it’s thanksgiving weekend in canada. thanksgiving sunday morning i went for a walk downtown. i walk downtown all the time, but yesterday was different because there was no one else around. i walked past this alley with “slow” spray painted onto a light and i slowed down. and i’m glad i did, then i started to notice all of the little details that i sometimes walk right past because i am busy focusing inside, trying to block out the noise and energy of of the people and traffic around me on busy rush hour streets. i saw the beautiful pattern made by the ivy growing up an apartment building.
and i saw perfect spirals on the archives building.
after a venti caramel machiatto and a chat with a good friend, i met my family and we went to my grandmother’s for thanksgiving dinner. yummy! since i am a vegetarian i take no interest in the turkey. i had homemade cottage cheese perogies.
and mashed potatoes.
peas and carrots.
salad.
i didn’t have tomatoes because i am allergic but don’t they look good!
and i didn’t get photos of desserts… homemade pumpkin and chocolate pies!
i love thanksgiving and i love gratitude lists and today i am particularly grateful for:
my grandmother’s thanksgiving meal
the heat, electricity, water and appliances in my home all functioning perfectly and the furnace repair man who came out on friday evening to fix my furnace so i’d have a warm thanksgiving, even though his day was already full
two beautiful people are coming to stay with me next weekend and go on a fabulous adventure together
my art room and the amount of time i have to spend in there
support and encouragement for creative dreams
planning a trip to turkey for this winter
the wrap sweater i just finished knitting
the lace scarf i am knitting now
the stash of yarn i’ve got for winter knitting projects
bamboo double pointed knitting needles in *every* size
abundance of creative ideas
my spiritual community at the centre for conscious living
karaoke and that i’m not too shy to sing anymore
wii
starbucks
a bouncy new haircut and finding the perfect new lipgloss (bare escentuals buxom lips in star)
thick handknit socks on chilly evenings
friends i can really talk to
a colourful and happy home i really love being in
that i have so much to be grateful for, i could keep writing this list all day.
what are you grateful for today?
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{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m grateful for my two sons..I’m grateful for finding the love of my life..I’m grateful for all the creativity I do have inside…I’m grateful for my life..
Good morning Andrea – what a lovely surprise on this gray morning. Because I am not going to be able to family it up this year, I am first of all grateful that I can share my gratitude list with you
.
Reta’s Gratitude 2009
I am grateful to be going to school, surrounded by other people who love learning and figuring out everyday what my path is.
I am grateful for direction in my life.
I am grateful that I am a good cook – because thanksgiving dinner came out of nowhere.
I am grateful that I am learning to be more gentle with myself, to forgive myself and to take care of myself.
I am grateful for the workshop I took last weekend – where I learned that I don’t have to resolve every conflict in my life today.
I am grateful for sweet potatoes, mushrooms and the last tomatoes of my garden ripening up in my kitchen box.
Have a great day!
Happy holidays! Those perogies look amazing!
Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I feel overcome with gratitude this thanksgiving, and because that hasn’t always been the case, I am soooo grateful for that. I am grateful for so much in my life, but there is one particular thing that feels overwhelmingly amazing to me right now. After a lifetime of anger and fear towards my Dad, and over 15 years of hard work and processing, I have finally forgiven him. I have let it go. it feels oddly strange, since I have carried this anger around, like a badge, forever. And I know that I will have moments, when I will want to pick it back up, and probably will, and that’s okay. But, truly I feel a shift has happened. I feel a willingness to see beyond the actions and behaviours of a very hurt man, and feel an openness in my heart, to show him some compassion, in his final years. I always thought that if I forgave him, and let it go, that I would somehow be “letting him off the hook”, and that it was my job to ensure that justice was served. I see now that he has always been living in a prison of his own making. There is nothing to be gained by me sentencing him to more of that. Now, don’t confuse that I condone his actions, that had caused me so much pain and fear, in my childhood. Those things happened, and they were real, and I have spent my life, overcoming them. And today, I am finding gratitude for all of it. I know it was what I came here to experience, and to learn from. The pain from those experiences split me open, and as I healed that gaping wound, I became someone else. Someone that I was intended to be, all along. Someone that I would never have become, without all those painful experiences, from my Dad. So, the truth is, that I am forever grateful to my Dad, for being willing to offer me the horrible experiences that I needed, to help split me open, so that I could finally find the way to my heart. Today , I let him off the hook. I let it go. I forgive him. I even thank him. And, as I do that, I let myself off the hook. I free myself, to start living the life that I want, that I was intended to live. As I release him from this prison….I release myself as well.
Namaste,
Robbin
My mom made perogies while we were growing up and I loved them! Haven’t had any for yearsssss….
I’m grateful for my 10 month old grandson and daughter visiting from MI this week. It’s in the 80’s here in AZ and we’re loving it.
I’m grateful for our free trips on Southwest airline. ( my daughter works there)
I’m grateful for another daughter’s new boyfriend and their Chicago marathon participation over the weekend.
I’m grateful for all the blogs I love and get inspired by! Happy Thanksgiving!
Happy Thanksgiving!
What a delicious meal – and photos! We had our big family dinner yesterday! And leftovers today! I’m especially thankful for that.
I love the slow sign – what a great reminder!
Happy Thanksgiving.
Thank you for the reminder to go slow.
I’m grateful for my
health…even if it isn’t ideal
loving & supportive husband
two lovely girls
our comfy home
chai…made right
all my throw pillows
crisp weather
….
A belated Happy Thanksgiving and I love reading your post. The “Slow” sign is a perfect reminder for me as well. My mind is running overdrive lately. Also I’ve been looking for a perfect spiral pattern to illustrate and there is your pix. Thank you sooo much and hence I’m grateful for that!
So lovely. On many levels. One, the serendipitous from the universe: Slow down! And the rewards gained when you listened. The gratitude list. And the way you fleshed it out and not just single words. The way it gave insight into your world. And the fact that it celebrated simple things. (Gratitude is great that way, eh?) I say “eh” bc one of my many lifetime trips to your lovely country was the memorable Thanksgivings I had, as a U.S. citizen (from the South) visiting Canada on your Thanksgiving day more than 20 years ago. I stayed in a guest house and had the fabulous meal made by my generous aging host who was so full of love and so grateful to share and for me to enjoy so much as I did. I *heart* my sister country, Canada. Yeah, I read you’re a vegetarian. (Good for you!) So, I hope you do not mind me saying it was the first time I had a turkey stuffed with sausage. And she also served grits, I think. She served a lot of breakfast foods with her meal. It was a smorgasboard and there were only three of us?! Thank you!
Happy Thanksgiving, Andrea! The perogies look delicious! And I love the pic of the vines climing up the wall.
Love your thoughts on ’slow’ on the lightpost and how observing it let you see things otherwise easily missed ~ like the ivy growing up the building, the architectural details ~ and I love your TGiving photos! Your journey is one shared in degrees by all of us, and I would like to invite you to the website for info about my newly published book, Live, From the Mystic. The site is http://www.strategicbookpublishing.com/LiveFromtheMystic.html; the poetry celebrates the metaphor for the Divine that all of nature is and presents unique views of our everyday world. I think you would enjoy it.