I write and schedule my blog posts in advance, it takes the pressure off. Sometimes I'm a day or two ahead, other times a week or more. As I type now it's Tuesday morning, November 5th—Election Day here in the United States. This post will go live on Wednesday morning, the day after. What to write that will be appropriate? I'm getting teary thinking about the future me and what I will be feeling. Will we even know? After all, they're warning us the results make take days.
I was up in Vancouver, BC, Canada, last weekend—I'll share more about that soon—where I saw this bench in front of a home, along the public sidewalk. An inviting spot for people passing by to slow down, take a load off, pause, and enjoy the garden. A kindness, offered to neighbors and strangers alike. Pause.
Pause: (verb) interrupt action or speech briefly | (noun) a temporary stop in action or speech.
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It's now 7:30 Wednesday morning. I've already cried. WTF America? WTF.
I feel very much the same, Loree. Discouraged, dismayed and fearful for the preservation of the values and issues I hold dear but I remind myself that, whatever the concerns that drove the electorate to this result, there's still a very large portion of the population that has a different take on the future. We need to focus on where we can have an impact and move forward. I made a donation to a major civil rights organization this morning as a start.
ReplyDeleteI have two out of four clients that we kept when we mostly retired who are trump voters, evangelical Christians who actually inexplicably love him. I am going to donate a portion of the income from those jobs to the excellent local immigrant support group (Pacific County Immigrant Support)….for as long as I can bear to keep those jobs (maybe one more year just to get some money for that cause, plus one of them is a neighbor two doors down, and if I quit her she’d see me still working for a neighbor across the street and it would be awkward. That almost neighbor is the only client in 30 years of gardening who gives us a Xmas bonus which if she does this year will go straight to immigrant support!). Am blathering. Very upset.
DeleteUs too, Kris. We are in disbelief!
DeleteHello from Canada! I've been a long time reader (even have your book) but this is my first time posting. I am truly shocked and saddened by the recent events, it feels like the rug was pulled out from under us. Over the last couple of days I've been coping by focusing on nature; I just wanted to let you know that I looked up Danger Garden today because I knew I'd find images of your garden soothing. Reading the comment section was a welcome bonus. So sorry how it all played out. - Elizabeth
DeleteElizabeth, thanks for the visit and comment (and buying the book!). Garden distractions are the best kind.
DeleteDepressed, dispirited, scared, helpless.
ReplyDeleteI write in advance, too, to take the pressure off. I tried to sleep with a feeling of horror, slept at about 3 AM, woke up two hours later with feeling of horror, slept, woke up two hours later with a feeling of horror and grief. For the last 45 I have been someone who reads news first thing in the morning and then in the evening, starting when I subscribed to the morning and afternoon Seattle papers. Since the internet, add some afternoon reading of news, too. Today I can’t stand to look. Tried the BBC…didn’t even help. Tried Canadian news, and I think that will be doable. They don’t have “the pond” between us and them so their news headlined today had the kind of dread that I feel. Meanwhile, I will read historian Heather Cox Richardson’s daily newsletters and Amy Siskind’s “The List” when she starts it up again. She was so optimistic, I am so sad for her that she has to start that again (cataloging the egregious behavior as it happens). I’ve been feeling dread all autumn and hoped to be proved to be a cynical old pessimist who was wrong. I would have so loved to be wrong about humans. I feel I have to add current events and horror to my blog posts now, as I did during the pandemic…under a separator line at the bottom, usually. Wish I could give you a hug, I really mean it.
ReplyDeleteI didn't look at the returns much after about 8pm, I didn't like the direction things were taking and I wanted to get a good nights sleep and face it all in the morning. I wish I could take that hug!
DeleteCanadians are so nice. Americans, not so sure anymore. The plant people are still lovely...
ReplyDeleteI'm with you pal. Kris's point is a good one. There is still a very large part of the population who sees things differently from the majority.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you pal. Kris has a good point about there being a large number of people who are not in line with the majority of the electorate. 2016 flashback.
ReplyDeleteSick to my stomach but going to fight the good fight. F that guy and his fools. Kris' point is a good one, there are SO many of us who are good people and we shall be there for each other - we do indeed have a different take on the future that we shall make for ourselves, for each other. We are not in line with the majority of the electorate indeed! And Skyler, good move donating to the immigrant support group.
ReplyDeleteRelief from the anxiety and dread I've felt for the last couple of years leading up to this election is gone, replaced by uncertainty . My hope is that Dons' lack of actual conviction will result in lack of results. My fear is that he delegates actual governance to the odious JD who is significantly smarter and more disciplined. I'm going to try and limit news for a couple of months so I can enjoy my fall garden.
ReplyDeleteI've never been one to avoid the news or websites that deliver it. I fear I'm going to have to start, or at least set strong boundaries.
DeletePause is perfect for today. I need one more day to rest and nest.
ReplyDeleteNot much to add. I am grateful for you all.
ReplyDeleteSo so many concerns. A big one for me right now perhaps because it hits close to home is for all of the children of Trump and his followers who may be LGBTQIA+ and will be made to feel less than. These children need educated support, acceptance, love and understanding from their parents and society not denial, rejection, shame and hatred. Too many precious children’s lives have been made miserable even lost because of this anti- LGBTQIA+ rhetoric that Trump and his allies promote. I am so sad and disappointed. Will need to gather extra strength from the garden to get through this and we must get through it so we can continue to propagate all that is right and good.
ReplyDeleteAgreed.
DeleteHow can the party of (so called) "family values" and "law and order" put a convicted sex offender in the white house. I'm bewildered and embarrassed.
ReplyDeleteNo tv news for me for the time being. Focus on my immediate life and surrounding, friends family and of course, my garden.
Chavli
I will never understand! I also will never understand why climate change was not top of the list of voters concerns. Do people honestly think that mass deportation of immigrants will get them lower food prices?? They’d better all learn to garden.
ReplyDeleteWTF indeed!
ReplyDeleteThank you for making a space here for us to pause and acknowledge our grief.
ReplyDeleteI spent yesterday grieving HARD, as if a person had died. The only brief moments of comfort came from: (1) realizing that so many millions of others were feeling the same way, both here and abroad, and (2) from realizing that the natural world was going on, even though HE was elected.
In my garden, hummingbirds were still searching for flowers. My backyard crows were doing their normal things, which included (as always) calling to me so that I would come outside and say hi.
My tomatoes were still ripening, even if I hadn't noticed. My coleus, though, was done, which meant that I finally had room to plant that cool heuchera I had gotten a few weeks ago.
It’s awful. All of it is awful. And yet our gardens—and we—are still here. Needing love and kindness.
Love and kindness need to be shared freely, for sure.
DeleteThank you for this post, Loree. I love the "Pause" bench. I've been trying to focus on the small miracles of daily life: sunshine highlighting a green vase in my living room, the container of grama grass on my patio golden in the sun and swaying in the breeze, the line of Chinese Pistache trees turning their blazing autumn colors on a nearby street. It helps me stay in the present moment, helps me to not let my fear consume me.
ReplyDeleteI take heart in everyone's comments and your post, Loree--I don't feel so alone in my distress. Thank you for sharing, truly.
Thank you for coming by and commenting Joy.
DeleteI’m late to comment because I have been pausing big time. Not sure how quickly I can get back into life as we know it. It goes on, but how? Thanks for being here Loree, and all my garden peeps. You mean the world to me and somehow we’ll all move on.
ReplyDeleteSomehow. One step at a time.
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