After hearing the results about the Brexit referendum, I’ve been feeling jittery. I hope all goes smoothly and that there are no major upheavals in Britain or Europe. Or the world. We live in a very unsettled time, and there are many reasons for this—overpopulation, climate job, mechanization, even container shipping, which has allowed the cheap transport of goods from far away where the labor is even cheaper.
In Maine, when I was a young girl, factories were booming, and many of my relatives were able to make a decent living working in those factories. Today, the factories are pretty much gone, and the state’s largest employer is Hannaford, a grocery store chain that has mostly part-time workers who are paid low wages and get no benefits. Indeed, nearly one-third of the people in Maine earn less than $12 an hour, with about 23 percent making under $10 hour. Try supporting a family on that. Even with both parents working, it’s a tight, tight squeeze. (Nationwide, the story isn’t much better, with Wal-Mart being the country’s largest employer.)
With “austerity” being so much in vogue in the developed world after the financial crash of 2008, I expect many people in other countries are also feeling this squeeze, and people who are squeezed do not make the best or the kindest decisions. Immigrants and the poor become scapegoats, and before you know it, things get really ugly.
So it’s no wonder I get the jitters. The gardens help.
So do friends—thanks, Judy and Paul, for coming over—and drinks on the patio.
Onward we go, toward fall and our own elections, where the best we can do is vote for the lesser of two evils.
Thank goodness for the garden, the patio, friends, and, of course, drinks.
Notes From the Hinterland 
The gardens do help. Except today I saw what some call a harmless garden snake and I call a terrifying creature near one of them. My brain mostly knows they are good for the environment and we can coexist but the other part envisions them slithering over my feet…
Oh, those snakes! I know they are beneficial, but I want them to stay far, far, far away from me.
Thank goodness indeed for gardens friends and having drinks…there is always something to worry about, to be anxious about or even sad…but there is also always something to celebrate and be happy and grateful about!! xo Johanna
Johanna, so true! Still can’t help feeling nervous, though.
Hooray for Pain Killers (the drinks on the patio,) good friends and patios!! It is always fun, Laurie!
Righto, Judy! Forgot the name of those delicious drinks. Thanks so much for bringing them.
…especially the drinks! ;-D
Eliza, hear, hear!
Are we seeing a fundamental change in the operation of democracy?
Good question! We are certainly in a time of flux and discontent, for very valid reasons. Unfortunately, as I mentioned in my post, decisions made during such times are often wrong, ugly, and mean.
I think you and I are kindred spirits because this post could have come right from my keyboard. This global economy is like a teeter-totter and we all go up and down as someone pushes off their mark. Jitters for sure. My ancestors also worked in the New England mills. My grandfather worked in a furniture mill, my aunt in a shoe mill, my uncle in a shirt factory, my mother in a dress factory, and my uncle owned a paintbrush factory. Those days are long gone as you pointed out. I’ll raise my cup to you and better days ahead, well except for that day in November when that is exactly what we’ll be doing.
Yes, yes, Judy! I think we are definitely kindred spirits. I like your analogy of the economy being like a teeter-totter. Wonderfully put!
Someday we will have to meet. If you live in the Portsmouth area, it is about two hours from where we live. A doable drive in a day.
How far from Portland are you?
About an hour and fifteen minutes.