Thanksgiving Week Environment at Put-in-Bay Still a Treasure to Behold

Thanksgiving Week is upon us.  Make time for comfort and rejuvenation!

The proverbial time for reunion, appreciation, and sharing feels subdued this year.  Indeed, a poem entitled, “November,” penned in the last century by Ruby Archer, captures the draining sentiment many know as 2020 winds down:

Our twilight month November is,
The evening of the year.
The brilliant summer noontide left
A pallor soft and clear.

From political weariness to health concerns to media fatigue to financial stress, 2020 will be remembered as a time of mixed emotions with a few brief shining highlights–and the latter not even for many.  However, amidst the dark and gloomy one can make space in one’s sensibilities for persistent treasures around us.  The people who care for us, the people we love, the people who extend helping hands, the people who remain strong and steadfast during trying times–all brighten our internal landscape.

It must be noted, too, how profound an impact the physical environment has upon us.  It is so easy to mentally bypass the blossoms, the fields, the lanes, the structures all around, wherever we go or wherever we stay.  A deliberate look beyond the dashboard, beyond the computer screen, and past the cellular telephone brings an epiphany of sorts.  Yes, the eyes can take in the geometry and color of the environment and deliver to our perception a revitalized sense of presence.  John Muir wrote in 1911, “When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe.”

In this context, I encourage you to re-discover the treasures which bring us all, collectively, into a realization of thanksgiving.  Peace and health be yours!

Photos by Donna Steinbach