Thankful Me

A brilliantly-colored dark pink and purple fuchsia blossom You would think that by the time a person reaches my age, she would not be surprised by the passing of time, yet I find myself nearly constantly amazed that a certain amount of time has passed--whether that be a week, month, year, or couple of decades. Earlier this year, I planted a garden. Yesterday I harvested my first strawberry. Earlier this year, I also planted fuchsia starts, and now the flowers are blooming. How is that possible? (And why am I surprised?) Sometime around the turn of the century (and it still seems strange to use that phrase about the year 2000), we bought a circa 1935 dresser. It needed some TLC, but had a cool curvy front. This past week, I finally got around to applying some Restor-A-Finish and Feed-N-Wax, and now the dresser still looks old, but not dilapidated. I still need to apply some hide glue to some loose pieces, but I'm counting progress as a win. For as long as I can remember, I've be...

Infant-me, sitting on the wood floor, looks up at my dad, who is sitting on a brown sofa and smiling down to me Here in the United States, it is Father's Day weekend. I did not realize until recently that Father's Day was not officially made a holiday until 1972. 1972! Now, while I realize that many people consider 1972 eons ago, I do not. I'm glad that fathers have a day of recognition now, because they surely deserve acknowledgement.  I thought for this week's Ten Things of Thankful post, I would list ten lessons I'm thankful my dad taught me. My dad is a teacher. Not only did he impart his knowledge to countless junior high aged kids throughout his career, he taught--and still teaches--my siblings and me. He is not a preachy teacher; he's a humble man whose lessons I feel like I learned through osmosis. When he would get home from work, we'd all sit down as a family for supper. Often, our phone would ring, and on the other end of the line would be a paren...

John and I hold up cupcakes in celebration of the TToT's 7th birthday last weekend It was so good to read all your posts last weekend, as the Ten Things of Thankful blog hop celebrated its 7th birthday. Thanks to all who joined!  As dependable as the US Postal Service --"Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds " --the TToT is here, week after week, to provide a place for bloggers all over the world to gather together and express thanks. We don't have to have a celebration, or even a good day/week, to have a reason to type out things that we are thankful for; the benefit of the exercise works no matter what is going on around us. So, even though the birthday party is over, feel free to continue coming here!  I'm thankful: 1. for the TToT community. (That means YOU!) 2. that the garden survived the 40+ degree weather swing (from near 100 to the 50's and back to the 90's) and t...

Some of the co-hosts (and family members) hold signs that spell out, "Happy 7th birthday TToT. Here's to 7 more!" Some might think that it is incongruous to celebrate during times of crisis. 2020 certainly hasn't gone the way we would have predicted. I don't have to remind anyone of the COVID-19 pandemic nor the terrible acts that have precipitated both the current peaceful demonstrations and the violent riots. Even in the midst of the chaos, though, I do believe it is appropriate to celebrate the 7th birthday of the Ten Things of Thankful blog hop.  The idea of the TToT was hatched by Lizzi, who explained on her blog, Considerings , that she started finding ten things to be thankful for during a difficult time in her life. She found that the simple (though not always easy) act of listing ten things she was thankful for brought about personal changes: By actively choosing to seek the Good things – by hunting them down and dragging them out (kicking and screaming, ...