“Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.” ~Desmond Tutu (from our walk this morning)
1. Giving Back During the Holidays Is *So* Important — Here’s How To Do It During a Pandemic.
2. The Birds Are Outside on The New York Times. “One bird feeder became two, then three. Months passed.”
3. Social Reproduction and the Pandemic. “The coronavirus crisis has made clear that care and life-making work are the essential work of society.”
4. The pandemic is starving us. Communities — not the government — are stepping up. “26 million Americans now report not having enough to eat; 16 percent of households with children report not having enough to eat.”
5. Turns Out It’s Pretty Good: Fall. “Why are we so skeptical of the things right in front of us? ‘Turns Out It’s Pretty Good’ is a series that examines the path from resisting the well-known to wholeheartedly endorsing it.”
6. New York Bodega Worker Gives Free Snacks To Customers Who Solve His Math Problems. Love these videos, happy to know the back story.
7. Sorting Through a Hoarder’s Lifetime of Clutter, We Learned the Meaning of Love. “When my boyfriend took a job helping a widow clean out her house, among the urine-soaked rugs and years-old piles of laundry, I saw our relationship in a new light.”
9. Wisdom from Krishna Das: “Our lives are the path. There is no ordinary life and spiritual life.”
10. The Thanksgiving Myth Gets a Deeper Look This Year on The New York Times. “For many Native Americans, the Covid-19 toll and the struggle over racial inequity make this high time to re-examine the holiday, and a cruel history.” In related news, 6 Native American and Indigenous Charities to Donate to for Indigenous Peoples’ Day & Thanksgiving.
11. Less Than A Year To Develop A COVID Vaccine – Here’s Why You Shouldn’t Be Alarmed. This is a case where “fast” doesn’t mean lazy or sloppy or careless, it means “this is urgent because people are dying so we have to work really hard and get this done asap.” In related news, Moderna released more Covid-19 vaccine results. They’re very encouraging.
12. Chef David Chang On Depression, Being A Dad And The Burden Of ‘Authenticity’.
13. 7 Great ‘This American Life’ Episodes for Thanksgiving on The New York Times. “From family mysteries and Native American history to stories that delight, here’s what the show’s host, Ira Glass, recommends to get you through the week.”
14. The Losses We Share on The New York Times. “Perhaps the path to healing begins with three simple words: Are you OK?”
15. The Dog Journal That Became a Diary of the Sky.
16. TikToker finds her 2020 goal list from January and well… It’s hilarious.
17. ‘In My Room’ With Aimee Mann. “Aimee Mann celebrated the 20th anniversary of Bachelor No. 2 or, the Last Remains of the Dodo by playing tracks for Rolling Stone’s In My Room.”
18. Wisdom from David R. Hawkins: “Love is misunderstood to be an emotion; actually, it is a state of awareness, a way of being in the world, a way of seeing oneself and others.”
19. Mary Lambert Debuts Breathtaking Holiday Song ‘Seasonal Depression’. Her cover of Joni Mitchell’s “River” is also gorgeous.
20. Normal People Official Playlist on Spotify. As much as I’m enjoying the story, the acting, the visual mood; I’m loving the music.
21. You Made It Weird with Pete Holmes: Hannah Gadsby on Spotify, (podcast).
22. December Reflections with Susannah Conway. “The idea is simply to take a photograph (and share it if you wish) every day in December while reflecting back over the year. I’ve provided a list of daily prompts with a mix of things to photograph — for example: star, red, ornament — and things to ponder.”
23. Charlie Mackesy’s lessons in kindness. If you don’t already know his work, go find out (links are included in the article), it will be SO worth your time.
24. Solitude Is a Life’s Work, a poem by Belén Atienza.
1. Flowers in the bathroom. Eric got me some lily’s for my birthday and I’ve been amazed by them all week — are we absolutely certain that lilies are flowers and not aliens?!
2. Vacation. It’s so weird how I’m not working, but Eric being on a break from his work feels like I’m on a break. I have no pictures of the morning walks this week because Eric has been running with Ringo and taking him to a bunch of different places they don’t usually get to go during the week, while I sleep in a bit and have a leisurely morning. It’s been nice, but I’m also looking forward to getting back to our normal schedule next week.
4. Eric got me a bird feeder. My new favorite pastime is standing at our front window watching the birds, looking up the ones I don’t recognize, being able to name them: chickadees, finch, nuthatches, blue jays. 
5. My tiny family. I’m so so so lucky we like spending so much time together, get along so well. I can’t imagine doing this — a global pandemic, life in general — with anyone else.
Bonus joy: Texting with my mom and brother and Chloe’, hanging out and writing with Mikalina, late birthday presents that mean I get to see a good friend in person even if I couldn’t hug her, the pool (they dropped the cap on aqua aerobic classes to only eight people in the pool and we’ve been wearing our masks even in the water), sitting in the sauna with Eric (wearing masks there too), watching Guy’s Grocery Games with Eric (we finally watched all the Forensic Files episodes and with the election results we are open to thinking about things that are more fun), podcasts, movies, cooking with Eric, laughing with Eric, getting on Zoom with friends we haven’t seen in too long, grocery pickup, online shopping (this year I’m going to try and do all online and ship direct so I keep out of the stores and the post office), getting all the laundry done and put away, my HappyLight, napping, reading in bed at night while Eric and Ringo sleep.
Open Space Practice, (AKA: A Thousand Shades of Gray) 