Giving Thanks

As always, there is much to be thankful for.  (For which to be thankful…better grammar, but sounds awkward). For those of us in California this year, we are thankful for the mixed blessing of rain.   Mostly good, because look at the difference in our air quality from last Saturday to today.  I’ve never spent so much time looking at air quality indexes before.  At some point the air quality was over 300, which is extremely hazardous.  In the picture above, it is likely about 185 or so.  The lower picture was good air quality, maybe around 20.  It felt so good to go out and take our first long walk in a week today.  It felt good to not have to wear a mask when we went out.

I say it is a mixed blessing, because while the fire cleans our air, and stops the fires, and quenches the thirst of our plants, and adds water to our reservoirs, it also means flooding and perhaps mudslides in those areas that were burned, as well as making it more difficult to search for remains in burned out houses.  Ugh.  So depressing and horrid.

So, Thanksgiving is a mixed bag, as it always is.  I miss my parents, and my grandparents.  I am thankful for my family, and that Mulder and I were able to take a long walk today, including cheering Ted on while he ran his first 10k race.   Thankful for the wonderful bounty of food and wine and family, I loved it all, and of course, I thought of those that I was missing.