We had a little snow, maybe 2 inches, and it was a wet snow. But really, we couldn’t ask for anything prettier. Don said it was easy to push with a shovel, and he’s already cleared the driveway and put some salt down. In the meantime, at least for a while, we have this magical wonderland of snow covered branches everywhere. When this kind of wet snow accumulates in amounts of several inches, then it’s a danger for tree limbs and branches. But this amount is perfect.

All in all, the perfect amount of snow, the perfect magical snow kingdom.

You know, when I said not to worry about January 6th, I meant it. But I also must add for clarification that these actions, no matter how fruitless, are extremely dangerous for our country. Make no mistake about it. We are on a precipice here, and I firmly believe that all those involved in this act of sedition should be made to pay for it.

And now we have the hour-long tape of OM trying to persuade the Georgia Secretary of State to ‘find some votes.’ Stunning. But not stunning. You can be sure that he’s had this conversation with other states. He’s a mobster. That’s how he deals with everything. He lies, he spins an alternate reality, he demands fealty, and he threatens. All of which happened in that call.

I despise him. I want him gone. But I want him to pay for his crimes. I want Mark Meadows to pay for his, as well, along with the elected representatives and senators who are protesting the vote of the American people.

And now, we’ll leave that and end on a gentler note.

We watched Elizabeth is Missing  on Masterpiece last night, starring the brilliant Glenda Jackson, who, after 23 years serving in Parliament, is back and better than ever. I read the novel it is based on when it first came out and reviewed it on this blog. The protagonist is suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and it’s told from her point of view. Incredibly well written. This adaptation was superb. Jackson is fearless in her work. She really goes there, no holds barred. Don and I were stunned by her bravery and honesty. At the age of 84, she’s doing better work than ever.

Fingers and toes crossed for the Georgia run-off tomorrow.

Stay safe.

Happy Monday.

Good morning and Happy New Year!

I hope you had a peaceful New Year’s Eve. We did. We didn’t make it to midnight, nor did I expect to. But we made it until 11 pm. Yesterday, we took it easy. We’ll most likely do the same today. We’re going to have a FaceTime call with Rick and Doug later this morning.

The paperwhites in the den are in full bloom, so I get a lovely whiff of their scent as I sit here and blog. The tree is still up. It will most likely stay up until the end of the week. We take it on a day by day basis, but so far, 30 days after we brought it home, there has been no needles dropping and it’s doing very well. I can’t dispose of something that is still thriving. It’s not in my DNA.

Not to mention the fact that we love seeing it every day.

Tomorrow? Snow. 1 -3 inches during the day and another 1-3 inches overnight. We had rain and sleet last night but it’s going to warm up to 40 degrees today, so all that will be gone.

Still waiting on Don’s package. The good news is that it finally showed up in Springfield MA and stayed there for a few days. Then it moved to a neighboring town. It’s still not at our local post office, but I suspect it will be there by Monday.

We watched Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom  last night (on Netflix) and I must say it is the best movie I have seen in a very long time. Incredible ensemble work by the whole cast, including my friend Michael Potts as the bass player. Viola Davis is amazing. But the actor who took my breath away was the late Chadwick Boseman. Stunning, brave, layered, complex, luminous, heartbreaking – my heavens, that man could act. He transformed; I couldn’t tear my eyes away from him. It’s clear he was very ill when he was filming. He had lost a lot of weight and was gaunt. But, somehow, he drew on some extraordinary power within and pulled off one of the most emotionally complex and brilliant performances I have ever seen. All Don and I could say afterward was the obvious; he was taken from us much, much too soon. His legacy is large, but if it was only this performance, this one piece of film, that legacy would be astounding. If you haven’t seen it, please watch. August Wilson, who wrote the play, was a masterly and much awarded playwright. He is no longer with us. I hope that somehow, somewhere, he saw Chadwick Bozeman’s performance.

18 days until sanity and honor and compassion and competence come back to the White House.

Stay safe.

We were in the kitchen this morning and Don looked at these masks that just happened to be drying on the kitchen table:

He said, “If that doesn’t sum up 2020, I don’t know what does.”

What a year. Mostly horrendous, heartbreaking, enraging, maddening, lonely, bewildering – I could go on but you get the picture. It’s been like nothing we’ve ever been through before.

In the midst of it, however, was goodness and kindness and heroism. Front line workers risking their lives to help others. Good deeds. People reaching out to each other in new ways. People standing in long lines and risking their health in the time of COVID in order to vote. We turned out in record numbers in order to vote a monster out of office.

Too many lives lost and many of those deaths never had to happen. Willful ignorance and selfishness on display as people refused to wear masks, stay isolated, or take one moment to think about someone other than themselves.

This has been a terrible year, one I  cannot wait to say goodbye to.

I could spend paragraphs speaking to the nightmare that is the Orange Man and his administration but I’ve done that. You know how I feel.

But we’re getting through it, thank goodness.

I thank you all so much for your daily presence here. You’ve made an enormous difference in my life, especially this year. More than ever, our little community has been a source of solace and commiseration, of joy and laughter.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

May we move forward into 2021, knowing that change is coming, knowing that at some point we will all be vaccinated, that goodness will triumph. I only wish January 1st was also Inauguration Day.

Stay safe. Stay vigilant. Don’t relax your guard, my friends, as the next few months will be hard.

But do celebrate the end of this year and a better year ahead.

I may or may not post tomorrow. We’ll see.

Happy Thursday.