Dipping my toes in the political fray

Over the summer I mentioned a comment to my father-in-law that a republican friend had made about how creating new gun laws would restrict the God given agency to bear arms. My father-in-law frowned slightly, nodded his head, and said "hmphf" in his thoughtful way. After a moment he augmented his response by adding, "Agency is meant to serve others."

My dad, also over the summer, began sharing a podcast he had heard on the idea of redemptive violence. To give a brief generalization, yes - God does permit violence but "most violence, even divinely assisted violence, sows the seeds for future violence." If we want long term results, assertive compassion is more effective. Love is better. 

I used to follow this blogger named Brad McBride back when he used the pseudonym Middle-aged Mormon Man. But with the addition of kids I don't have the time (or desire) to read his lengthy blog posts. He recently posted on how he decided whom to vote for in the 2020 presidential election. Even thought I hadn't followed him in awhile I was interested to see his thought process because I normal find his spiritual insights uplifting and provoking. This post was provoking - but not in an uplifting way. It did, however, provide insight into how a good percentage of my friends and those that I go to church with think. When reading, I felt strongly that he nit picked policies and doctrine that would fall in favor of the sitting president. It is unlikely that he did so with an open mind (whether consciously or not) but rather a desire to justify his choice. To highlight one of the examples of doctrine McBride provided, he wrote:

I can't vote for candidates or a party who feel that the founding of our Nation is illegitimate and immoral, and condones the defaming of those who did that heavy lifting...

...unless I distance myself from the Lord's involvement: "And for this purpose have I established the Constitution in this land, by the hands of wise men whom I raised up unto this very purpose, and redeemed the land by the shedding of blood." (D&C 101:80)

By "heavy lifting" I am certain that he was referring to early white male property holders, not those in the south who actually did, you know, heavy lifting.  

There are several NPR podcasts that I enjoy listening to, one of which is called Hidden Brain. Two of the more recent podcasts that I have particularly appreciated because of how they approach the times we are living in and what I am experiencing in my life were on implicit bias and moral combat. In summary, every one is biased. Understanding that you are biased and recognizing what your bias(es) is/are is important. Moral convictions are important however there are "...intense emotions that accompany them, [a] disinterest in evidence, [a] distrust of authority figures who might challenge them." People will make decisions based on the evidence of their feelings. People will disregard information that contradicts the conviction even if provided with peer-reviewed evidence from a leading expert. 

And I think that sums up American politics. The polarization, the strict moral lines that have been drawn. To compromise or listen to someone with a different conviction is to show weakness. 

In February a man named John Pavlovitz posted an article that summarized my feelings. In 3 Nephi 11:29 it reads: 

For verily, verily I say unto you, he that hath the spirit of contention is not of me, but is of the devil, who is the father of contention, and he stirreth up the hearts of men to contend with anger, one with another. 

In Matthew 22:37-39 it reads: 

Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

There is a story in the Book of Mormon about a group of people that called themselves the Anti-Nephi-Lehies. They were a group of people who delighted in war but after learning about Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ they decided to bury their weapons in the earth as a symbol of their devotion and change of heart. They recognized that their weapons, for them, would lead to contention. Their love towards their brethren led them to be willing to sacrifice their own lives rather than the life of their enemy. I aspire to have that form of love towards others. The most recent General Conference highlighted the importance of caring for each other and working to be united (despite our differring moral convictions and biases).

And that's how I decided whom to vote for. I picked the candidate that I felt would encourage the most peace, compassion, and understanding of the diverse community we are fortunate to live in.

Tangent (I wasn't sure how to fit this in): I am not much of a socialist but I think it's a better form of economy than capitalist greed. I also feel that many people in the US associate capitalism with democracy - that to have a good democratic government we need capitalism. That is not true. 

Done, Week One

School officially started this last week. It's all online, which considering our present circumstances is good. Had it been in-person I would have continued with homeschooling. My only other experience with online public school is from when the lock-down first happened, this last March through May. I was less than impressed and took advantage of the online resources that were made available because of the lock-down to provide Hulk with a more meaningful scholastic experience. When deciding what to do for this next school year I was optimistic that the previous experience was a result of the suddenness of the stay-at-home order and that since the school system had had all summer to prepare things would be better.

