Sunday Salon, Nov. 6th

Weather: A passable day. Check out the photo above taken this morning from my front yard. I love the contrast of colors- the green grass, the red/gold colors of the leaves, and the blue sky with wispy, white clouds.

Let us Pray: I have felt sick about what is happening on our country concerning the election. Every day I worry and fret, asking "what if?" questions. Today I determined to pray about the outcome, for Hillary, and for all of us. Today’s prayer comes from the book Psalms for Praying by Nan C. Merrill and is a paraphrase of a portion of Psalm 68.

O Beloved, reach into the hearts of your people,

Enter into the darkness of their fears.

A new dawn is rising; great will be the understanding

of those who know love;

The darkness of ignorance will be overcome!

The nations will be united in their diversity,

Living in harmony and with integrity-—

Like the wings of a dove covered with silver,

its pinions with gold.

Then will fear be no more,

Love will reign in every heart.

Yes, the Beloved will empower us with love,

as we face the fears within.

Love ever whispers, “I will break down the walls of illusion,

I will shatter the fears that bind,

That you may walk in a new dawn, 

that you may dance with light hearts

and spread peace throughout the earth.”

Amen.

Tuesday: Thankfully the election is Tuesday. We all vote-by-mail in Washington State so Don and I voted two weeks ago. Now we wait. We will host a small gathering of friends, all Democrats and Hillary supporters to watch the results come in. Here is why I am supporting Hillary: 1. She is intellectual and willing to do her homework (a quality all teachers appreciate).  I want the President of the United States to be the most intellectual person in the room, possibly in the Nation; 2. She cares about all people---children, minorities, people of the variety of religions, people living with disabilities, LGBTQ individuals. 3. She wants everyone to have health care and she wants to make sure that health care decisions are made between doctors and patients, not dictated by the state. 4. I want peace among nations and I am afraid that Donald Trump with his jittery temperament would not be stable enough to be trusted to keep us out of war and able to negotiate peace. 5. It is time for a female President. I believe that Hillary has been judged by a double standard just because she is female. Now we wait for the election results.

Books read this week:

• Still Life With Tornado by A.S.King---I like King's writing a lot but I think she has gone to the well one too many times with similar themed books. In this book Sarah is having an existential crisis related to family secrets (abuse) and her inability to talk about her feelings. I like the book but it is pretty strange.
• Lucy and Linh by Alice Pung---a coming-of-age and multicultural story set in Australia. Lucy earns a full scholarship to an exclusive private school but as the only Chinese student she feels isolated but learns she must make her own way. I liked this book a lot.

Currently reading:

• March Three by John Lewis. The third graphic biography about the great Civil Rights Activist, John Lewis. I just started it.
• In the Shadow of the Banyan by Vaddey Ratner. This is this month's book club selection, set in Cambodia during the reign of the Khmer Rouge. Progress 20%.