Well, we did it. The orange menace, our national crybaby and would-be autocrat, has been defeated. I missed venturing out into a celebrating city the way I did in 2008, but I enjoyed the virtual festivities with all my friends on Facebook. And afterwards, I slept like a rock.
Actually, we did have fireworks going off around us all evening, shooting into the air and raining showers of sparkles. I can't honestly say for sure that they were for Biden/Harris -- Twitter and some of the news outlets seemed to think so, but it was the first Saturday after Bonfire Night so it seems like they might have been related to that. But hey, I enjoyed them. Why ask why?
Sally and Mike called us with a video call, and we raised glasses to the new president and VP. Most of my friends on Facebook were pretty thrilled. I really did feel like we were all virtually hugging each other. I have a few Trump-supporting friends who were noticeably silent. One put a sullen comment on one of my posts: "Great, a 3-time loser." Which is a very Trumpian thing to say. Another said that he'd been verbally attacked by some Biden people and was taking down his Facebook account -- I had just enough time to tell him that they were wrong and we all need to work against this poisonous divisiveness, which he acknowledged with a heart before going dark. (He'll be back, I suspect.)
I don't have any illusions that Trump will go easily. We're going to have another couple of weeks of craziness and lawsuits. But I don't see any court in the land making a decision big enough to undo this election. There would have to be fraud on such a massive scale, in multiple states, for which Trump has no evidence -- and then what? A new election? People would never trust the voting process again. It would destabilize democracy.
Anyway, I'm just glad I don't have to keep relentlessly clicking "refresh" on that freakin' online election map.
The "blue skies" of my post title are not just metaphorical. Yesterday was spectacular. Olga and I went to Hampstead Heath, and you'd never know there's a lockdown going on. People were out in droves. The temperature was 56° F (13.3° C) and the sun was shining. I admit I was a little nervous being around so many people, even outdoors, but for the most part I was able to steer around the bigger groups on the paths and sidewalks.
Here's a minute-and-a-half video with some highlights of our walk. You can see the crazy numbers of people out and about in the second segment.
I saw one woman wearing a Christmas sweater -- WAY TOO EARLY! Another woman said to Olga, "Hello handsome!" Poor Olga, always being mis-gendered. A mother, father and teenage daughter walked past me, with the father looking down at his phone and tapping away, and the daughter looking sulky. "Please could you hurry up," the woman said to the daughter trailing behind her, "and smile." (You just know that walk was Mom's idea.)
I'm smiling here. That's all I know.
Lovely autumn colour in the video and there's Olga, up to her usual form, making the most of a pool of water.
ReplyDeleteAlphie
She always seizes the day!
DeleteOh Olga, what a wonderful mud bath!!
ReplyDeleteI too have been smiling at your election result. So pleased for all my American friends.
Nearly everyone I know is so happy. (I do know a few people who aren't!)
DeleteRough grass in the Heath. I like it. Earlier today I pondered, while I can be friends with people who have opposing political views to my own, could I ever be friends with a Trump supporter? I decided no, I could not. That you have FB Trump supporter friends troubles me. Unfriend them. They are just so terribly misguided.
ReplyDeleteSee, I think it's important to maintain those friendships. That human connection and the ability to "reach across the aisle" to each other is the only thing that will save us all, in the end. If we completely dehumanize each other as a faceless enemy we'll end up killing each other.
DeleteSeeing Olga play fills me with joy. And I always love skyline views from open green spaces. I still find myself clicking news sites to see what the Orange Idiot is saying and doing. We've got 70+ days remaining when he can do a lot of damage. Much of it will be easily undone, but it's still going to be an upsetting time. But NOT as upsetting as it would have been had he won. SO happy. I hope the country can heal and Biden and Harris can find ways to bridge the great divide. Trump had four years in which he demonstrated he's a misogynist, racist, homophobic, transphobic, anything-different-from-himselfphobic, lying, cheating, stealing, selfish, narcissistic, oh... you get the idea. I have no sympathy for anyone who still supports Trump.
ReplyDeleteI'm honestly not too concerned about the damage he'll inflict over the next two months. As you said, most of it can be easily reversed, and I think his legal arguments are going to fall on deaf ears.
DeleteWho do Trump and his tribe imagine was the cunning architect of all the rampant electoral fraud? To secretly persuade and hoodwink all those electoral officials would be a feat equivalent to the first moon landing. It is well-known that Trump himself has previously used the postal voting facility in Florida. Was his vote illegal too?