They are and they aren't. Hulk's second grade teacher has spent this last week reviewing letter sounds and numbers. This is frustrating because, by second grade, the majority (if not all) of the students in the class should be reading and doing math. If she wants to review, go over sight words and simple addition/subtraction (like 1+1). So I feel it's a waste of Hulk's time to sit there and sound out letters. He seems bored. There is also a plethora of emails - Hulk has six teachers. His has his regular second grade teacher then there's a teacher for music, gym, art, media, and a counselor. All of these people have assignments for him to do. In some cases he needs to use several different web sources. I feel like he's started college.  But I'm the one that's exhausted from trying to keep track of everything.

Every night we go through this slew of information together to make sure he hasn't missed any assignments, I write down what he needs to do and then he checks it off when finished. For kids who don't have parents or guardians able or willing to do that for them I imagine this online system of schooling is overwhelming. The homework that his teacher gives is too easy for him (he has told me this himself, gleefully, which was his mistake). So when I write out what he needs to do I make it more challenging. For example: instead of writing four sentences about his first week of school, he needs to write six. Instead of listing ten nouns, he needs to list twenty. Etc.

Fortunately school is only three hours a day, though he probably spends about that same amount of time each day doing the homework assignments. Because school is half day (and when he does his homework is flexible) this gives us freedom to do things as a family - like the zoo or museums. I also signed Hulk up for a bunch of free online classes that the Cincinnati Observatory is hosting for kids. Also, his online schooling is only four days a week. This gives an extra day to catch up on homework and I plan to create a special weekly Spanish curriculum for us to do on his off day. So it's not all bad. 

At the end of the week we decided to stay home, slow down, and have a tea party. Viking Girl had been requesting one all week but we'd been too busy with Hulk's school work.

And I'm pretty sure the only reason Hulk came to the party, instead of play with his legos, was for the food ;)

While the cats away, the mice will play

At the end of June I took the kids, with my mom, on a cross-country road trip to socially distance visit family in Oregon. Nearly all of our family and friends are in Oregon. When we visit, it is a marathon trip of fitting in as many visits with as many different people as we can while also trying to show off the amazing state to our kids. Because of the current pandemic, this year was very different. We kept our social bubble small and limited our visit to only our parents and siblings. No cousins, no friends, and no grandparents. I think I am most upset about not being able to visit my grandparents (J's only living grandparents reside in southern Florida). I recognize that they are reaching in the end of their biological clock and I would like my kids to have memories of them. 

J flew out to meet us and we drove back together. We took our two fur babies with us, Simba (our eleven year old orange tabby cat) and Link (our two year old gerberian shepsky dog). I often travel around town with Link so he handled the long stretches in the car like a champ. Simba on the other hand cried nearly the whole time and wanted to live under the driver's seat (which we did not feel was a safe place for him or us). Towards the end of the drive we finally figured out how to make the trip more pleasant for him (and subsequently us). 

When we got back to our home in Ohio we found that a family of mice had moved into our house. Droppings were all over the kitchen and stashes of seeds were in the closets. I instructed Simba to get to work on the mice while I cleaned up their mess. 

Before we had left for Oregon, Cincinnati was still locked down. Things had begun to open up while we were away and after our return I set up visits to the Cincinnati Museum Center, the Zoo, and the Art Museum (which we will visit a week from today). 

The Museum Center is usually full of people and bustling with energy. But due to restrictions it's functioning at like 25% capacity and we felt like the only people there. It was both sad and nice. The Children's Museum in the basement is still not open. I hope things have stabilized enough by December for it to open because my kids love the holiday themed displays but I recognize there are bigger issues happening in our country right now than if my kids get to ride a Christmas train or not.   

Outside Union Terminal

The Zoo felt crowded compared to the Museum Center. We went early because the train had opened and I was worried there would be lines. I hate lines. Turns out that I shouldn't have worried about the lines for the train because everyone was instead queuing to go into the newly opened Roo Valley (where kangaroos roam free! Apparently, I have no idea because after waiting forever in line at Hulk's insistence they were all in their shed to escape the heat). We came up with a game plan for the next time we visit: go early, hit Roo Valley first (before the heat and the plethora of people so hopefully the kangaroos will be out), and then visit the train - seeing other animals along the way, obviously. We don't go to the zoo just for the train. 

But honestly we kinda do. 

