Is It Time? by Liz Flaherty

Gallery 15 Photo by Sarah Luginbill

Thanks to everyone who joined in the "Night at the Gallery" last night. It was so much fun seeing and talking to people, laughing a lot (and maybe occasionally inappropriately), seeing old and dear friends, and meeting friends I hadn't met before. Plus there was food. I just love food. 

I don't have a plan for the Window today. Like many others, I'm more consumed than I like by the upcoming election. Following the news and social media is like watching a movie you don't really like that much but feel compelled to see how it ends. 

There are two sides to that coin, of course. I like and am fascinated by politics. I like the two-party system, abhor gerrymandering and the electoral college, and am sick to death of having our financial strings pulled by people who never have to choose between buying groceries and paying the mortgage. 

That aside, I know we need  much more rain than the teaser we got the other day, but I swear this is the most beautiful autumn I can remember. The temperatures are wonderful, the foggy mornings are inviting, and the show the sun puts on at both ends of the day is amazing. We got a glorious viewing of the Northern Lights (if we remembered, but those pictures were wonderful if we didn't) and so many opportunities to look at the moon and think it's probably never been so beautiful before. 

I am grateful. 

Readership of the Window has decreased markedly, as in if I were a wailer instead of a whiner, I'd be wailing, No one likes me anymore! Truthfully, I don't think that's it. I have the same friends I've had for a long time, plus some new ones. There are many I can't talk politics with, a few I can't talk religion with, and a quite a few who are a whole lot smarter than I am, but we're still friends.

Once again, I am grateful.

I keep saying it's time to close the Window, but I'm not ready for that yet. Maybe I just need to take it in a different direction, but my internal GPS isn't giving me any ideas. Some days, I think blogging is in a "winter of discontent," but I really don't believe that, either. Times are too exciting and some of us are too hopeful for that to be the case. 

With all this said--without a plan, no less--I'll wind this up and have another cup of coffee. I wish you a good week, good friends, exciting times, and a season of hope. Happy Halloween. Be nice to somebody.