I'm quiet, I don't like crowds. I'm not a marcher. I'm a watcher, I'm a writer, an observer. I wont shout, I hate to impose, create a ruckus. It's just not me.
Still, after breakfast and with Ed's encouragement...
... I brave the drizzle, the insanity of clogged streets and diverted traffic and I join the Madison women's march on the Capitol.
To lend my presence, to up the count.
You know me. I wont engage in political banter here. Besides, I haven't much to add to what has been said elsewhere by wiser people who have done the analysis, studied the facts, engaged with science. But I do feel I cannot stay silent when leaders, the highest ranking leaders of my adopted country speak and lead with venom and impunity. Fear-mongering, exclusion -- these I cannot ignore. I've seen it elsewhere. I've lived through it. I know what's at stake.
And so I march.
For several hours State Street is a sea of marching humankind (close to 100,000 claims one local news source), with hand painted signs and the ubiquitous pink caps, moving mostly quietly, sometimes taking up a chant about democracy, about inclusion.
I am with them.
It's a foggy, wet day. I haven't seen sunshine since my day in the Polish mountains and looking at the forecast, I wont see it for another week at least. On the upside, calendar pages are turning, moving winter on its merry way forward so that the next season can slowly emerge.
In the evening, my granddaughter comes over for pizza and a sleepover. It's a routine she knows: Ed and I catch the evening news, I make up a fresh mushroom and garlic pizza.
Tonight's news is all about the marches around the globe in solidarity with the Women's March on Washington. Snowdrop lends her cheerful support!
We eat pizza...
We play.
And I offer her a new addition to her toy foods -- macarons. I mean, you don't need to go to Paris these days to find macarons!
Snowdrop, it's bedtime!
No, gaga! Not bedtime!
Aren't you tired?
No, not tired!
Sleepy, just a little?
No.
Well I am! Goodnight dear one, goodnight farmette birds and animals. Goodnight hidden moon and cloud covered skies. Good night, good night...
Still, after breakfast and with Ed's encouragement...
... I brave the drizzle, the insanity of clogged streets and diverted traffic and I join the Madison women's march on the Capitol.
To lend my presence, to up the count.
You know me. I wont engage in political banter here. Besides, I haven't much to add to what has been said elsewhere by wiser people who have done the analysis, studied the facts, engaged with science. But I do feel I cannot stay silent when leaders, the highest ranking leaders of my adopted country speak and lead with venom and impunity. Fear-mongering, exclusion -- these I cannot ignore. I've seen it elsewhere. I've lived through it. I know what's at stake.
And so I march.
For several hours State Street is a sea of marching humankind (close to 100,000 claims one local news source), with hand painted signs and the ubiquitous pink caps, moving mostly quietly, sometimes taking up a chant about democracy, about inclusion.
I am with them.
It's a foggy, wet day. I haven't seen sunshine since my day in the Polish mountains and looking at the forecast, I wont see it for another week at least. On the upside, calendar pages are turning, moving winter on its merry way forward so that the next season can slowly emerge.
In the evening, my granddaughter comes over for pizza and a sleepover. It's a routine she knows: Ed and I catch the evening news, I make up a fresh mushroom and garlic pizza.
Tonight's news is all about the marches around the globe in solidarity with the Women's March on Washington. Snowdrop lends her cheerful support!
We eat pizza...
We play.
And I offer her a new addition to her toy foods -- macarons. I mean, you don't need to go to Paris these days to find macarons!
Snowdrop, it's bedtime!
No, gaga! Not bedtime!
Aren't you tired?
No, not tired!
Sleepy, just a little?
No.
Well I am! Goodnight dear one, goodnight farmette birds and animals. Goodnight hidden moon and cloud covered skies. Good night, good night...
