No. Thank. You.

I’ve had enough of politics to last me a lifetime. However, it’s time to buckle up my fellow Georgians. We’re going to be the center of national attention as we have two U.S. Senate seats up for grabs. The run-off elections aren’t until January 5, 2021 and the television ads have already started. Hang on tight!

Yes, I could write an epistle about how I view the current political scene, but all I will say that I tend to side with the financial talking heads – the best scenario to keep stability in the financial markets would be for the Senate to maintain Republican control. All we’ve heard from for the past 4 years is screaming from the far left and the far right – nothing from the middle. Most voters tend to be moderate – as demonstrated by the sea of purple on election night (almost 50/50 split in the vote). I think the people have spoken that they really want a moderate government. Small business owners I’ve chatted with from both political parties seem to agree on this point. They are very worried about higher taxes, increased regulations and the proposed minimum wage hike. One business owner shared that she didn’t think she’d be in business a year from now if everything she’d heard went through (and she’s a very liberal voter).

So, take it for what it’s worth. Enjoy your holiday festivities, study up on the candidates and be sure to VOTE. Oh – and feel free to turn the volume down during all the political ads.

Quilt retreats and classes in my area are few and far between right now. For my sanity, I needed some quilty fun with other like-minded folks. An invitation to join a virtual quilt retreat appeared in my inbox. It worked with my schedule and the price was certainly right so I signed up. A small retreat swag packet appeared in my mailbox a few days later.

I really wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but it turned out to be a fun time.

The meeting “location” involved a private FB group and 2-3 daily Zoom calls lasting about 90 minutes each.

As with a regular sewing retreat, you choose your level of participation. I worked on personal projects while I listened to the conversation and would stop to chime in when I felt I could add to the conversation. Participant sewing experience varied widely and the wealth of knowledge in this particular group was wonderful. People were very willing to share their knowledge and expertise with the entire group. I credit the retreat organizer with creating such a warm, trusting environment for attendees.

Prizes and giveaways were really nice. Each evening Zoom session had a giveaway, as did the Bingo game.

Surprisingly, I accomplished quite a bit on my sewing “to-do” list. The retreat organizer runs an online quilting group whose purpose is to keep quilters moving forward on projects. I definitely benefit from/need this type of accountability.

Would I do this again? Yes. My preference is certainly for F2F retreats; however, I did enjoy the real-time interaction with fellow quilters this virtual retreat offered. That’s the part I find missing in online quilt/sew-al-longs.

Yep, I had my own close encounter of the Covid kind this week. A coworker was diagnosed with Covid-19. Fortunately, I was not identified as a high risk individual during contact tracing. Given our situation, however, my doctor recommended I get tested as a precaution. Nasal swab and 48 hours later, my results were negative. Thank goodness! Masks, hand sanitizer, and keeping away from people appear to work.

After spending much of the week as a recluse, I ventured out today with Sadie to complete another of the required field observations on our way to becoming a certified therapy dog team. We passed and have only one observation left. One week from now, we should be finished with our field observations! Then, it’s a matter of paperwork.

Although 2020 has been a crappy year – Boomer’s illness & crossing the Rainbow Bridge, pandemic, social unrest, election season, house damage from Hurricane Zeta…being able to get back in the therapy dog game with Sadie gives me hope for the future and a much needed dose of “normalcy” in my life.

Here’s hoping the remainder of 2020 veers more toward the normal side of things for us all.