Clan of the Bobcat

Sunrise Thanksgiving Morning

Our plans for Thanksgiving changed a couple of times in the days before the holiday. We made plans with friends, we broke them. We made other plans and those changed as well. We settled in with the idea of staying home just the two of us. We've done that before. We like each other's company. We cook for each other like we're cooking for our favorite beloveds.

The day before Thanksgiving, I called our neighbors, the ones who see the bobcat too. We often communicate with each other when there's been a sighting. I asked Karen if she had seen the bobcat lately. She said that she had a fantastic sighting last week on the night after the big storm. She had awakened at around 4:00 am to the sound of something knocking against the house. She turned on the outside lights and saw the bobcat sauntering past her window. It was quite nonchalant when it stopped by the bushes, sat down, and began licking one paw. Not a care in the world. She surmised that the sound that woke her was the cat chasing something and not paying particular attention to where it was heading. She said it then walked the path between their house and ours, and disappeared into the woods.

Our neighbors have adult children who live in the Seattle area, so I assumed they would be spending their Thanksgiving with them. Turns out, they were staying home, just the two of them too. Mmmm. So, Karen proposed that we combine our Thanksgiving feasts and eat together at their house. What a wonderful idea. Just pack up our dinner and walk the path between our house and theirs, the bobcat path. That's a fine, low impact commute.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner. There is much to be grateful for-- our beautiful planet, the wildlife we see, the food we grow, the open-hearts of good neighbors and friends. We agreed that in our tiny corner of the world, here on the peninsula, we're a little four-person tribe. We are the bobcat clan. Works for me.

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Today is the last day to send in your beautiful earth photos to Pam. If you're planning on submitting something for Good Planets Saturday, please send your photos to tortoisetrail at gmail dot com.

Thanks everyone, have a great weekend, and we'll see y'all on Monday.