Wednesday, November 5, 2008

A Day for the History Books! And Indian Summer in Northeast Ohio.

What can you say about yesterday, November 4, 2008, that hasn't already been said? It's a day that will go down in American and world history. I fell asleep as history was being proclaimed last night--around 11PM Eastern Standard Time. Then the phone rang--Carolan calling me from Colorado to tell me the news. I was groggy and she was jubilant. Luckily I was able to get to the television to hear Barack Obama's speech. I was especially impressed by his message to those who didn't vote for him. He promised to listen to their voices, to be their president too. I hope he is indeed a unifier, a person who will bridge the political chasm. I was also proud to see Joe Biden on the stage, a man of Irish-American heritage and a Catholic. He will be only the second Catholic in the White House. Oddly, it feels as if my tribe is taking over the reigns of power (and it's funny to say this because Barack is a genuine Black-American and I am, at most, maybe Black-Irish (as my Dad used to say--he thought we had Spanish or Moorish (North African) blood via our Irish heritage)). I guess I can say, a bit ironically, "I'm Black and I'm proud!"

Indian Summer. Today is the sweetest, most gorgeous day of the year in Northeast Ohio. I spent my lunch hour walking through a Lake County MetroPark, Penitentiary Glenn. Where is there a more beautiful forest? Though we are past our autumn color peak, the colors here were still incredible. Mostly yellows, with bronzes, a bit of red, and some browns. I saw a crabapple tree in perfect sunshine, all yellow leaves with the reddest crabapples all over it. I saw beech, sugar maple, and glorious red and chestnut oaks. There were yellow sassafras trees, gigantic basswood trees, red maple, and many species I couldn't identify. Along the edge of the trail was the steep ravine, with lots of Canadian hemlock along the rim and slopes. A glorious cloudless blue-sky gentle day in Northeast Ohio.

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