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| Photo: Four assorted cupcakes sit on a white plate. The plate is on a red, pink, yellow, and blue floral tablecloth, and a burlap banner spelling out "Thankful" circles the plate. |
Six years ago (nearly to the day), while reading Christine's blog, A Fly on Our (Chicken Coop) Wall, I was introduced to a brand new blog hop, the Ten Things of Thankful, started by Lizzi of Considerings. I eagerly and excitedly joined this wonderful community of bloggers. Through the years, participants, hosts, and co-hosts have come and gone, and as life gets busy and situations change, that's totally understandable. And while everyone is always welcome to link up with the TToT, and we LOVE it when new bloggers join us, this week will also be a reunion, with several familiar faces stopping by to say hello. In addition, Kristi of Finding Ninee, who was one of the early co-hosts, and hosts a blog hop called Finish the Sentence Friday, is using "Ten Things of Thankful" as this week's prompt, so we welcome all who join us via FTSF.
I am thankful:
1. For Lizzi for masterminding the TToT and for all her effort spent in building a supportive, welcoming community.
2. For Josie Two Shoes for stepping up when Lizzi passed the baton.
3. For the many other co-hosts and bloggers who have each contributed to making the TToT a place where connections are formed. Kudos to Clark and Dyanne for participating in both the first TToT and last week's (and many, many in-between!)
4. For the power that comes through the act of remembering and stating those things that we are thankful for. (To silence my inner grammarian,". . . those things for which we are thankful.") Looking for, remembering, and acknowledging the good in our lives truly does empower us to manage the difficult times, and enhances our enjoyment of life.
This past weekend, John and I flew to Seattle to attend the graduation of our oldest daughter from her master's program. (As I mentioned last week, we're definitely thankful that she graduated and that she has a job!) Traveling to Washington and spending a few days there certainly brought more thankfuls to mind.
5. I'm thankful that I was able to take a photo of Mt. St. Helens to go along with a Six Sentence Story. The prompt for that week, mountain, came at the perfect time. I don't always come up with a story for the prompt, but I always enjoy participating when I do. (Thanks to Denise for hosting!)
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| Photo: Aerial shot of snow-capped Mt. St. Helens. The crater is a dominant feature. |
6. I'm thankful for the greenery of the Pacific Northwest. Every time John and I go to Washington, we have to steel ourselves for the inevitable pull to move back there. I thought maybe it wouldn't be so bad this time, because we have moved twice in the past 2 years and don't have any desire to go through that process again anytime soon, and because Utah has had such a rainy spring that the vegetation is quite green here. However, there's green and then there's green. And Washington is green.
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| Photo: A trail in Discovery Park wanders through the tall green trees of a mixed forest. Sunlight shines through the canopy, and ferns and other plants comprise the understory. |
7. I'm thankful for bodies of water. I think I could listen forever to the waves lapping the shore.
8. I'm thankful for quirky things that catch my eye, such as a life-size fiberglass giraffe peering over a rhododendron bush in someone's front yard.
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| Photo: A life-size fiberglass giraffe neck and head stands above a huge pink-blossomed rhododendron. |
9. I'm thankful for well-run zoos, and the staff and volunteers who work to educate the public and preserve animal species. The Woodland Park Zoo has spacious enclosures with natural habitats, and the workers know the animals. One volunteer informed us that one of the orangutans, Chinta, is fascinated with ears. One by one, we each put an ear up to the glass. Chinta would stare intently at the ear, then tap on the glass when she wanted us to turn around to show her our other ear. Being able to interact with an orangutan was amazing!
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| Photo: Chinta the orangutan checks out John's ear through the glass of her inside enclosure. |
10. I'm thankful, as always, for John.
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| Photo: Oldest daughter, wearing her black graduation cap and robes, stands between John and me after her graduation. |
In just a few minutes, I am headed to a great little bakery so that I can buy cupcakes for this 6th anniversary party--anything for the blog, right? No matter where in the world you are, I hope you can find a cupcake and join us in our celebration of Ten Things of Thankful. Oh, and as a small token of my appreciation, I have some Ten Things of Thankful sticky note pads* to send out. If you'd like one, link up your post, and leave me a comment letting me know, and I'd be happy to get one in the mail to you.
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| Photo: The design of the sticky-notes. "Ten Things of Thankful" is written at the top, with the numbers 1-10 along the left hand side. The background is of a cloudy blue sky, and at the bottom is written, "Join weekly at www.thankfulme.net" |
*I made my best estimate when ordering, but quantities are limited. While supplies last. My daughter's law degree must be rubbing off on me. :-)
One more thing: if anyone knows a link up service that works well with a screen reader, could you please let me know? Inlinkz doesn't, but I haven't been able to find one that does, so in the meantime, I'll periodically post a text link of bloggers who are linking up with us this week.