ReplyDeleteI stayed up late to watch Mr Biden and Ms Harris speak to the American nation from Wilmington. It's like a weight has been lifted from the world, a weight that was dragging us down into a pit of arrogance, accusation, carelessness and ignorance. These are hard times and the tasks ahead are both hard and challenging. Good luck to them.
Well, exactly! Like most conspiracies, it would require an incredible cast of characters to pull off, and the likelihood that so many people out there would know something and still remain mum is ridiculous. It's like faking the moon landing -- how could anyone pull that off and keep it secret for 50 years? And yet there are people who believe that's what happened.
DeleteAll the radical sermons and cult members can move on. You know there's many people who like trouble and will support it. For me, it's nerve wrecking. We heard a positive address to the nation last night from Biden/Harris. The world is celebrating with joy. America was built on immigrants and we should have never seen them pushed out and blocked from coming to America. Biden/Harris will work hard to get those children on the border back with their parent. They have a lot of work ahead. I enjoyed seeing all ethnic background of people partying together, other countries dancing with joy and the world has open up again. He will be crying until they throw his ass out of the white house. He still have those powerless goonies like Rudy along side him keeping up radical bullshit. No one is listening. I just hope after he leave office they don't put his face on any news program and all the social medias should cancel his account and all his kids account. We need peace.
ReplyDeleteIt was so great to hear Biden and Harris speak, wasn't it? Calling for unity and speaking with an eloquent, compassionate voice -- it was like finally having our country back again.
DeleteSmiling along with you.
ReplyDeleteWoo hoo!
DeleteIt was indeed a very fine day yesterday. The speeches last night was just spot on. I found it sad that only a very few Republican politicians have congratulated Joe and Kamala. Joe has worked for >40 years in Washington, had many "friends" on the other side of the aisle. And yet so few have stepped forward. May we never forget those who support that dreadful man.
ReplyDeleteI think the Republicans probably feel they must tread carefully -- they need to keep the Trump supporters on their side so they can win their own re-elections (and not be challenged from the right). It is inevitable that they will recognize Biden. They just have to be seen to be "forced" into it by the failure of Trump's legal challenges.
DeleteAnd yet, don't ask - it's me, from one human being to another I do feel for Trump, the man, some mother's son, father to the frankly bizarre Ivanka (if anyone had had the power to save him from himself it was her - yet, she didn't).
ReplyDeleteI can't begin to imagine what losing must mean to him - most people don't take kindly to being humiliated. Never mind being humiliated in public. So many people pride themselves on compassion (no names mentioned) yet show little when it comes to their "enemies", to those they dislike - whether with good reason or not.
To put it another way, and I can't go into detail because the next tree for lynching is never far away, there were three people (politicians) in my life, all hated, all outed and ditched, I shed tears over. No, Trump isn't one of them, but still. Shed tears not because I had any allegiance to them, any sympathy with their politics. Shed tears because I saw the HUMAN. The human that, in the end, we all are. The names of those three are only known to my father and the Angel because both of them can keep their mouths shut. No shit. Be careful what you divulge. Tar and feathers never far away.
What saddens me beyond words that Trump might have had some valid points. But he didn't deliver in the DELIVERY. Those shit tweets. The anger. The rage. The being incoherent instead of reasoned. I don't think I have ever seen a man less measured. Where were you Ivanka (and your father's entourage)?
Anyway, let's hope Trump won't burst a vessel during the next two months he is still, officially, in office. By which I mean a vessel that, potentially, might harm others including those who voted FOR him.
You know, Steve, some of the worst moments in life when you rejoice and are disenchanted at the same time.
U
Trump is a prime example of the expression "you reap what you sow." The man creates his own misery, by traumatizing and bullying everyone around him. People would feel for him (as I felt for Hillary Clinton when she lost) if he behaved like a rational human being with compassion and had the public interest at heart. But in the end, he's only interested in himself, and I have no sympathy for his cruel narcissism. In fact, quite frankly, I'm enjoying his humiliation. "You reap what you sow."
DeleteIndeed. However, among the rejoicing one sobering thought: What havoc may this jilted president cause between now and 20 Jan 2021?
DeleteTo quote “If Trump loses power he’ll spend his last 90 days wrecking the United States like a malicious child with a sledgehammer in a china shop,” said Malcolm Nance, a veteran intelligence analyst and political author, speaking before the result of the election was known.
“We’re likely to see the greatest political temper tantrum in history. He may decide he wants to go out with a bang, he may decide he will not accept the election result. Who knows what a cornered autocrat will do?”
