cc image courtesy flickr.com/photos/opensourceway/5392982007

I’ve finished my morning walk, had a slow cup of coffee and stood watching the gray rain fall. A gloomy, post-holiday Monday befalls us – a “cyber” Monday, as they say. If only it were non-corporeal.

Despite my best attempts to ignore my nagging urge to succumb to Monday’s blues I am thankful

1. that I have work that I love,
2. I am sheltered from the rain,
3. I am able to play hard.

For what are you thankful?

This year we decided to spend the entire holiday week actually on holiday – away with friends, in surf and sand.

This morning we started cooking in a strange kitchen, making the best of what we have (have you seen a large casserole dish? does anyone have an extra onion? what is a good substitute for maple syrup?), and sharing our favorite childhood Thanksgiving Day dishes.

The house is packed to the brim with gratitude, and I am just happy to be here.

Happy Thanksgiving, be good to each other!

cc image courtesy flickr.com/photos/aussiegall/437394474

Yes, bees sleep.

And today I am thankful for sweet, soft hours of sleep – and for homecomings, a chill in the air, and soup on the stove.

For what are you thankful?

This year our Halloween haunt theme is “Ringling Bones”. We “friend-sourced” the build this year and I’m not sure why we waited so long to come up with that idea – it was genius!

Our friends brought it *big* to the big top and we had a great time figuring out how to secure the acrobats (our poor trees) and whether or not the ghost lion cage should have hay. This is serious stuff.  Thankfully, we had a packed cooler, a grill and lots of 28 gauge wire.

So today I am thankful for my ghoulish friends; thankful for a weekend packed with fun, frivolity and free-ish beer, and thankful for the October sun, be it ever so hot yet shining brightly on our parade.
For what are you thankful?

cc image courtesy flickr.com/photos/quinnanya/4705512812

After a forever that blurred into an instant, an old friend has returned.

For that I am thankful,

and for shared histories that bring a giggle,

and for a mind at ease, freed from the concerns about the worst.

For what are you thankful?

cc image courtesy flickr.com/photos/filtran/3268570707

It’s a drizzle really, barely enough for a puddle or two but the woman who normally sits in the tiny booth at the parking structure had escaped, and was dancing about. Her outstretched arms helped her maintain some balance as she spun in big circles saying “Thank God for the rain.”

Today I am thankful for

1. the parking lady’s rain dance. I should know her name by now, but I don’t. We rush past each other at the top of every day and most of the time manage a “good morning”.
2. a back yard full of almost-magic.
3. a quiet moment.

Today I am thankful that even out of the greatest adversity, some good can come.

I am thankful for resilience, and for the hope that there are those that still seek peace, even when the journey is fraught with terror.

For what are you thankful?

cc image courtesy flickr.com/photos/pinksherbet/5559370159

It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.

- Albert Eintein

Today I am thankful

1. that a big part of my job is teaching.
2. for my colleagues who aren’t satisfied with mediocrity.
3. we’ve kept each other on our plan and haven’t strayed from shared our goal of getting better – bit by bit, week by week.

cc image courtesy flickr.com/photos/hoha/5199256362

Some days and weeks are worse than others; those are the ones where my mind must traverse a light year in Brownian motion. I get distracted, I find focus. I get dismayed, I find hope, then lose it again.

I am following a dead reckoning to nowhere in particular, and everywhere at once. It’s a chaotic mess, but somehow I find peace in it.

Today I am thankful

1. for the open road of my mind’s travel.
2. for access to fresh foods that sharpen my wit.
3. for a soon to be clear vision of the future.

cc image courtesy flickr.com/photos/johnandbelinda/3343361704

I took my own pen into the bank last week. I always do. I have this thing about bank pens – they freak me out. As I started to fill out the little slip of the obvious I noticed a drop of royal blue blood splash onto the counter. Then another, and another. My trusty pen was in the throws of a violent death, and it was trying to take me and the bank counter down with it. It ended quickly, thanks to the fast thinking of a helpful clerk who had seen her fair share of pen fatalities.

It was my first.

Today, I am thankful for

1. the bank clerk and her bucket of handy ink-vanishing wipes.
2. the time to learn a few new tunes.
3. checking off the last of the week’s monstrous to-do list, just in time.