Skip to main content

Being Thankful

        Hey everyone!  Did you know that this page now has a companion Facebook page?   It will have articles, memes and such that interest me that relate to this page but don't really apply.  Be sure to check it out

 

  Let's be honest, 2020 has been one very odd and stressful year.

    Covid hung over Thanksgiving this year like some weird creepy Uncle that the kids shouldn't be left alone with.   In our family, we ended up having two Thanksgiving dinners.  One with my brother and family on the 21st, the other with Sue's family on the 26th.   

    This has been our first Thanksgiving together with our families in over 15 years.  When we lived in Florida we would come home for Christmas normally, but as children grow and things change, even that holiday seemed to fall by the wayside.   

   We often invited friends that didn't have family in the area or some of the elderly folk over for Thanksgiving dinner when we lived in Florida.  That became a tradition.

    Now however, we were back in Western Pennsylvania and could celebrate with family...sort of.   Which is why we two dinners on two different days.   We were trying to limit the exposure for all parties as much as possible for all parties involved.

    So, I thought I would share with you what I'm grateful for.

  • Family Love.  - Yes, it's is an old saying, but with the loss of my mother earlier this year and some things that have happened it showed me a few things.   When we moved we had friends show up to help load and unload trucks.   We have been very thankful to be surrounded by both biological and extended family.  
  • My Job - No joke, I had my doubts about moving back to PA.  I have a great job and have quickly advanced through the ranks at it.  The company recognizes and advances good work and workers.   In some ways moving home means starting over...but the company has bent over backwards to accommodate me in the last two difficult years.   I appreciate that.  No wonder people spend an average of 20 years with the company.  I have no doubt that I will retire from it.
  • The Homestead - Once again, I had my doubt about the rural lifestyle.  I was born and raised about 75 minutes south of here, in the suburbs of Pittsburgh.   I like city and suburban life, with its easy access to work, public transportation, and a 1001 food choices.   Here, I have learned to appreciate the quiet, the fact that I can look up into the sky and see the stars and constellations of my youth.  I have learned more about wood in a short time period than I would have learned in a lifetime, and have already had new experiences that I would have simply not had if we lived anywhere else. 
  •  

     I don't know what the future here will bring, However I do know that I'm looking forward to it.  With open eyes and an open heart.  I will have some bad days here.  I've no doubt that I will cuss and sweat and question if this is the life I wanted, much less choose.   It is however the life that I have and I'll accept that. 

    Honestly I don't know what 2021 will bring, in the back of my head I fear the worst.  My back ground is in the Sciences and I'm worried about the future, which is one reason why I agreed to move back up north.   It's only going to get worse before things like global warming even start to get better..   

    I do believe things can and will get better, which is one of the reasons I'm here, to help bring about that small change.  We all have to make small changers now, so the bigger changes will not be that drastic...and they will have to be made.  


Comments

What all the cool kids are reading.

Why didn't Erie, PA develop into a bigger city?

          Recently I had to travel up to Erie, PA for business.   It's about an hour north of me and is a rather small city, having just under 100 thousand people living in it.   It played an important role in the founding of America,  - where it was the headquarters for Oliver Perry's flagship Niagara during the battle of Like Erie in the war of 1812 .            It was also a important shipping center, being Pennsylvania's only access to the Great Lakes which was the easiest way to trade with parts of Canada at the time as well as move goods to the cities of Detroit and Chicago, which in the mid to early 1800's were just starting to develop.  It was also directly north from Pittsburgh which was a major industrial city at that time.     Yet Erie never really grew beyond it's humble beginnings and I wondered why.   Like any good sleuth I turned to the intern...

Paradigm shifts and Project 2040

In 1906, Alfred Henry Lewis stated, “ There are only nine meals between mankind and anarchy. ” His observation has been echoed by people ever since and changed a bit over time, but has remained a stark warning. Only anarchy the way most people think of it rarely occurs.  We have found that people are more likely to band together when their communities face some sort of disaster, be it from war, plague or natural disaster.   We are all too familiar with pictures and videos of communities digging through the rubble of bombed buildings searching for survivors...but how many of us remember the moments during the Covid epidemic of people singing from their balconies?   When you have a community; people will always help people.  Despite these bleak times the things that make us human - our compassion - will see us through. Recently my life changed due to issues with a car .  While, in the scheme of things it was a minor crisis it did make me think if things coul...

A bit of foraging....in praise of the lowly dandelion and other ramblings.

 I consider myself a researcher.   Meaning that I find something of interest and I have to learn all I can until that research itch is satisfied.   I've actually made a career out of it in some ways.  Hopefully not dressed like this Foraging for food has never really interested me much.  I have a passing interest in it because of my desire to make my yard into a edible lawn.   For example I planted an edible (although non native) dogwood tree.  I'm planting or have planted a variety of native perennial fruits and veggie's.  It is an ongoing process, simply because in the back of my mind some post apocalyptic traveler will come across this and have nourishment for a few days. I have identified and used purslane, sheep and wood sorrel, curly dock and; what I believe is fiddlehead ferns in my yard before.  However not being 100% sure about the fiddlehead fern, it's not made it into a dish or salad yet.   Some ferns look...