Saturday, November 7, 2026

     I can’t stop listening to the news, reading the times paper, all about the election experiences. Change happens so quickly just as the Berlin Wall fell in a day, the republicans fail in one day. The gates of possibility are open for all of us.

     I eat a pear with my breakfast this morning. My roommate has been shopping and now we have a variety of pears in the kitchen. In my childhood yard we had a pear tree giving us fruit each fall.

     My roommate does the library run on Friday. More unread books stare at me from the dining room table. Choose me, choose me they whisper.

     We are watching GILDED AGE, a colorful view of unhappy wealthy women. I guess it is a change from the murder mysteries I like to watch. We also watch NORTH BY NORTH, season two about women living in the snow and ice. I start reading the New Yorker’s article about the history of the border patrol and ICE.  I stop, it is too painful and grim for me.

 

Friday, November 6, 2026

     We can’t stop smiling and laughing as we eat our Pizza lunch together. Four friends who meet frequently, are giddy with joy as we remind ourselves we won the election and life is going to be better after years of deceit and corruption.

     I have an hour wait to pick up my roommate.  I sit in the car listening to the latest Ezra Klein podcast. More excitement and hope.

     I am parked on Cass street, wondering what is it that is off in the neighborhood. It’s the tall electricity poles running up and down each side of the street.  Wires stretched between poles but are not visibly attached to the buildings. Oh, the connecting wires must be underground.

     In the evening, we follow the standoff happening at the Monterey County jail between ICE thugs and a large group of protestors and legal observers. Later we watch a new episode of NORTH TO NORTH, the delightful Canadian series set in a small arctic community. I am intrigued with Tea Obreht’s new book, SUNRISE.

 

Thursday, November 5, 2026

     OK I have celebrated enough now. I reach my limit of news watching. Change is going to happen but it is slow. The election is fast and exciting. Now it is time to assess the damage and start the long term repairs to our country.  No more war, no more tariffs, no more ICE, no more vanity construction projects, no more lies and corruption. Easy to say, hard to do.

     Outside this morning sirens and dogs barking. The sun is warming the day. Still, I am in my winter warm clothes.

     I am continuing with my exercise project. I lie on my bed and go through the leg exercises.  Later I pace on the back deck, back and forth checking out the neighborhood and the high School. I can hear the sounds of amplified announcements but not the actual words. The tomatoes are still growing.

     We watch THE GILDED AGE in the evening.  The only violence is in the words and hurt feelings of the characters. I also am watching MAIGRET, A PBS French detective show in English. Wonderful pictures of Paris. I am not reading so much this week, too much TV news watching. Too much excitement in the elections. We are all waiting to see what the President will do next.