Finding Ninee
HillarySavoie
Josie Two Shoes
Josie Two Shoes (second post)
Tamara(like)Camera
Kiss My List
The Prolific Pulse
Swallow, My Sunshine
Living Center
Considerings (the blog that started it all!)
Being Brady
The Wakefield Doctrine
MessyMimi's Meanderings
A Season and a Time
Life is Like a Hand Grenade
Recording Life Under the Radar
Girlie on the Edge
Viola's Daily Musings
Daily Discovery
Backsies is What There is Not
Vineyard, Too
The Meaning of Me
LOL to number 4 and (obviously Clark's) "To silence my inner grammarian,". . . those things for which we are thankful."
ReplyDeleteI remember Mt. St. Helen's and remember looking for ash when it happened, having seen on the news that it was blowing as far as Colorado.. and yes, to "green is green." This is a green year in Colorado but wowza. It's brown compared to Virginia and I'm sure Washington as well.
How cool that we both mentioned zoos and WOW I want to meet Chinta and let her look at my ears. Also when you say "Woodland Park," you mean Utah, right? There's one here that we're camping at this weekend.
Thanks for the mashup! I love that we're honoring the passing of torches and Lizzi and all of it this way. <3
Woodland Park Zoo is in Seattle, which unfortunately is farther from Colorado than Utah. Hogle Zoo is in Salt Lake City. Road trip to Seattle? :-)
DeleteI was in Oregon when Mt. St. Helens blew, and ash did fall in our town. It was surreal.
So glad you suggested a mashup! Lizzi started such a good thing!
Congratulations on your daughter's graduation! And, for the record, that photo of Discovery Park make *me* want to move to Washington!! Thank you for this linkup this week...It is great to get back into the FTSF groove!! I suppose my post isn't the best fit in the world for the prompt, but it felt right to me... Thank you for putting this together!
ReplyDeleteYour post is perfect! One of the things about the Ten Things of Thankful is that no one is counting! Enumeration is not a requirement, merely thankfulness. Your post held so much gratitude. I really did love it!
DeleteWashington is so beautiful. Not everyone can take the drizzly grey days, months on end, but the greenery and the occasional blue skies make living there worth it, I think. (Even if I don't live there anymore.)
I've been anticipating those cupcakes for weeks now, and was happy for a reason to get them! And I think I might just now want a giraffe for my yard. :-)
ReplyDeleteThank you!!!!
It had been a while since I had been to the zoo, too, but it was sure fun to visit again! I've never been to the National Zoo. Do they still have pandas there?
ReplyDeleteI for one am grateful for your practice of captioning your photos, a practice that when begun was way ahead of the cultural curve.* And your writing (in these captions)... descriptive and succinct.
ReplyDeleteAlways good photation, of course.
Congrats to your daughter.
Hard to believe how much time as passed since Lizzi started this thing.
(Thanks for the hosting work)
*although I've always attribute it to your natural consideration of the other person, a quality that the world would benefit by more of... it.... in other....people, (lol)
Thank you. It is hard to believe that this hop has been going on for 6 years now. Lizzi started a good thing!
DeleteCongratulations to your daughter!
ReplyDeleteQuirky things, and green spaces, and good grammar, all great reasons to be thankful.
Thanks! We are very happy for her!
DeleteNow I want to go zooing! Lotsa thankfuls! I'd love stickies!
ReplyDeleteThanks! I'll Facebook message you for your address. :-)
DeleteWhat a wonderful and fun week you had, and so much rejoicing!
ReplyDeleteGreat photos! I think I need to go have my ears checked. LOL
The video of the waves lapping and hearing your laughter. . .love, love, love!
You definitely should go get your ears checked! Apparently another orangutan (who was resting at the time) is very interested in purses/bags, and will gesture to have you open the purse and see what is inside. So be sure to pack lots of interesting things!
DeleteOldest daughter and I sound so much alike; the video has both of us laughing. :-)
Okay so this is now my third comment and hopefully I've smartened up and can figure this out! LOL! Well anyway thank you so much for hosting and still being here! I really want to catch up! My Ivy Walker Gmail is gone now and I was really concerned because you were the person that I was afraid of losing the most if I disconnected that one. I just disconnected it two weeks ago finally and was going to contact you and of course best intentions gone awry! Funny how things are really come full circle and I need to thank you once again for being one of the first people and strongest people and helping me find my way out of the stuck place and back to God and the rest of my life! So thank you thank you thank you! I straight around the edges for a while but I feel like I'm on my way back. And people like you made that possible so thank you! You're the best! It's so nice to see everybody here! Those were really great days with video chats and blogging and meeting up in New Jersey. I miss all of you guys and now all I have to do is get my ACT back together enough to get my blog back up and running! Next step I suppose! Thanks again Kristi!
