My (perhaps controversial) thoughts as a "newbie" to CA.

ChiSandy-- Your little town's a champ! Finally! Yayyyyyyyyy......

Hi ladies-- Just wanted to drop you a line and say Happy Thanksgiving to you from me and Miss P...

I hope this finds you all well. These past weeks have been so hyper-active with the election. I'm staying away from TV and just doing lots of Netflix movies and documentaries--just saw a really neat one just now called Chef's Table about these amazing chefs....naturally I'm now starving! But my sardine sandwich will just have to hold me for a while...

Again--HAPPY THANKSGIVING to one and all!

love, t and p

Will do, Molly!

DisneyGirl, Miss Panty and I hope you had a lovely Turkey Day!

Hi ladies-- In case any of you drop in here occasionally I thought I'd attach a copy of a posting I made on another BCO thread yesterday. No, it's not about bc, or things medical, but it occurred to me that the recent election kerfuffle might have gotten to folks as it's gotten to me. And getting depressed can just add to one's brain already stuffed with things to ponder and isn't healthy.... I thought this reflection below might bring a smile or ease tense shoulders or a headache--at least for a minute or two.

love to you all from me and Miss Panty, including you, Lori.

22 hours ago Trill1943 wrote:

Why can't presidential election procedures be the same for each state? It doesn't make sense. Shouldn't things be evenly handled via federal laws, etc? I don't get it. The way we do it now leaves so much room for bias, problems, shenanigans, mistakes inadvertent, "mistakes" deliberate, and "mistakes" just plain evil. (Not that the federal government wouldn't have problems if it ran everything...)

I guess it's written into the Constitution and I should go grab my copy....

But since we're talking about someone who supposedly will be leading ALL of us shouldn't the procedures be the same for EACH of us??

I mean, we're not talking about managing issuing driver's licenses, we're talking about the--theoretically--one who will oversee millions in a UNITED states.

The depressed feeling I've had over the past three weeks (sometimes I can't steel myself to come here and learn of even more bullshit going on, see images of that bloated scarlet face and that billowy orange hair and those tiny mincing hands, the thumb and forefinger pressed together as if he's attempting to "visually" show just how precise and astute he's being when he states "facts" and issues opinions. When I see that gesture all I think is that that pinch is about all the truth we're going to get from him....) leads me to wonder why nobody's killed anybody over this mess.

But then tonight I felt a little relief.

Every first Thursday in December they light the monument here in the Mount Vernon section of Baltimore--a big statue of George Washington donned anachronistically in a toga (can't say our forebears didn't know how to display their own brand of foolishness). School kids and Peabody Conservatory and Hopkins students and folks with toddlers hoisted on their shoulders listen to speeches by the mayor and any sports figures who did well during the year and church and youth groups carol their squeaky, pitchy voices to the cold skies and there's jazzy music and maybe a little rapping and, off to the side, food trucks sending their savory, delectable aromas into the frigid air. . . .

Finally, countdown! The ten thousand clustered below in the monument's park join in:

"10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1...."

Suddenly the monument is garbed in streaming strings of tiny blue lights that flare out like a skirt. It looks like a girl with an odd middle and a weird head but wearing this long, graceful gown, like the awkwardest girl in school who was nonetheless a whiz at sewing and could whip up the most gorgeous clothes...

And then--

FIREWORKS!

They only go for about five raucous minutes. It's not the Fourth of July and they're not elaborate--just soaring arrows of red and gold and silver, all aimed at heaven but invariably drawn back to earth. Tonight they ended with three thunderous booms that were actually a tad scary, like a series of bombs exploding deep underground and that brought at least to my mind thoughts of the cracking infrastructure in old cities like this one that will continue to crack during Trump's four years (and hopefully not more than four).

And the ten thousand roared!

Life was wonderful for five minutes!

Maryland always votes Democrat. I know there are many sad folks out there. When all you have to say to someone--like a cab driver, or a stranger you're sharing an elevator with--is "It's a weird time--" but don't have to say any more for them to agree, that's stunned, that's depression. And it's depressing to know that so many are hurting. And remain baffled.

I didn't go down to the festivities this year but watched them from my third floor window. Miss Pantaloon was scared by the fireworks and ran under the bed, but I loved them. And as I watched the streams of people hurrying up the sidewalks, not wanting to miss anything, talking, laughing, bundled against the cold, I thought,

"We're going to get through this.. . ."

America is such a big, and a big-hearted, country. But we're also savvy about bullshit. I think included in our collective DNA is a gene I'm going to call the one that runs our Built-In Shit Detector. I think most of us have this gene. More people than want to admit it, I think, know Trump for who he is. Know he's baloney dressed up in a camel's hair coat. Know him like we know the used-car salesman's full of bull (but we still want the car he's peddling). Sense the spoiled, teased rich kid in him who needs to whack at awkward fellow-students in the playground after lunch, press his fingers into their saved cupcakes to even a score.. . .

He's getting even now.

Trumping all.

I think most of us know, or at least sense, that.

But I think we're--they're--also angry and scared and disappointed.

They don't have the money to buy a better education, the address to get to it, or the years to get through it.

She doesn't know how to get into a school, or how to keep her son from dropping out of it.

He has no idea how a computer works but the little thing nestled in his twelve-year-old's lap that she calls an iPad has taken his job and has no plans to give it back.

Wireless internet has not hit the mountains or the woods. (Twenty minutes from Annapolis there is no internet unless you have thousands to spend.)

Fear is behind most anger. Fear and frustration.

But we are tough. We survive these things. We survive each other. Just about all of us will catch up when it comes to seeing through Trump eventually.

The kids of today's kids will read about him one day and groan and laugh at the president who was a hot mess.

He won't go up in history, he'll go down in it.

And Christmas will come each year and we'll go on cheering the fireworks and oohing and aahing as we did as kids because fireworks are stronger than Donald Trump.

And that won't change.

Dx 10/31/2015, IDC, Left, 1cm, Stage IA, Grade 3, 0/1 nodes, ER-/PR-, HER2-Surgery 12/14/2015 Lymph node removal: Sentinel; Mastectomy: Left, Right; Prophylactic mastectomy: Right

Hi all--including WenchLori, MelissaDallas, JBeans, ChiSandy, JuniperCat, Molly50, DisneyGirl,and any and all who might drop by.

I wish all of you a joyous holiday and New Year! I hope we meet again here soon when the occasion arises.

WenchLori, if you are here and reading this, I think of you so often and hope you --and your husband-- are doing fine.

OK, bye for now! Stay safe! Stay warm! Snuggle lots through the winter! Panty and I are already snuggling....

All my love and a kiss and a hug--Trill

P.S. Am gonna do another post to include the e-card I send out to friends every year. It's a fun thing and I enjoy coming up with crazy/nutty,funny scenes....

Thanks, DisneyGirl, and a very Merry Christmas to you! And Happy New Year!