Thanksgiving 2024

Happy Thanksgiving, wherever you are and however it is for you, this day.  For me, it will start as usual at my coffee place, Caribou Coffee, city centre in Woodbury MN.  Later a family gathering here in town.  I have lots of Thanksgiving Days under my belt, so I know they are no ‘cookie cutter’, one to another, year after year, person after person.  I wish you and yours a good day.

My community anchor is the coffee shop, where I’ve been such a regular for 24 years now that they ask “where’s Dick?” if I don’t materialize somewhere around 6 a.m.

I sit alone, by choice.  Next to my table is a large conference table.  Most every Friday, a group of guys appear, one by one.  They’ve been meeting for years, never more than a half dozen, often less, but the gathering seems important to them.  I gather they’re connected by religion, but faith is seldom the focus: the topic du jour is pot luck.  They are friends who enjoy each others company and have for years.

Being next door neighbor, “eavesdropping” is unavoidable.  I take no notes!

A couple of Fridays ago, only one of the group showed up.  I saw him pretty intensely engaged with a sheet of paper, drawing something.  It is below.  I just asked if I could see it, and when I did, could he send me a copy, and then I asked if I could I use it here.  Permission granted.

The image has been useful for me to take a reflective look at myself, and rather than going into that personal reflection, I offer the same opportunity to you at this reflective holiday, as a particularly intense year nears its end, with a more uncertain than normal future ahead, in the near and longer term.

What the artist had to say about the illustration is below, in its entirety.  Some time later, I’ll add my own comment later, at this space.

Have a good ending to 2024.

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Mike H Nov 15, 2024: Dick. Here’s the image I shared with you the other day. It has a duplicity meaning: the light beam, or energy, could be seen as coming out or going in. And the cloud represents the fog surrounding our lives with our God-given talents and life’s purpose shining out on others. I had the energy we draw from our faith in mind when I sketched it. 

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Those in the Twin Cities area of Mpls-St Paul: Friday 11/29 7-9 p.m. Channel 2 rerun of TPT’s very interesting program on the News “Broadcast Wars” among Twin Cities television news stations from the advent of television in the 1940s to the 1980s.  I watched the program last night.  It was extremely interesting.

About mid-December I’ll offer some personal thoughts on politics generally.  There have been (Nov 20 and 22) posts on miscellaneous topics, and there will be similar miscellaneous posts later.  Check back once in awhile.