lightly frosted

These were some photos I took on my morning walk last week. The late fall plants were lightly frosted, and catching the morning sun.

taking the cake

Today is this blog’s birthday, but I didn’t bake it a cake. I took this cake (photo) from a birthday earlier this year.

I’m rather sad that I’ve been neglecting this blog, and blogging in general, including visiting other blogs and interacting with other bloggers. I know a few of my friends are still actively blogging, which makes me happy. And maybe I’ll get back to it again myself. This space was a great creative outlet. Clearly I’m not ready to pull the plug on it entirely.

So, happy birthday to a blog that’s only been mostly dead. (Which is still partly alive.)

Vote well, USA, vote well.

There are a lot of important races and questions on the ballots across the United States for tomorrow’s election. I have become deeply invested in many races, near and far. I have given of my time, my energy, my funds, and so much more. There is a lot at stake.

One question that should not even be up for debate, but has somehow made it onto the ballot in Massachusetts, is about whether my state should maintain protection of the rights of transgender individuals. To protect transgender rights, I hope that my state overwhelmingly votes “yes” on question 3.

If you are a voter in Massachusetts, please vote “yes” on question 3. Please protect the rights of transgender people. (I made made these buttons to show my support.)

Or, as this video so eloquently puts it, “Be a Masshole, not an asshole.”

What are some of the races and questions that you are invested in? There is so very much to care about right now.

Well, that didn’t last long

Remember how on Thursday I grandly announced my intention to blog every day this month? Somehow, my intentions dropped away like so many fall leaves blown away in a wind storm. Sort of like what happened with this Japanese maple tree, seen here on Thursday (red and leafy) and yesterday (bare and largely leafless). I don’t know what sort of intentions this tree had about showing off for the month of November, but I’ll have to say it fell a bit short.

As for me, I guess I’ll just have to pick up from where I left off. (Where I did leave off? Or leaf off?) So, off with the leaving off and dropping out, and in with the sticking things out. And we’ll try again. Even though the tree has to wait until spring to sprout a new crop of leaves, I can see what sort of ideas I can rake up. (But apparently all my ideas tonight have to do with leaves.)

I voted

For the past 10 months or so, I have been eating, sleeping and breathing politics, in particular things related to this year’s election. I can’t even find all the words tonight to say what I’ve been up to, after nearly 11 months of radio silence. Today, I voted, which was a very important thing to do. It was the first time I’ve voted early, so it was a break from tradition. (And somehow today, I also remembered that I had a blog, and that I’ve had a tradition of blogging daily, or at least attempting to do so, every November. We’ll see what I remember to do tomorrow.)

entering the holiday whirl

We got our Christmas tree this weekend, which is remarkably early for us. We even managed to put it up the same day. (There have been years when the tree sits outside for a few days before coming inside.) I got a few photos of the kids decorating the tree, and this one was my favorite. The motion blur was completely unintentional, but it made such a beautiful circular pattern. As one friend commented on Instagram, it captures the feeling of the holidays.

a few last drops

It’s December, and so now I am free of my commitment to daily blogging. But it seems I’ve developed a habit, because I feel compelled to post something. So, here is a photo of a fallen leaf, adorned with water drops. It caught my eye this morning while I walked the dog.

So, I am squeezing out a few more drops of blogging. And just because, I am squeezing otu a few crops of the photo above. Mostly crops of the drops.

Tonight, I think I will start a book. Reading one, that is. And because it’s been a rather emotionally draining day (tax bill vote, I’m looking at you), I’m going to re-read one of my favorite books.