Has There Been A Time When I Had More To Be Thankful About?

 I am a day late in putting out a post on thankfulness and gratitude but in fact should we have to have a special day to remind us of these two incredibly important life guiding properties?

Throughout this year as so many people have suffered, we have had food, clothing, work because we wanted to work, connection with our family around the world, the opportunity to give back. I even got to travel again during that lull period in the fall. Our children and their families despite challenges related to schools closing and lock downs are all doing well, in some cases even better. 

During a period when many charitable ventures and other not-for-profit organizations have had big problems, we were not only able to successfully launch the Theodora Africa Project, we executed our beta test and now are on to our second round funding and expansion. How crazy is that? In the middle of a pandemic and economic crisis.

Health-wise, Wife and I have mysteriously somehow  remained old. The fully expected rolling back of 10 or more years did not take place DESPITE MY TWEETING IN CAPITAL LETTERS OVER AND OVER AGAIN that it was just around the corner. I was so sure if I said it LOUD ENOUGH and OVER AND OVER, it would be come the truth. But no,we still have all the physical ailments, pains and diminution of physical capabilities. That was a bit disappointing. BUT, on the other hand, we seem to be taking all the deterioration with a modicum of grace and perseverance. And I am thankful that both of us are still determined to do as much as we can with what capability we still have. We have plenty of plans and once we are able to get out again, we will.

I am thankful for dumb luck. In Theodora, we talk about the birth lottery...how so much of what you have in life is determined by where and when you were born rather than your own innate abilities. Wife and I had the good fortune to get 5 solid years of semi-retired travel fun in our lives. I know so many people who are just a few years younger than us whose plans now have all been shot to hell. 

So yes, I have a lot to be thankful and grateful for. I don't take what we have for granted. I know things can change. But I intend to appreciate and take advantage of what we have been given for as long as we have it.

I Am Not Alone In My Appreciation

 Thomas Friedman, author and columnist with the New York Times, echoed my sentiments about who we need to be thankful for from this election in his column yesterday here.

A Shout Out To All The Election Officials

 I have a new set of heroes. They are embodied by the Republican Secretary of State for Georgia, Brad Raffensperger, but he is just one of many elected officials of both parties at the local and state level who made our election one of the most effective and fair in recent history. 

When you think about all the noise, hype and drama leading up to the election, it is mildly incredible. There were horror stories being told of international interference, of terrible miscounting, of complete collapse of absentee ballot systems. 

Yet in the end, virtually every state performed professionally, conducting the election with aplomb despite all the histrionics and shadow of the pandemic. It has been called one of the fairest and most effective elections in recent history. Sometimes I wonder if all these people around the country banded together and said, "Damn you all! You are not going to use us as your scapegoats! We are going to do the job and we are going to do it right!"

I suspect all these incredible, dedicated, honest people aren't going to get a lot of accolades. I suspect people will forget all about them within a month of Biden being elected. But I wish someone would shout out praise for their heroic effort. I would welcome a statue to the honest, elected official who oversaw the election and did it right. 

Hopefully no one would find some crazy thing wrong with it and tear it down.

Ode To Leeks

 I like leeks. I like them a lot. But I don't cook with them nearly as much as I probably should. Probably because they do take a bit more work to prepare since there can be a lot of sand in between the upper leaves. Also, the leeks I usually see don't have a lot of the desirable white part and have a lot of the tougher, not so usable green part. 

But last weekend as I was stocking up on food to avoid going shopping any more than necessary during the lock down (which will surely go more than two weeks), I saw that the leeks were exceptionally good looking so I bought them. I got around to cooking them yesterday. 99% of the time I buy leeks, I make potato leek soup, the foundation for the classic French potage. (When I was a student in France, the family I lived with served it as a first course for virtually every dinner.). But I was inspired to do something else. So I took my leeks and potatoes, added a lot of melted butter and roasted them in the oven for about an hour (30 minutes covered at 350 degrees and 30 minutes uncovered at 425 degrees). 

The results were excellent. Leeks have such a distinctive aroma. It is like they are their own spice/herb combination. They require little other than salt and pepper. THEN, tonight, I took the leftovers, mixed them with broth, cooked and blended so we still got our potato leek soup. Which I might say was every bit as good as when it is made from the raw ingredients. 

So I have made a little promise to myself to be more expansive in my use of leeks. Number one on my list to try will be doing classic chicken fricassee using leeks instead of onions.

Happy Hearing Aid Day

 Ever since I got my first high tech hearing aids about 7 years ago from Costco, I have been so incredibly happy. Before the pandemic hit, I had bought a new pair (5 years is about the lifespan of a hearing aid). They were even better and cooler than my former pair. They synced with my phone 😀. Drove Wife crazy with me wandering the house looking like I was talking to myself. 

Sadly a few weeks ago I lost one while hiking. Now I've hiked with these suckers on ever since I started with them and never lost one before. But there you were. FORTUNATELY for me, Costco gives you a 2 year loss or damage warranty. It took two weeks before the new ones came in. And during that time we went on lock down again. I was afraid they would close the hearing aid center in the store down.

But no! Not only was it open but they have a special entrance set up so customers of the hearing aid center and pharmacy don't have to wait in the long line. 

So now I am happily hearing aid re-enabled. But I think I will leave them home when I hike and hope the bears make a lot of noise.

Preparation

 My niece commented on my last post about hunkering down that she (who lives on the East Coast) was being better prepared for an anticipated shutdown. Remembering that in the spring, our Governor deemed liquor stores non-essential. That meant doing without my preferred cognac for almost a month! Not to be caught unawares again, I put in a order at our local Total Wine and will be picking it up today.

Preparing To Hunker Down

 It is all reprising itself. The pandemic is exploding here and in Europe. We thought we might do some traveling soon but it is clear that all is going to be locking down so no reason to make reservations that are just going to be cancelled. But this time, at least for me, there is less denial and being upset. It has been clear in my eyes that the Western nations populaces clearly lack the discipline or seriousness to do what is necessary to get this particular contagion under control (unlike so much of East Asia). So all our hospital beds will be filled up shortly and there will be no choice but to either lock down again or accept a higher death rate. And if the latter happens, that means we old folk will need to pull in our horns and stay out harms way. But at least I know what to expect and have already changed my life to suit it. Plus I did get my month in Ghana. So that was a blessing.