Gratitude

June, 2008
For the roses blooming at my front door, for friends who tend my yard and garden, for the poppies that were so colorful and for my life as simple as it is.

April, 2008
For the flowers that appear on the land. For seedlings that will grow to produce food and herbs that will season the vegetables. For silence in my neighborhood that gives me quiet and peace of mind that at times is almost monastic.

February, 2008
I am incredibly grateful that January is over! It was long and cold.

Grateful that the sun has been trying to shine today. (feb 3) Grateful that the primary will soon be over and certain commercials for propositions will no longer air. How can the economy be going into recession when so much is being spent on political advertising?

Grateful too to be able to vote.

December, 2006
Hummingbirds and the plants they delight in.

Northern Flickers-- I hadn't seen these birds before; they visited a few weeks ago and had the most gorgeous orange flash of color under their wings.

Squirrels. Oh, yes, they do bother the bird feeders, but they are so funny and so much fun. I love them.

People who help me--my sister Pat, Kathy, Monique, Linda,Isabel, Marlene, Carla and John. You know who you are. My life is much more blessed because you are in it.

Chocolate. (One word says it all. Ah, well.)

Computer technology that is making it possible for me to write and share my thoughts with people I have never met, near or far. I am even listening to beautiful music as I do so.

Squidoo for making these lenses possible.

A kind and competent young man who fixed my furnace when I forgot to change the furnace filter; may his business prosper.

My Christmas tree, which is taking shape in the living room. Every year I am more delighted by it. It is a childlike joy as well as a joy from my childhood.

Gratefulness.org for that flickering flame in cyberspace.

A warm house on a cold day.

January, 2007
Even more in the last week I was grateful for that furnace and for a warm house during an intemperate cold-snap that killed plants and ruined crops.

For daffodils even though they are stunted from bringing them inside.

For warm weather coming back and the days lengthening.

For that Christmas tree that is still up in the living-room. There hasn't been time to take it down yet. Fortunately, it is artificial, so poses no hazard.

June, 2007
That winter is finally over even though the weather was decidedly wintry this week.

For the wedding of my darling niece and her new young husband giving me a new nephew to love.

For the engagement and soon to be wedding of my nephew which will shortly bring me another niece and a grand-nephew to love.

For my writing which I hope will see me with a project actually finished this year. (It will be the first one since grad school. I have a bad case of "start-itis".