The Words That Come Before All Else

Some blessings are easier to give thanks for than others, but making the effort to be grateful, even for our scars, always seems to be worthwhile. By some curious alchemy, the act of giving thanks converts suffering to wisdom and makes valuable the apparently pointless. A thankful acceptance of life and the world are given traditional expression in the UpNorth Gallery, in the form of the "Ohenton Karihwatehkwen," the Thanksgiving Address, illustrated by fifth and sixth grade students from the Akwesasne Freedom School.

A Break from the Weather

Like many fine wines, I do not travel particularly well. So I was anticipating last week's e-marketing conference in Boston with mixed feelings. Late fall driving in the North Country is always a crapshoot, and the region-wide winter storm prompted me (a little guiltily) to bail out. I had almost forgotten the pleasures of playing hooky. We baked mental health food--cookies with Ghirardelli chocolate chips; we rented five-five-five at the video store. We dit'n do nuthin. And my own bed--flannel sheets--oh yeah.

Cleaning Up My Karma

I have frequent wildlife encounters in my kitchen. For years I have bought the mousetraps (of which there are none better) and had the unpleasant duty of adding tiny forlorn corpses to the household trash. This fall, during the first cold snap (known, no doubt, as the beginning of the "season" to the frequenters of my rodent resort), I invested in a live trap, hoping to shorten my sentence in hell. Now my morning chore takes me out into the fresh air, down the trail between the deer droppings in the back pasture, to perform an act of liberation. There is just this niggling suspicion--that each morning I am releasing the same mouse, who regards a long walk and a warm night in stir as a fair trade for sharp cheddar.

Bearing Up

Leaving the station at 2 am following election night duty, I drove at forty, half-blind through unsanded slush. How does the snow always take me by surprise every year? My mammologist friend "Batman" thinks mongooses that are being pushed into habitat higher and higher up mountainsides may be learning how to hibernate. I find that enormously encouraging, considering the power of my annual November blues. Wake me when the lilacs bloom.