Well, we all know what a cornered rat does. Nothing left to lose also springs to mind.
In the meantime let's enjoy your blue sky,
U
Olga was obviously carefully observing her surroundings. She is such a smart and lovely animal.
ReplyDeleteIt gladdens my heart so much to know that people all over the world are as happy about Biden's win as so many of us here in the US are. I am embarrassed that we elected that threat to humanity as our president. Well, some of us did. And we have all paid the price. May Joe and Kamala have the wisdom and strength to guide us out of the morass we are in now.
Indeed, it's going to take some serious work to move us down this rocky road!
DeleteVery Enjoyable Video There - Love Those Mud Time Baths - My Favorite By Far Was The Pan Shot Through The Park That Ends With Olga Girl On Her Back Kicking Them Happy Legs Towards The Blue Sky - And The Best Line I Have Read All Year " I'm Smiling Here. That's All I Know."
ReplyDeleteCheers
When I made that video I had no idea Olga was rolling until I panned down to her -- it was a fun surprise for me too. LOL
DeleteNice ending to your post. Once the election is over we see how much damage has been done and the monstrous task to clean things up. I hope some of it gets done.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I don't envy Biden trying to straighten things out after this mess.
DeleteIt's amazing how intense the blue sky can be. you know, everyone thinks Trump will refuse to leave, will continue to fight, continue to be a threat and a presence but I don't know. his lawsuits are getting thrown out left and right. and he's never been defeated or lost, at least that's the narrative. I think maybe this defeat is soul crushing for him, maybe he will just slink away. at any rate, he has become irrelevant. the media and the world have moved on.
ReplyDeleteExactly. The planet is ready to be rid of him, and you can't fight momentum like that.
DeleteI'm smiling here, and that's all I know too. I once did a countdown of the days until the election. It started at 100 back in late July. Now I'm counting the days until January 20th. 73. I'm still smiling.
ReplyDeleteTHAT will be a day to celebrate! I remember when Trump was inaugurated we put it on the TV in the library but we were all numb with horror. This time around, we'll be cheering!
DeleteIt looks like a perfect day for a walk with Olga, mud bath and all. Yesterday was like a weight being lifted. That "loser" comment is very Trumpian indeed. Like there is any comparison between Biden's losses and Trumps failed businesses. Biden's speech last night brought tears to my eyes. It was just so wonderful to hear a leader actually speak like a leader.
ReplyDeleteEXACTLY! It was like having a real adult walk into a room where a child has been having a tantrum and take control of the situation with compassion and reason.
DeleteI'm so happy for Americans and the world. The Biden/Harris win changes everything. Sure, it will be a time of cleanup, but Biden is also known for his ability to be bipartisan, to persuade, and to compromise in order to move ahead. Politics is a slow game at any time and we must expect the current divisiveness to be an extra hurdle, but I think Biden and Harris are up to it.
ReplyDeleteI do too. I think it's a momentous step forward.
DeleteOlga, a girl on a mission...her life is grand, you are such a good Dad.
ReplyDeleteThe speeches were just the thing to make our hearts sing, the stress of the last four years has certainly taken a toll. Dennis is still suspicious of being happy.
Good job reminding your facebook friend that we are now in a better mood for uniting , accepting one another, sanity. Oh yes, please.
I understand Dennis' feelings. I'd be more comfortable if Trump had conceded. Re. my Facebook friend, I thought that quote from Biden was the PERFECT response! I'm sure he's not impressed, though.
DeleteI had a text from the BRD this morning that said: "It's real! It's really, really real!" I texted back to her: "Yes, Tiny Tim, it is." There's great happiness in our family.
ReplyDeleteThank goodness!
DeleteI'm exhausted from the stress but, oh so very happy with the results!
ReplyDeleteYou and me both!
DeleteA lovely first photo ...
ReplyDeleteThanks! I love that sumac. If we owned our house I'd plant a sumac.
DeleteSmiling so wide, too.
ReplyDeleteWhew!
DeleteThank goodness it has gone the right way! Olga in the muddy puddle is so funny! It has been busy like that around here too. At least in the open air it's not so bad and it was a beautiful day.
ReplyDeleteWe were really fortunate to have such a nice weekend!
DeleteGorgeous skies! You are right; he will not go easily and neither will his supporters. They're convinced that the election was stolen and are gearing up to fight.
ReplyDeleteLet 'em gear up. They won't get anywhere. They have nothing.
Delete