And I let my kids visit Fiona for the first time in a year because there was no line to see her. Why people will stand in line to visit a hippo is beyond me. 

Kinda like how people will stand in line to visit a kangaroo.

I hate lines.

The Mess Maker Making His Escape

Teddy Bear is at the age where he's opening all the cabinets he can reach and pulling everything out. 

Normally I don't mind. 

I have never minded.  But to be fair, Hulk and Viking Girl were never really interested in what I kept underneath the sink. I remember showing them how to open cupboards, pulling out pots and pans, and then giving them a spoon so they could make their own little drum set. They would indulge me for two seconds and then crawl away. 

Not Teddy Bear. My kitchen is now a war zone with potatoes, onions, pots, and lids strewn all over the place. 

Hulk hates it. Whenever Teddy starts opening cupboards I hear Hulk yell, "Mom! He's getting into the pots! He's going to break something!" To which I reply, "they're made of metal, I would be impressed if he did break them." Disgusted with my lack of response Hulk then takes it on himself to move everything he deems breakable out of Teddy's reach. 

Today, Teddy finished his breakfast before Hulk and Viking Girl. I then set him on the floor to roam and explore. He made his way over to the pantry. After taking a bite out of one of the sweet potatoes kept on a shelf next to the pantry, he opened the door and started playing with the assortment of oil and vinegar bottles I keep on the bottom shelf. Hulk watched and expressed his concern for the glass vinegar bottles. I asked him to not worry while I tried to slice a peach for my breakfast. 

A moment later Hulk rushes over to Teddy and exclaims that Teddy had removed the lid for the olive oil. I thanked Hulk for stopping Teddy, secretly impressed that Teddy had managed to remove the lid. I assumed that some olive oil would have leaked onto the floor (it was a brand new bottle that I had opened not two days before) but it wasn't until I closed the pantry door and saw the big puddle in front of the kitchen door that I realized the extent of the mess that Teddy had made.

I needed to mop the kitchen floor anyways. I just wish he had given me the opportunity to sweep first.

Colorblind

I recognize that racism is a problem in the United States and that people are discriminated against based on how they look. As a white woman raising a boy who would grow up to be a white man in the United States I made the intentional decision to try and teach him to be color-blind. That was my approach to try and teach him to not be a racist. 

When Hulk was born I was working as a tutor for student athletes at Oregon State University. My boss had no problem with me taking him to work (as long as he did not distract the students). The student athlete population is much more diverse than the rest of the University's (or even the state of Oregon's) population. Cincinnati, where we live now, is almost split evenly between white and black residents (49% and 45% respectively). Hulk was one of six white students in his kindergarten class of 20 kids - I counted after a family member commented on the diversity. One of his best friends has a white mom and a black dad and another has a black mom and an Indian dad. He is living a much more diverse childhood than I ever did. Which is great! As I scientist I understand that diversity is important for the health and wellbeing of everyone.

A friend of mine has previously suggested I listen to a podcast called 3 in 30. Previously I had said, "mhmm, sure. When I've got time." But in the interest of educating myself in this defining time of our Nation's history I actually listened when she suggested this specific episode on teaching your kids about racism and bias. This led me down a rabbit hole to another episode on how to teach your kids about skin tone and race and several articles including this one by Negros Who Read. 

To summarize:

By trying to teach Hulk to be colorblind I was preventing natural discussions on the uncomfortable topics of racism and bias. 

Non-racist people can still commit racist acts. 

It's not enough to teach him to not be a racist, I need to teach him to be anti-racist and I can not do that by avoiding conversations on discrimination. 

[insert] lives matter!

A week ago Friday we decided to take advantage of things beginning to open back up and did the only rational thing by socially distancing in the woods. 

Since I use this blog as a family journal I had intended to post about the uplifting experience. 

As we crossed the Brent Spence Bridge going into Cincinnati around 10pm traffic came to a stop. We assumed it was construction and after sitting for several minutes decided to take the longer way home through downtown. The streets of downtown seemed empty and quiet, we assumed it was due to Covid-19, but as we sat at a stop light near the police station we saw protestors. While we were having a great time as a family hiking in the woods, the nationwide outcry against George Floyd's death had begun.

