Back to Good Work and Sad Reality

No cooking.

No dishes.

No leftovers.

Ahhh!  What a wonderful Thanksgiving day!

With no kids home for the holiday, Bill and I joined my sisters and drove to Bonners Ferry to the Kootenai River Inn for our holiday dinner. 

It was a beautiful drive on a lovely November day. 

The food was plentiful and tasty, and the company was fun as we had a window table overlooking the Kootenai River. 

Instead of cooking, I took advantage of the green light given to me on Wednesday during my last post-surgery appointment with local ophthalmologist Dr. Torres. 

Dr. Torres told me I could go back to doing what I do normally, which I specifically told him would be gathering leaves and emptying leaf bags. 

Go right ahead, he said. 

So, the dogs and I did some yard cleaning in the morning and later in the afternoon. 

It was a nice way to work off a sumptuous turkey dinner and dessert. 

So, soon after the last bite of pumpkin pie, we drove home and went outside to resume doing what I love. 

On this day after Thanksgiving, which some call Black Friday and plumbers call "Brown Friday," we'll get back to the business of life.

Bill has plans to make his usual Friday-after-Thanksgiving trek to North 40 for shopping. 

Today, I'll write a check to satisfy the first half of our property taxes. And, I'll also run some errands and then hurry back to gather up leaves. 

If all goes well, that job should be completed today.

 With the unusually nice weather over the next few days, I'll beg Bill to put the brush hog back on the tractor for just one more time.  

I did not think I'd be able to groom the pastures this year, but, happily,  the dry weather will allow it. 

It will be a great feeling to have the place all tidied up and ready for spring.  

Then, if a little snow wants to come, it will be okay. 

In a nutshell, life is good, very good!

And, I am grateful. 

Life may be good here at the Lovestead, but to see the news about Ireland this morning was shocking. 

The world is such a senseless place far too much of the time. 

This story makes me both sick and sad about the magical place we love so much. 

From a Facebook post . . . 

 Deliveroo driver Caio Benicio was on his motorbike this afternoon, on a job, when he saw a man with a knife attacking a young girl on Parnell Square East.

Immediately, the 43-year-old Brazilian dismounted his bike, took off his helmet, and hit the attacker with it.

“I didn’t even make a decision, it was pure instinct, and it was all over in seconds. He fell to the ground, I didn’t see where knife went, and other people stepped in,” he told The Journal tonight.

“I have two kids myself, so I had to do something. I did what anyone would do. People were there but they couldn’t step in because he was armed, but I knew I could use my helmet as a weapon.”

Tonight, all of Benicio’s thoughts are on the five-year-old girl, who he saw brutally attacked, and her condition.

“I am praying, it’s all I am thinking of. I saw her in the ambulance, she looked so vulnerable, I had to go with gardaí then. I am waiting for news about her. I am hoping,” he said.

“If a child didn’t survive, I would always think, I could have been faster. I chose to have surgery on my knee recently, it made me slow to get off the bike, could I have been faster?

“If all the victims survive, I will be thankful that I was in the right place, at the right time,” he said.

Now Benicio is exhausted – all day he has been running on adrenaline. He doesn’t know where his bike is as he left it at the scene inside of the Garda cordon. However, he’s not worried about it; he’s worried about the victims.

“I remember it all in flashes now. It was over in seconds it seemed,” he said.

Benicio came to Ireland for work after his restaurant burned down in Brazil. He hopes his children can come here one day.

He was saddened to see the chaos on Dublin’s streets tonight – with anti-immigrant sentiments being expressed by rioters and far-right actors.

“It looks like they hate immigrants. Well I am an immigrant, and I did what I could to try and save that little girl,” he said.

- Eimer McAuley

Our thoughts are with the wonderful people of Ireland in hopes that this horrific story will be considered an anomaly. 

Happy Friday.