On this Thanskgiving in Canada, I feel both great and like crap. Like crap because we got our 4th shot yesterday, and I am having some side effects. Great because I got our fourth shot. It was always going to be a relaxed holiday since it is in between LA-fest and NYC-fly by.
I am very thankful that we finally got to go back to LA where Executive Assistant Spew is 
thriving. The pandemic had preventing us from going there, but she had made it to family events on the east coast. We got to meet 1/3 of her roommates, her cat kind of (shy cat), and we took her to Disneyland. It was, indeed, the happiest place on earth if happy means packed! It was set up for Halloween, which was fun but not as much fun as Busch Gardens about ten years ago with chain saw clowns and crazy doctors popping out. Instead, we explored the new stuff--the Avengers complex with heaps of Spidey stuff and the new Star Wars land, which was most impressive. We tried the blue and green milk which tasted more like sweet tarts than like milk. We missed the big new ride--Rise of the Resistance--as it broke just as it was our turn. Yuck. Still, it was a great silly day.
We did heaps of art and gardens as well. My wife and I went to the Getty on Friday while my daughter was working, and then we all went to the Huntington Gardens. It involved a fair amount of driving, but we didn't deal with too many jams. I do love driving up and down the canyons. We ate very well, with me testing three different French Toasts. None matched Hoshinos of Japan, but Porthos was the LA winner.
What else am I thankful for? The help of friends in all that I do. The CDSN stuff, the
sabbatical supplements (I am looking for salary replacement for next year's sabbatical), emotional support during these stressful times, laughs, advice, and more. This pandemic has been hard for all of us, but as an extrovert, being denied the opportunity to interact has been tough on me. I was so happy to go the APSA last month in Montreal, to see my poli sci friends from all the way back including grad school pals, a friend from my first job, more recent folks.
I am not thankful that the provincial folks getting elected across Canada suck so mightily. Doug Ford got re-elected for .... being lucky enough to have crappy opposition. He bungled the pandemic and is now continuing to drive folks out of the medical fields. In next door Quebec, they re-elected a xenophobe with even more seats and votes. A rapid nationalist is taking power in Alberta so that will mess things up further. Good thing American politics is turning around. Oh wait...
I am thankful for Nigella Lawson, Sally's Baking Addiction, King Arthur Baking Company, Smitten Kitchen, and more as I am definitely eating tastier stuff with few (although some) fails. I am also thankful for bice cream season which is now over. I might have a few more bike rides left, but I am a fair weather biker, and we are nearly out of fair weather. I do look forward to ski season, and I am already scheming with JC for more snow time.
I hope you and yours had a great Thanksgiving. The joy of being a dual citizen is that I get to do this twice!
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