I'm Back!!

Yes, I'm back again, after only a few days.  My favorite 'roosting' place these summer afternoons is the screen porch that looks into the oh so green forest.  

In between the trees the bluest of skies shows through. 

Its such a perfect place to put everything into perspective. 

 How small I am in this universe, how grand and wonderful and beautiful my little piece of the world is.

This is truly a time for sharing and being thankful and doing my part by enjoying and sharing the beauty that surrounds me.

"A smile is a light in the window that tells others that this is a caring, sharing person inside." - Leonard Nimoy

Thanks Giving -- Giving Thanks

Thinking about "Thanks Giving" and all that those words imply made me think about my "Gratitude" jar.  Filled to the brim with little bits of thankfulness.Wouldn't it be more appropriate to take it from Thanksgiving Day to Thanksgiving Day?  

This shortly passed Thanksgiving I went through the jar I've been filling and read all of the little scraps of paper. 

 Once finished I set up this jar (which is a tiny bit bigger) for filling from this Thanksgiving to next year's Thanksgiving.  

We have all sorts of celebrations and holidays in this country but I do believe that Thanksgiving should be the most meaningful holiday of all.  

My 'thankful' thoughts go to each you for taking the time to read  my words and enter my world even though we have never met in person.

"Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgivings, turn routine jobs into joy and change ordinary opportunities into blessings."

William Arthur Ward

A Core of Joy

What is this gift I've been given?  What is this thing that resides within my heart and fills me to the brim?  Its JOY and there is no other word for it.  I'm not sure where it comes from and I'm never sure where it will take me.  I'm not even sure if it will be with me tomorrow or the next day or the next day.  But while its here -- I intend to enJOY it as much as possible.  I will savor it to its fullest and to be ever so very grateful that it has chosen me in which to rest.

"The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun." - Christopher McCandless

Today I am thankful for...

Sunshine

While walking these days, I'm aware of the warmth of sunshine on my shoulders.  I feel it sinking into my body, warming my bones.  Thankful am I.

I have been blessed to see the sun rise in the desert...

...the sun set over the ocean...

...the sun filter through the sheltering trees of the woods and forests.

Oh yes, I am ever so thankful.

"Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see a shadow." - Helen Keller

Today I am thankful for...

Laughter!!  

Especially shared laughter!!!

The kind that fills the air with joy and lingers afterward as a wonderful memory.

"I am thankful for laughter, except when milk comes out of my nose." - Woody Allen

I can see clearly now...

 

On Tuesday I had cataract surgery on my right eye.  As surgeries go, and thankfully I haven't had many, this one is pretty much a 'piece of cake'.  Day surgery where you're not even full zonked out - that's the best kind.

Of course I had to ponder eyes and the wonders that they bring every day.  And also be ever so thankful that mine are still going strong, that there is surgery such as this that can keep me seeing well and remind myself not to take something so important for granted.

I'm thankful today not only for the beauty I see around me, the ability to read the words on this screen and the wonders I have yet to see -- but for the fact I can see them a bit clearer than I could before.

"And now, this is the sweetest and most glorious day that ever my eyes did see."  - Donald Cargill

Thanks and more thanks

 

 

 

My thankfulness for the wonderful world I find myself in these days is boundless.  I can't even count the many blessings that I have around me and within me.  How wonderful to be at a time of life when being thankful is a daily, positive process.

 

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone -- so many of you have become very special to me and I hope to 'meet' even more of you in the coming year.

 

 

"If you want to turn your life around, try thankfulness. It will change your life mightily. - Gerald Good