A photo a day over at Chicken Blog, too.

Up late in Boston

In a part of town I haven't passed through in years, delighted to see that some things have in fact not changed.

A photo a day over at Chicken Blog, too.

Champions of the World

Now I can celebrate out loud!

A photo a day over at Chicken Blog, too.

That moment...

...all by myself in front of the tv, up much much too late on a weeknight, surrounded by friends and family online, quietly gasping tears of joy. Is it real? I believe that it is somehow actually real -- the impossible is true.

A photo a day over at Chicken Blog, too.

Layers

I've been staying up late, night after night, watching my Chicago Cubs and dreaming of the possibility -- but not hardly daring to believe.

A photo a day over at Chicken Blog, too.

November

As beautiful as the fall foliage is, I deeply and truly love bare-branched trees. I love seeing the sky held in their branches, and stars. I love the silhouettes. I'm just starting to feel ready for this.

A photo a day over at Chicken Blog, too.