OK, I have fought this but it is over.  Yes, this golden fall is over...I took this photo on Sunday, on what was a beautiful fall day.  Weather was in the 60s and it was so nice.  I was working, and simply shut my computer off and walked out.  I should have done that without the weather, but what an incentive.  

Tonight when I left work, it was 43 degrees, raining, and the wind was blowing in 40+mph gusts.  These last leaves from a few days ago are no doubt long gone, and so is what was a great fall.  

OK, I promise that this is the last photo of this little waterfall.  This falls is on the end of a very nice, scenic little road that I love to drive.  It is a Zen-like road, and it is impossible to hold unto tension, or to think about things that you cannot change.  If any such thoughts linger, then standing on front of this waterfall sweeps those thoughts away.  It looks different based on the time of the day, and with the snowmelt or rainfall.  And, it looks completely different (as does the whole drive) without leaves.  I love the little falls in the middle of the much larger falls.

The Nooksack stormed down the valley, and while not at flood stage, it was considerably higher than I have seen it this fall.  It was higher yesterday, and it must have been something.  In one place I could see that the river channel had moved more than 50 feet from where it was the last time that was up there.  Trees were uprooted, and rocks rearranged.  Note the clouds.

This storm system is the tail end of what locals call a "Pineapple Express."  Warm air from the Pacific blows into the area, with rain and 30+ MPH winds.  Clouds stream across the sky at speed, and the sun peeks out and then disappears, sometimes within a few moments.  I caught this view of the sun this afternoon.

We have had rain here, which should come as no surprise to anyone.  I have told people how low the clouds can go, but I have not been able to show it in a picture.  I took a drive today and saw this house, almost surrounded by clouds.  It wasn't like this house was in the mountains, either!

Review of the review....

I have heard several good comments about my blog on the recent election. The best comments came from my older sister, whose perceptive comments made me think even more about this.  I do believe that she was basically agreeing with me, but she "localized" the comments.  I pointed out that the country has changed a great deal, and made significant progress to be able to elect Obama.

What she pointed out is that our family has changed a great deal in three generations as well, and in some ways our progress probably is indicative of the changes the country managed.  Certainly my grandparents had less than enlightened views of race.  My parents sometimes reflected their upbringing with unenlightened views that were shocking with our generation's (hopefully) more enlightened historical presentism.  Why this growth?  I would argue it probably happened because of increased opportunities, more education, and other opportunities to open our minds and hearts.  

I seldom quote my former father-in-law, for many reasons.  I often was on the other side of arguments with him, and we often disagreed.  One thing he said to his daughter, Lisa, was that each generation of the Foat family was a little less weird (his words!) than the previous generation.  He was right.  But time and distance has allowed me to realize that he often was right, and more than not, he often did what he did and thought like he did with good intentions and certainly not maliciously.

So each generation, thankfully, is a little "less weird" and more open-minded and more kind and more educated and and and...  Interestingly enough, it was the generations which preceded us, whose faults and shortcomings and closed minds we sometimes notice, who sacrificed so that we could grow and become a nation who could elect Obama.  

The week in review...

I have been thinking a lot about this past week, this historic week.  I do think that we have met the goal promised (threatened?) by the Chinese philosopher  who hoped that we lived in interesting times.  How can it be that a country that won't let gay people get married, still has two or three "different" America's based on class and or color, elect a Black person as president?  Maybe I should rephrase that...thank a higher deity of unknown gender or race that we do live in a country that can do this.  It is indicative of how much progress that this country has made in its 233 years.  It is also indicative of how little progress this country has made that it has taken this long. That we continue to describe our new president elect not by his accomplishments, like Harvard Law school graduate or US senator, but by his race only confirms how far we still have to go.

To continue on a theme I heard on one of the endless hours of commentary, I have to say that I did not vote for Obama, or at least I don't believe that I voted just for Obama.  I think that instead I voted for the millions of people who preceded Obama and made it possible for him to be elected.  I think I voted for all of the people who marched or sat at lunch counters and drank at fountains marked "colored."  I think I voted for the people who went to schools where they weren't welcomed, and for all of the people who have been arrested for DWB.  I voted for all of those who have faced discrimination of any kind.  The election of Obama was a victory for this very intelligent accomplished man, but it was also a victory for the millions who paved the way, and I voted for them just as much as I voted for Obama.

This election will not heal rifts that are historic and real between the races.  But I can't help but think and hope that this is a step in the direction towards healing.  But what a mountain that Obama, the country, and yes, everyone of us faces.  We need to address economic straights that are perhaps as dire as those the country faced in decade beginning in 1929.  We have two wars going on, with 155,000 troops in harms way, and we are spending billions and billions a day fighting these wars, most of which we are borrowing.   Millions still do not have access to decent health care, much less insurance for that health care.  Millions of others, young and old don't even have enough to eat everyday.  And this list could go on.

So why would I feel optimistic about our country at this time?  We have succeeded in transferring power from one president to another, and doing so peacefully, for the 45th time, a string that goes back to 1784.  And we have just done this by electing a first-term senator, a Harvard law grad who is younger than I am.  Oh, and he is Black.  Certainly 13% of the population has to feel empowered, but all of us, black, white, red, brown and the million shades in-between, should feel that way, too.  If we can as a country can make this step towards equality and even more importantly towards equity, then we might, just might, make some steps towards solving all of the other challenges that we face.

Absolutely we live in interesting times.  Thank God.