The first few days of protests in Cincinnati saw some damage to buildings and looting downtown with police responding by gassing people but since then they have been peaceful. Today, the 10th consecutive day of protests, saw over 4,000 people gathered downtown. It's incredible to see people come together especially since Cincinnati has a history of racial discrimination in their police department.  

After the first day of protesting the city started a curfew which was first 8pm, then 9pm, and for the last several days has been 11pm. I have managed to break curfew every night while taking Link for a run. 

That's my privilege of living in a relatively quiet part of town.

A year ago, if you had told me "Black lives matter" I would have responded, "yes, and brown, and white - all lives matter." I believe all life has value and God loves each of us the same. I don't know why I was born white while someone else was born black but I know that God loves us equally, irregardless of color or nationality, and that I should do the same.

So when George Floyd's death made the news, J and I were saddened though we didn't see it as "racial discrimination" case but as a "police brutality" case. What was the officer doing kneeling on the George Floyd's neck for almost nine minutes? He wasn't resisting arrest, he wasn't acting threatening, why was he even on the ground? The national publication of his death, to us, seemed racially charged because white people are killed by cops and black cops kill people too. 

Cue this video:

Person A - "Hey, what are you doing?" 

Person B - "Oh, this house is on fire so we're going to go help them. We're going to go put out the fire."

A - "Well, what about my house?"

B - "What?"

A - "What about my house? Doesn't it matter?"

B - "Is your house on fire?"

A - "No, but like it still matters."

B - "Nobody said that it didn't. It's just that this house is on fire and people's lives are at stake. We want to do something about it."

A - "Oh, ok, all houses matter!"

B - "What?"

This is an argument that I understand. By saying, "black lives matter" I am not saying that black lives are more important, I am recognizing that there is an endemic (where people of color are 2.7 times more likely to be killed by police) and until it is addressed all lives can't matter. 

However, I have several friends that have been openly criticizing the protests and one friend in particular whom I respect saying, "all lives matter." This friend is a blue-collar worker who lives in a part of town that sees a higher percentage of criminal activity which is committed by a higher percentage of black people. His family, already struggling financially, was hit hard by the pandemic as his son lost his job and our friend's work hours were cut back. The discrimination that black people receive by others (in general, not by police) are what he experiences due to his profession, lack of high school education, and where he lives. To him, saying "black lives matter" probably feels like, "your struggle is not as important" and that, once again, the upper classes of society are forcing their beliefs and expectations on him. Telling him that "black lives matter" only results in pushback (and an invitation to unfriend him on facebook). 

I am amazed by how people have come together this past week, large organizations are listening. In a way, the Covid-19 pandemic needed to happen for the protests to have the fuel and strength to cause people to come together the way that they have. Now, how do you reach people (like my friend)?

Campbell's Kitchen: a take on my favorite dish

When we lived in Oregon there was this peanut sauce that I would buy from WinCo (aka the best store ever) to use in my stir-fries. Aldi does not have the same brand and the few peanut sauces I have come across have not been as good; so I have taken it upon myself to try and create a good peanut sauce.

I have yet to succeed. 

My latest attempt was exactly two weeks ago.

I found a site online, scrolled through the obnoxious obligatory ten pages of back story and ads to get to the recipe (just kidding, this website got straight to the point which I appreciate), and got to work.

I was super excited for this recipe because it included quinoa and coconut (two of my other favorite foods) with the peanut butter and tofu dish I was trying to recreate.

Early in the day I pulled the tofu out and placed it on towels between two plates with a container of flour on top because I am basically MacGyver in a kitchen.When it was time for me to start cooking dinner the tofu was really dry, which makes a nice crispy tofu when cooked.

The recipe only called for broccoli but I am a rebel and I love eating the rainbow so I chopped up yellow squash, zucchini, and carrots. Also, broccoli doesn't last long in this house (my kids looovvve it) so I didn't have any. 

For the sauce, I also didn't have any rice vinegar, so I used white. Or soy sauce. Apparently it was a bad week for my kitchen basics so I used lemon juice instead. But I doubled everything the recipe called for because I like a lot of sauce with my vegetables and tofu.

The recipe said to mix everything until incorporated. The peanut butter in my sauce never completely became smooth. Probably because I used a spatula instead of a whisk but more likely because I only spent two seconds trying to blend it in before I decided to move on with my life.

I doubled the amount of quinoa because there's no such thing as too much quinoa and I decided to use my smallest pot because I also like to live on the edge. I am pleased to report that, despite rising to the lip of the pot, it did not boil over.