ReplyDeleteThird time was the charm, I guess! Thanks for your persistence! I am so glad you joined the party this week! I emailed you (or so I thought)--now I understand why you didn't answer. When you get a chance, shoot me an email so I have your correct address. Would love to catch up! Thank you for your extremely kind comments. I'm glad to call you friend! Thanks for linking up this week, and hope you'll join us again soon! :-)
DeleteSo many wonderful thankfuls in your list! What better week to thank you (again) for continuing the tradition that is the Ten Things of Thankful. I have not participated in so-o long and today? Well, today felt good :)
ReplyDeleteThe cupcakes look absolutely delicious! I'm afraid I won't be joining in as I've decided to not drive anywhere today, not even for a scrumptious cupcake however, Ill toast with some ice cream!
#7. Count me in - ocean, waves, shores wherever they are, hold magic and peace and all kinds of wonder.
Excellent pictures. Especially, the last one. The smiles say it all, eh? :)
Enjoy your ice cream! (It probably tastes even better now that it isn't raining there.) I'm always happy when you join us, but also understand that not every week works for everyone. Thanks for linking up today during this celebration!
DeleteI thought you would like #7.
It was definitely a happy occasion!
I am ESPECIALLY thankful that you picked up the gauntlet with the TToT! I think I neglected to mention that in my list. Thanks for the shout out! I regret my sabbatical from blogging, but I'm so glad the TToT brought me back.
ReplyDeleteI am in love with that orangutan! How cool! If you ever make it to Omaha, they have a great zoo with a terrific gorilla exhibit!
I have always wanted to go to the Pacific Northwest! My favorite author, Betty MacDonald, wrote autobiographies about living in that area, and I'd love to see some of the places she wrote about. Congrats on the graduation!
I had made from scratch angel food cake in celebration of the TToT anniversary!
Ohh, I'd love to have a pad of sticky notes!
I'm glad you've returned to blogging!
DeleteThe ape exhibits are always my favorites, so if I'm ever in Omaha, I'll have to go to the zoo.
I loved the Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle books, and I'm pretty sure I've read The Egg and I, too. We should plan a road trip!
Glad you were able to celebrate with cake! It sounds yummy!
I'll get the sticky notes mailed off today.
If you can get your hands on them, read "Onions In The Stew" and "The Plague And I"! Road trip! Road trip!
DeleteI have always loved your thankful lists and this week was no exception. Perhaps the most important one is about the power that comes from doing this exercise in gratitude. It's like a handful (10 to be more or less exact) of spiritual vitamins that uplift us and encourage us, and motivate us to see our lives and the gift that they are more clearly! You do live in such a beautiful place and your photos are always breathtaking, as are the ones you share with us from your travels "home". Your efforts have resulted in such a wonderful outpouring of thankful efforts from old friends and new, and I have spent some great hours today reading through the many posts and nodding my head in agreement... yes, that's good, that's very good! I apologize for being a blogging slacker as of late, I am still working on finding just the right role for blogging in my life, but participating this weekend has definitely reminded me of how much I miss it, and how much I have come to care for the folks behind the familiar faces here! If you have any of those TToT notepads left, I would love to have one, what a clever idea! Again, thank you for picking up the TToT ball and running with it, you're doing a wonderful job, just as I knew you would! XO
ReplyDeletePlease, you don't need to apologize for "being a blogging slacker." There is definitely a balance to be found in blogging, and I think it is very tricky to find, because what is right one day is wrong the next, and what works for someone doesn't for someone else. I've never thought of you as a slacker, blogging or otherwise. :-)
DeleteI'll get a notepad out to you. (Can you message or email me your address?)
So.... there are probably no cupcakes left, huh? Oh well. I guess I'll make my own - thanks for the suggestion - my family will be so happy!
ReplyDeleteAnd thanks for keeping the conversation going. It sounds like you have been a key part of TToT for a long time... xoxox
The cupcakes have been eaten, but I'm sure your family will appreciate homemade-by-you cupcakes. Thanks for joining in the celebration! :-)
DeleteOK, I guess Blogger isn't going to let me comment unless I sign up, so...
ReplyDeleteI am finally getting to read some of the TToT posts from this party and I love seeing how everyone got involved, what it has meant to them, etc. This is a great group of people I'm glad I found and I love how the connections have grown and carried on, no matter how regular or sporadic any of us may be. Thanks for being the current torch bearer! Hope to join in again in the future!
You're always welcome to join! It is wonderful what a community Lizzi, and then Josie Two Shoes formed!
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