This gloomy picture about sums up how we felt on Wednesday morning ..
Yes, this happened ... we lost .. unbelievable!!!

                                            

                                            America, what have you done?

Common believe is that failure to address the pressing economic concerns and the deepening divide in America helped pave the way for Trump's second term.

Even if this were true, it beats me how anybody thinks Donald trump can, and more importantly will, do any better.
Personally I don't believe a single thing that comes out of his mouth but hey .. apparently more than half of America does, so lets see what that will look like for them ..

Actually I'm with Heather Richardson Cox who says in her blog of November 6, the day after the election: 
"But my own conclusion is that both of those things were amplified by the flood of disinformation that has plagued the U.S. for years now".
I think she nailed it on the head! Disinformation. What, or who, to believe and to trust?

Thank heavens he 'only' has 4 (more) years! In the meantime:

Fight! Resist!

We had plans to go out for coffee that morning, hopefully 'to celebrate', and decided to go anyways ... 'to drown or sorrow' ..
Nothing like a good cup of coffee and a huge slice of pie to soften the blow:

                                                        

We had to go to Dallas to get some, about a 20 minute drive, but at least it was good!
It's very hard to find a decent, cozy coffee-shop that serves cakes or different pastries other than the usual boring donuts, cupcakes, cinnamon rolls and scones in America.
It's one thing I really miss about Europe .. all those wonderful bakeries .. and pastries.

After all that drama I tried to spend much of the rest of the week out in nature, taking long walks, which usually restores my balance and makes sense of things again, but I have to say it was a hard sell this time ..

Not that mother nature didn't try her best, of course she was beautiful as ever!

 


Really pulling out all the stops by showing me this peaceful, sleepy, calming herd of Elk at the lower slopes of the hills towards Sheridan:

 

 

It's always such a thrill to see them!

I still discover new mushrooms almost every day.
This tree was covered with these pretty dainty ones on their tall stems. I don't know what they are but I hope they're beneficial and don't harm the tree.

  

     

And this bulky one I found in the meadow which I think is a Bolete: 

                        

It can be identified thanks to a unique cap. On the underside of the cap there is usually a spongy surface with pores, instead of the gills typical of mushrooms.

 

Some are edible, but most are not very good. I'll pass ..

I also find lots and lots of these Oak galls which are abnormal plant growths found on foliage and twigs that are produced by small oak gall wasps.
Inside the galls are the eggs and larvae of the insects, which by the way are not harmful to humans.
Some of them are really pretty.

                                         

 
When I was not outside I binge-watched the Holiday Baking Championships (reruns for years past) or one of the sugar-sweet Hallmark-movies on the 'telly'.
And I finished this Halloween puzzle. A 'tricky' one!

I baked some dutch cookies called speculaasjes. I didn't have a mold but they taste the same. Which is .. delicious!
I always bring back the special 'speculaas' spices you need for these from when I visit Holland. The ones I brought last time were from a different brand and OMG they're soooo good! Much better than my old ones.

I cooked some 'comfort' food for dinner as well, another dutch dish called 'boerenkool met worst' with a 'kuiltje jus' (little gravy pit? Haha!).
Mm-Mm-good!

So, nature, some sappy TV, puzzles and food ... anything to take my mind of what happened and which one of the bloggers I follow (Ellen) described as:
'"A new dark age is about to befall this country. The people have voted for a repressive, racist, misogynistic regime that is all about vengeance and absolute power.

Well, America, you got what you wished for, either through action or inaction. You have brought on yourself a world of hurt. You will receive your just desserts and I hope you choke on it."

Let's end with a peaceful scene out of my window in the late afternoon: