Letter from the Vineyard

My day began at 4:00 AM EST, 5:00 AM AST [Atlantic Standard Time] on the sun blessed isle of Saba where I woke, finished packing, drank some coffee and was picked up by my friends on the island and went to the airport to begin an epic journey back to Claverack.  Cars, planes, automobiles and trains.  Had them all covered today.

Flying to St. Martin, I went on to New York and from New York went by train to Hudson, got to my car and came home.

Earlier this week, I was wide awake in the early hours of the day and now I am awake in the late hours of the night and so, instead of staring at the ceiling, decided to open the laptop and do a letter…

When I came into the drive, I realized how hard this winter has been on the gravel drive and I have some work to do in the spring to redistribute the gravel pushed aside by the snow plow.

It did feel  wonderful to pull into the drive and see the little cottage, all snug and waiting.  Coming in, I turned up the heat a bit, made myself a martini and started to unpack.  Some things I shipped home from Miami as they would have been burdensome to carry out to Saba and back.  One of them was a winter coat, keeping with me only a lighter one.  A wise choice as when I stepped off the plane in New York it was almost balmy.  It was so warm; I almost didn’t need my fleece pullover.

As I rode in the taxi to Penn Station for the train part of the trip, we were held up by road work and I contemplated the extraordinary world in which we live.

My friend, Jan, was afraid I would spend the next four years overflowing with anger at Trump.  I’m not.  I don’t have the energy for that.  Often I am bemused, disgusted, concerned, frightened, surprised, shocked. But not angry.  Not yet.

As I was driving in from JFK, I was thinking about his comment in speech yesterday about what happened in Sweden last night.  Nothing happened in Sweden last night.  Our President baffled an entire nation, wondering if there was something he knew they didn’t.  He didn’t.  It seems he conflated a Tucker Carlson interview into something that wasn’t – or something like that.

The Swedish Government asked for a clarification and President Trump tweeted that he was referring to a Fox News report about Swedes and immigration and rising crime.  But he did say “last night.”

The Swedes are wondering if his tweet was the official response they requested.  The State Department hasn’t gotten back to them.

And I wrote about Shep Smith in my last letter, the Fox News anchor of “The Majority Report” taking on the untruthfulness of President Trump.  The very thought of anyone at Fox News taking on Donald Trump brings a smile to my face.  How could it not?

Alas for them, he has also labelled them as “fake news.”  Or maybe it is alas for him?  Fox News is the media organ of choice for his base and if they are questioning him…

So, no, I am not angry.  Yet.  And I am an activist.  Our little group, Blue DOT Hudson Indivisible is now up to about two hundred members and growing.  We’re demanding accountability from our Representative in Congress, John Faso, and our Senators, Kristin Gillibrand and Charles Schumer.  Faso is Republican and Gillibrand and Schumer are Democrats.  No one is off the hook here.

It is interesting that historians are listing Obama as the 12^th best President in our history.   If you’re interested in the list, look here.

Tomorrow, after all, is President’s Day.

There will be a march in DC to say “Not My President,” to let Donald know where he stands with some people.

In New York today, music mogul Russell Simons, once a longtime Trump friend, organized an “I am a Muslim, too” gathering to protest Trump’s positions on his Muslim brothers.

Friends of mine were there.  If I had been in the city, I might have been though my discomfort with crowds has grown as I have grown older.

And I am glad I have grown older.  It gives me some good perspective.  It helps me realize that while I have no children, I do have a responsibility to the next generations.  And it is interesting to accept that I have that responsibility.