October has been a gift of warm days and brilliantly colored trees. It has been a pleasure to walk and travel amidst such beauty. Now come the morning frosts and cold November rains. Soon, snow.

My cat listens to some small thing gnawing above the ceiling. The central heat is on now, and he remembers his last-year’s habit of lying on top of a floor vent when he hears the warm air start to circulate. We have much to be thankful for.

By Thanksgiving, we will have not only a new president-elect, but (deo volente) a renewed sense of optimism, energy, and passion for our country’s future. My heart will overflow with gratitude if we have:

• an economy righting itself, with more directed to the poor and middle class than to the rich;
• stronger safeguards for civil rights and liberties, less abuse of executive power;
• renewed international cooperation and the respect of nations;
• comprehensive health care made available and affordable for all;
• care of the earth, with more emphasis on conservation and stewardship than on exploitation of resources; and
• greater respect for the diversity of people, values, and traditions which make up this great country.

We dream of a world of justice, peace, and compassion.
We work for it;
we vote for it.
We pray for it, and
we believe in it.

What we can, we do;
the rest,
let us give over
to the forces of life
which bear us ever onward
into the future.

~ Blessings, Jean