After a day of pelting rain, rolling thunderstorms, and street rivers, Portland has returned to dry land. I went nowhere yesterday. Instead, I spent the day cleaning bathrooms and floors, washing sheets and towels, baking bread, reading David Copperfield, and playing games with Paul.

Today I'll be back to my editing desk, briefly, and I also hope to read some Byron and go for a walk. Otherwise, I'm just hovering before the Thanksgiving preparations begin. Tomorrow Paul and I will make cranberry relish and pumpkin pie, cut up bread cubes for stuffing, fetch home the little turkey from the meat market. It is fun to have Paul so involved; he is gung-ho for a feast.

And it was such a relief to hear that the monster's administration has finally signed off on the Biden transition. Re Biden's eminently respectable cabinet picks: I don't care how stodgy some of them are (and some of them are not stodgy at all). I'm just so relieved at the idea of having government officials who won't be focused on picking pockets and hiding crimes. And think of it: the architect of DACA leading Homeland Security! a climate change leader! a woman as defense secretary! Please, please, let the times be a-changing.

In short, I'm entering our holiday moment with a glimmer of hope about our democracy. But I have deep forebodings about the virus. I fear this next month will be brutal. Stay in your burrows, dear friends.