We shouldn’t need a date on the calendar to remind us to be thankful.

I am thankful all year long for my family.

While they are scattered from Louisiana to north of Everett, it is like they are with me all year long.

On Thanksgiving there were a dozen who made it home to have a great dinner and report on a lot of the things they did since we were last together.

They brave the weather to come, and make the long and sometimes tedious drives so we can be together.

It isn’t often that we are all together at the same time, but frequent calls keep us close.

I can’t remember a time that we didn’t have some of the family for Thanksgiving.

One year a number of years ago we spent Thanksgiving with my wife’s family in Buhl, Idaho.

A few days later, we were driving back to Boise where we lived and decided to have a meal in Hagerman.

A hand-written menu stated that a full turkey dinner that included a drink and dessert was listed as $1.95. That’s about as close to a free lunch as you could find. We had a great meal at just over $4.

Currently, folks in Hong Kong are again facing a tightening of activity.

Protests in the streets are being met with force.  This time it’s over the tightening of Covid restrictions.

It’s another example of how Mainland China’s one government, two systems, is not working.

Primarily the Chinese government had promised that they would allow the freedoms established under British rule to continue for 50 years.

They honored this for about 40 years and then the hammer came down.

People who enjoy certain liberties don’t take kindly when they are taken away.

Look for the conflict to continue.

Not a time of thanksgiving.

It’s always good to hear from old friends.

I had a call from a lady who worked for me in Bothell. She was in sales.

That call was nearly four years ago. After about an hour bringing me up to date on what she had been doing, she said she was going to South Africa to take a photography safari in Botswana.

Waiting to hear how that went.

Remember to be thankful for family and all year long.