When cooking the coconut I became distracted (probably by a small child, I don't remember it was two weeks ago) and burned it. Instead of throwing it out and starting over I decided to just go with it because it wasn't that burned and coconut is amazing. Also I am cheap and grew up poor so throwing food out is really hard for me to do.

After burning the coconut I cooked the tofu in some olive oil in the same cast iron pan (I love that pan), when the tofu was done I pulled it out and cooked the vegetables for a few minutes before pouring in the sauce and letting that simmer until thickened.

When finished, I served up the food and then tried to maintain composure when my kids stoped eating and decided they did not like the dinner I had prepared and they had been enjoying when J came in from work and made a disparaging remark on the food.

It was delicious. 

Promise.

I just happened to be married to a philistine. 

But I am still on a mission to find a recipe that he will not try and then say, "do you remember that peanut sauce that you used to make when we lived in Oregon?" And then I have to explain for the up-tenth time that we DO NOT have that brand of peanut sauce at Aldi. I guess I could try Kroger or Walmart but I just love that feeling of disappointment when my family tells me that they don't like my cooking.

My next attempt will be with this recipe (because honestly, that bok choy looks amazing). 

The Masked Singer: Season 3 Finale

J and I don't watch a lot of television.

We don't even have a tv.

What we do have is a computer, the password to his parents' Netflix and Xfinity accounts, and no shame. We take comfort in the fact that J's siblings also pirate off his parents' accounts but his older sister pays for Hulu and shares her account with his parents so that's more of a symbiotic relationship compared to our purely parasitic one.

Occasionally we decide to follow a show together. For the last year it has been The Masked Singer. I found it when a cousin started sharing the first season on Facebook (#socialmedia works). A few youtube videos later I introduced it to J, we discovered it was on Xfinity and have been following along when we have the time (and remember) ever since.

The show is Dancing With the Stars meets American Idol with costumes so you have no idea who the celebrity is until they're voted off. The show is taped (not air lived) so only the in-studio audience may vote on who they think was the best performer. J and I will try to guess who the audience will vote off but we will also discuss who we personally think was the best. J tends to judge based on how well they sang, I like a good performance and will forgive a weak singer so long as they're energetic and fun.

Night Angel (aka not the best performer of the season)

We finally watched the finale of season 3 yesterday and while we have been disappointed in some of the episodes before this is the first time that we have been disappointed in their season finale. The episode before the season finale there were four contestants left: three men and a woman. Each contestant shared what it would mean for them to win with the woman (Night Angel) saying that it would mean that she was the first female to win the competition. At that point J said, "she's going to win".

Kitty (aka better vocals than Night Angel)

While Night Angel was not wrong, she was the first woman to win, she was not the best singer. In fact, she should have been voted off several episodes previously. Kitty is a better singer than her. Every time Night Angel performed J and I were both, "eh, that wasn't my favorite".
EVERY TIME.



In (I think) the final clue package Night Angel shared that she used to be in a girl group but could not make it as a solo artist. Based on her performances we are not surprised.

Frog and Turtle
(aka better performers than Night Angel)

Turtle and Frog were consistently my favorites throughout the season and I am so upset that one of them did not win (so much so that I am actually taking the time to dedicate a blogpost to it). J was not as emotionally attached to any one performer as I was but he is also disappointed.

Now to make a political statement:
We both feel that the only reason Night Angel won was because she's a woman.
Voting on the show (like in politics) should not be done based on gender.
There's a former Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, who said, "There is a special place in hell for women who don't help other women." I feel like there should be an asterisk,  It does not help women if they are given a job or award that they do not actually deserve. In some ways, that is actually sexist.

Reverents

In the tradition of posting our sacrament talks on this blog I wanted to post the talk that Hulk gave today during our family sacrament. This is the second talk that he's given during this period of social distancing and he's given a handful of talks during Primary over the years. So while this is the first time I have posted one of his talks on the blog this is by no means his first talk.

I am very proud of the responsibility he takes over his talks. When planning church last night I asked if he wanted to give a talk today, he said yes. This morning he picked out his topic and wrote the talk himself with some help from J. When he gave his talk he stood up in front of us, smiling and eager to share what he had written.

