Blessings of the Day

Nov moon

Blessings of the Day

It’s quiet,
just the creaking of the old house
in the cold wind.

The kitchen is warm,
filling with the satisfying scent
of cornbread baking
and pumpkin spiced with cinnamon and ginger
and just a hint of clove,
ready to meet the oven.

The furnace clicks on
masking the white noise of the monitor
as she sleeps through another episode of Law and Order.

After dark, he will come in from work, tired and dirty,
but ready to make a pecan pie, his specialty.

And then,
as the moon rises,
a beloved child will be here
with husband and new baby in tow
(he of the most definite dark hair and happy countenance).

Tomorrow, we will cook and laugh
and welcome friends
and tell stories
and feast
on love.

I have too many blessings to count.

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*** Happy Thanksgiving to all those celebrating in the U.S. And to all my Dear Readers, my friends, thank you for your continued friendship and thoughtful reading of my writing. You are all blessings in my life.

I am thankful……

Autumn on the lake
I am thankful for:
my God , who presents us with life and truth and Love,
who chooses to be
totally Human
and totally God.
For grace and resiliency,
for fortitude and strength.
For my community, with its heroes and clowns, its dramas and comedies.
For my family, who are, after all, the ones that love me in spite of myself.
I am thankful for my spouse, the example of love and all its many aspects,
and for all the beloved children in our lives,
for the friends who are near and far whom we love and love us in return.
I am thankful for maple trees and oaks,
sassafras and pine,
for the birds who take shelter in these trees
and find sustenance at my feeders.
For all the creatures that roam through my life
and the one that takes up residency in our house.
I am thankful for my home, a place of serenity and peace.
I am thankful for peace
in Iraq,
Afghanistan,
Israel,
Africa,
and the streets of my country
when there is peace in these places.
I am grateful for freedom
and justice
and honor.
I am thankful for politeness
and kind words.
I am thankful for babies
and old people.
I am thankful that we have been
happy
and will be again.
I am thankful we have been
healthy
and will be again.
I am thankful for what has been
what we are in the midst of
and what will be.
I am thankful.

Annual Pumpkin Roll 2014

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2014 Annual Pumpkin  Roll - perfect form

2014 Annual Pumpkin Roll - Firing away
2014 Annual Pumpkin Roll - putting a little spin on it

2014 Annual Pumpkin Roll - This one's gonna ROLL!!

2014 Annual Pumpkin Roll - letting it go

2014 Annual Pumpkin Roll - Great form for a rookie2014 Annual Pumpkin Roll - shes got an arm full of pumpkin2014 Annual Pumpkin Roll - that ones gonna splash2014 Annual Pumpkin Roll - Uncle Bob as ref- its in bounds!2014 Annual Pumpkin Roll - time for one more roll2104 Annual Pumpkin Roll - ooo - thats a goner2014 Annual Pumpkin Roll Champions!Beloved children - and Pumpkin Roll winners!Well, this all started a few years ago. Bob and I would roll the pumpkins we had used to decorate the outside of the house for autumn, down to the lake after Thanksgiving dinner or whenever we started putting the Christmas decorations out.
So those years when we had family here, the kids would do the honors of rolling the big orange globes down the road.
Now, it has become an annual family tradition on Thanksgiving day! It is hilarious to watch and lots of fun to do. You oughta find a nice hill and try it yourself next year! Smiles!!!

Nostalgia at Thanksgiving

My family is on the way here for the holiday. We have a niece and husband and nephew and wife here already – brother, sister in law, niece and nephew here around midnight. I have been cooking all day, with good help from my niece and her husband and my mom too. We will have more arrive as the weekend progresses – 14 by Saturday. I am so full of happiness when my family is here – I call them the thundering herd  or the  fam-damily- but they are my heart.
I’m not sure when it happened. I have become nostalgic. I want the  kids to have these memories of us together, like I remember holidays at my grandparents in Texas or Arkansas, with all the cousins, aunts and uncles. I want them to look back and tell their children about times at the farm (the last really good shack) or summers at the lake with their aunt and uncle.  Is that my legacy – my immortality? I don’t know. But what I do know is that I love these people extravagantly with my whole heart.

I hope everyone has a happy and love filled holiday.

Blessings!