Too early for winter

It is not the end of November and we are in for yet another night of freeze warnings. I cover the salad beds with old sheets and hope for the best. I leave the collards out to fend for themselves. Frosts and freezes so many nights have taken their toll on our gardens. In all other years we never had cold weather before New Year's. We live on the edge of a major swamp wetland! And it is dry, all the creek beds are overtaken with dog fennel, that first harbinger of micro climate change.
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and we are having a whole passel of folks, some family and others. We'll have the turkey and the vegetarian alternatives and all the fixings we traditionally serve. We'll dig turnips and pick collards and lettuce for the meal. We'll put the big kitchen table out in the hall to accommodate everyone and the turkey will be browned and lovely.
This year, 2008, has been amazing! Much to be thankful for. People I love are alive and some have passed on to a better place. Children have been born. In our family there have been many milestones: Dan and Inia will be getting married next summer. Inia is well on her way to her doctorate and Dan is making his way with distinction as a science teacher. Elizabeth is in her first year in law school and Quincy,her son, now just four, is in his first year in Montessori. Maria and Jay and I have all published books this year. Andy and I stopped flopping around as retirees and now have some purpose. My niece, Grace, has just been accepted at Evergreen College. Lots of good stuff to be thankful for.
But the Big Thing to be thankful for this year is the election of Barack Obama. We are waiting and eager to see how he will handle this enormously difficult time. Never in my lifetime have I had such hope for the future, and never in my lifetime have I ever experienced the prospect of such a change in circumstances for us all.
Now, it is definitally a winter season. Spring will come as it always does. Meanwhile we can all be thankful for what we have.