I may have cried. (happy tears, of course):

Sunday May 24, 2020

Today I want to talk about how we can be reverent. Reverence is when we be quiet so we can listen to the Spirit. There are several ways we can be Reverent. First, we keep our hands to our self and we fold our arms. We sit quietly and listen to who is talking. We don’t wiggle and for prayers we close our eyes.

In my family we started doing reverence time to practice being more reverent. We use a timer for about one min. when we get older we can be reverent for an hour.

I know when we are reverent we will be blessed.

I know the church is true and I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ amen.

My Commencement Address to 2020

When I graduated from high school it seemed like the common sentiment was, "We did it!"
The feeling behind that sentiment was that we had accomplished something difficult and that this was the greatest thing we had ever done.

Real talk now.

High school is easy. Now, before you start let me clarify: for the GENERAL PUBLIC all you have to do to graduate high school (4.0 GPA aside) is go to class and do the bare minimum of work.
That's it.
Anyone can do it.

Now, I realize that there are students with extenuating circumstances. They are the exception. They deserve the commencement speech by Oprah Winfrey or Malala Yousafzai.

But for everyone else, graduating high school has become some over celebrated and over exaggerated symbol of entrance into adulthood.

If graduating high school is the hardest and greatest thing that you have ever done than you have failed at life.
You peaked in high school.
And that's sad.
No one wants to peak in high school.

There are students who worked hard in high school. There are students who take AP classes, a 5:30am seminary class, run with the track team in the morning, practice with the swim team in the evening, work part time as a life guard, and teach piano lessons in their spare time.

What all of that does is teach you how to work hard because the hardest and greatest thing you do is what you do with your life. You could coast into college or trade jobs thinking that your life is going to get easier from now on. But it doesn't. In some ways it gets a lot harder.

And when you've finished college or training for trade jobs you can think that life is going to get easier now that you'll never have to learn again.

But you'd be wrong. Again.

Our lives are meant to be hard. We grow from challenges.

We learn from challenges. And that is what we are meant to do.

Learn.

Little Viking Girl Gets Her Own Bike

As we were driving around town yesterday we passed a house with a vacuum cleaner, a small kid's bike, and a sign that said "This stuff only free".

I jumped out of the car to look at the bike.
Little Viking Girl has been ready for a bike but:
1. bike's cost money (I did find some for $30-40 on craigslist)
2. we don't give gifts that are unnecessary or that expensive unless it's a birthday or Christmas

We've been biding our time. I think some part of me was hoping that Hulk would out grow his bike so we could give it to her and then buy him a new(ish) one. He's going to outgrow his bike soon and this way we would only have to buy one bike.

Thankfully Corona Claus was watching out for her. The bike chain looked good so we took it home, pumped up the tires, put Hulk's old training wheels on, and took Viking Girl down the street.

She was so excited the whole time. When I brought the bike over to the car her face just lit up and she exclaimed, "My bike!"
She knew.
She has wanted one for a long time.
After we got home, the first thing she wanted to do was ride the bike. When she's excited or wants something done right away she tries to be super helpful.
Which is not helpful.
At all.
(She's only two after all)

But I want her to be helpful so I try to remember to take a deep breath, slowdown, and let her "help".
She took to biking like a natural. She's my athlete.

The One With All the Scare-coronas

I happened across an article in the local news about a walking art show in Northside (a neighborhood just northwest of downtown Cincinnati). We have never been to that part of town and taking the kids for a walk to look at other people's yard decorations sounded too good to pass up.

We went.

And we loved it.

On the way back home I commented to J that I like Northside better than the part of Cincinnati that we live in. It feels like a very artistic part of town, it has personality, people were friendly and open to chatting (six feet apart, of course), and it looked like it had a lot of neat shops and restaurants (since we're social distancing and didn't have our face masks we didn't go inside any). Much better than the ugly strip malls that we never go to in our part of town.
When all this is over I want to go back.

In typical Cincinnati fashion it has been hot and humid the last couple days.
Hulk was dying during the walk.
Viking Girl actually stayed in the stroller (never happens).
And Teddy took a nap (typical).

I am grateful for a community that was willing to creatively express their frustration.
I am grateful for the friendly people sitting outside their houses willing to chat with us.
I am grateful that we live in such a diverse town.

And now here's a picture dump:

And my sentimental favorite <3