Giving Thanks

(Image found here)

There is much for which to be thankful this day, despite (or maybe because of) the misery that surrounds us.

Speaking only for myself, I am grateful for at least these things today:

I awoke this morning.  Always glad to open my eyes and see light streaming through my windows.  

I rolled out of bed without incurring the wrath of the Spasm Monster.  My knees didn't buckle beneath me and I could walk without bracing myself against the wall.

My daughter and grandson are alive and well, and headed out to spend the holiday with her father and his family.  I'm going to their apartment later to cat-sit and make rice pudding.

I hear voices of children playing in the alley next to my house.  These are not children from the neighborhood, but likely visiting relatives nearby for Thanksgiving.  They're tossing around a beat-up old football and yelling with such joy and enthusiasm, it is impossible not to giggle along with them.

Several homes' chimneys are expelling clouds of smoke in columns straight up to the sky.  The scent of burning wood wafts in on the drafts around the doors, cheering me immeasurably.  I love the odors of fall and early winter, especially wood smoke.

There is food in the house (not the usual feast larder, but plenty, nonetheless), heating oil in the tank, enough money in the bank to pay bills, warm clothing, running fresh water, and a secure roof over my head.  I still have a job.  

My health...well, it certainly could be better, but it could be (and has been at other times) worse.

The main thing for which I am thankful this day is that I woke up.  It's all gravy from that point on, no matter what comes.  I am alive up to the moment life leaves me, and it would be disgraceful of me to feel anything else but gratitude.

(I'll try very hard to remember what I just wrote should things take a turn for the worse.)

Standing with France

When I first saw Casablanca, on television late night movie program, I was so caught up in the story that when La Marseillaise was played, I stood and 'sang' the anthem (knew the music but not the lyrics), tears streaming down my face.

I have loved France (or the idea of France, perhaps more accurately) ever since.  Liberty, Equality and Brother(Sister)hood were ideals I naively thought the US was founded on, too.  The intervening years have shown me that we have far to go, as does every other nation on Earth, but tonight I will listen to La Marseillaise and hope for peace and recovery for Paris, for France and for the rest of the world.

I don't know what else to do.

First November Sunset

This evening, as I walked out of my favorite coffee shop/cafe, I glanced skyward and was rewarded with an interesting dance in the clouds above.  At first, the bottoms were covered in mammatus pouches, which usually signal severe weather.  Within a couple of seconds, the pouches began to unfurl like paper streamers, or fat curls of hair released from bobby-pins.  Luckily my point-and-shoot was in my bag and I was able to capture these pictures.  I've never seen anything like this in my entire life!

I walked to the rear of the cafe and found that the winds had smoothed the lumps and bumps and tendrils into smooth streaks.  Breathtaking color and rhythm.  It was like watching an invisible paintbrush laying multi-hued streaks of light across a fathomless canvas.  The show was mesmerizing, spirit-lifting - unforgettable.

Wow!  Isn't this universe amazing?

(I have a thing about numbers, so when I started writing this post at 11:11pm, on 11-1, I thought that was a good sign.  A good sign of what, I couldn't say; just felt it was auspicious.)