Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!  I'm so grateful for a warm home, loving family, beautiful children and grandchildren, goodly parents and a strong faith.   Speaking of beautiful grandchildren:

We took these last summer, wish we could have all the kids together all the time.

Thanksgiving A B C

Just a short list of things I'm grateful for:
A--Andrea, Addie, airplanes.
B--books, berries, baseball.
C--Cori, Chloe, Caleb, chocolate.
D--Dave, Deanne, daisies, doctors.
E--Eli, earrings, eggs.
F--family, friends, feta cheese.
G--Gideon, grass, gum.
H--Hillary, home, honey.
I--India, ice cream, idiosyncrasies.
J--Jake, Jesse, Joe, Jeopardy.
K--Kristen, Kennedy, kindness.
L--Larry, Livy, laundry, laughter.
M--Mira, mountains, Matt.
N--nights, noise, needles.
O--oranges, origami, oxygen.
P--pie, people, perfume.
Q--quiet, quarks, qi.
R--rain, roofs, roses.
S--Sophie, Sarah, sunshine.
T--Tyler, tulips, television.
U--umbrellas, unicorns, umbilical cords.
V--violets, violas, Velcro.
W--water, watermelon, wishes.
X--x-rays, xylophones, xi, xu.
Y--yellow, yogurt, yarn.
Z--zest, zeroes, za.

Leaves

My childhood home was on a large lot with great big trees. In the fall, all the kids in the neighborhood would come over and play in the leaves. We would rake mazes and then chase each other though them. We would outline elaborate houses with many rooms. We would make huge piles that reached the lower branches of the trees and then climb the trees and jump, becoming buried in scratchy, soft leaves. I don't remember actually helping get rid of those leaves, but I probably did.
Then I grew up, got married, moved around some, and my husband and I bought a home and planted our own trees. It took many years, but now our maple trees are finally big enough to fill the yard with leaves. It's not the same. The grandkids enjoy them, but not often. Larry spends countless hours filling countless bags so we can donate them to my sister's compost heap. Its hard work.
The magic is gone, but like wood smoke in autumn, the memories live on.

Water

Oh the wonder of water! When my houseplants are near death, a drink of water miraculously revives them. It cleans our clothes, our floors and our bodies. Soaking loosens baked-on grime and makes dishwashing a breeze. Summer rain settles the dust, greens up the grass and makes the world smell wonderful. A long hot shower soothes the body and mind. A cold shower invigorates. (At least that's what I hear--I've never actually had a cold shower.) A tall glass of ice water is bliss on a hot summer day. When I was a child, our epic water fights quickly cooled us off. Water makes puddles for splashing in and turns sand into a building material. It's a big part of who we are, as one Star Trek alien put it, "ugly bags of mostly water." As we count our blessings this season,let's not forget water!