Tempestuous Times

Lots of wind today.    The mast broke on our boat while David was racing and both the mast and mainsail were lost.  It was hard to walk a straight line on the ferry.  We passengers grinned foolishly at each other as we staggered about.  Getting back after a quick trip to Seattle,  I noticed a big pile of maple boughs beside our lane and later heard that a neighbor's visitors had cleared them off for me, just being helpful.  People seem to look out for each other around here.  A few days ago, Pepper wandered off the property and a neighbor, one of the old-timers, tracked me down to tell me he was at her place, eating cat food she puts out for a wild cat.  I'm grateful for the help and feeling of community on our road.  Although I did have a bad moment a few days ago when I discovered my newly placed Obama/Biden sign tossed high into the bushes.  I fished it out, put it back up and there it has remained.

Earlier today I caught This American Life's in depth report on the financial crisis.  The descriptions of reckless excess among high level speculators were staggering.  I'm thinking the damage they did to our financial security is comparable to al-Qaeda's attacks on the Twin Towers.  I'm grieving for all of us whose lives will be forever changed by the simple fact that people in power who had the ability to rein in the speculators chose not to,  in the mistaken belief that the wizards of Wall Street knew what they were doing.  The future is always a mystery, but tonight it's looking especially grim.