Coasting

I'm grateful I stuck to plan A today, and got myself some sedentary kicks on chocolate box route 886. Sometimes when I'm stiff and sore a bit of moving around limbers me up...it didn't work today but the scenery is still good for the soul, and I'm grateful I managed not to fall asleep on the way home.

I'm grateful I picked some bits of grocery shopping to keep me going over the next few days, and a new year's calendar...with pictures of local coastal scenery of course! I'm grateful for the choppy grey of the sea and shafts of sunlight through invisible gaps in the cloud making patches of gold on the water.

I'm grateful I have no one to make me a reviving cuppa when I get in...because they might not and then I'd be demoralised as well as dehydrated! And I'm grateful there's no one to mind if I just make straight for the sofa and collapse with my coat and boots still on and resurface in very gradual stages. I'm grateful no festivities will be marred by my absence tonight.

Trifling things

I give thanks for pleasurably walking further yesterday than I mostly do these days, and for my knees waking me up early with deferred pain to remind me about it, as this meant I got to watch the rising sun bleach the colours from puffs of cloud. And after a busy few hours with domestic chores I gave thanks for waking from an afternoon nap in time to see the sunset tinting a fresh set too... for every time I groan at some aspect of living here there are half a dozen more when I grin with delight at the aspects themselves!

I give thanks for the valiant dustmen emptying the frost covered bins, and for a public spirited neighbour turning ours round and straightening them up afterwards so we can fill them up again and use the car parking spaces as well.

I give thanks for this round up of archaeological highlights from the last twelve months http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-30520025 
I love that there are people who think it's important to find out about people in the past...and what was important to them...

I give thanks for a new person finding my blog and finding something of value within.

I give thanks that I was so tardy in making the trifle that the cream had gone off and couldn't be used though the rest of it, including some experimental ingredients, came together well. I also give thanks that this means I definitely have to eat it all myself... I mean it's neither the time of year nor the stage in life to be serving trifle topless, is it?

Detachment

I give thanks for remaining stoic about unsticky situations last night...and for a delivery of sticky things due next week! I give thanks for sleeping snuggly with the window open on the latch and thus the noisy seagulls waking me in time to see the glowing dawn before dozing off again.

I give thanks for feeling up to getting to the bus stop, for my bus pass and the incredibly scenic journeys round here...for the blue, blue sea and sky, and twinkly frost spots untouched by sun. For the revealed beauty of bare branches, and watching swashbuckling tree surgeons roped up high and casually chainsawing. For this pair of evergreens reaching out to one another across the path through the country park...

I give thanks for the pretty sky this evening, and having the ingredients to rustle up a meal now that the pre-rustled stuff is all gone. For a full Skybox so that lounging in front of the TV is essential for the rest of the day...

I give thanks for asking for something to be changed I wasn't sure could be done, and it not only being done but also for free instead of for a fifty pound amendment fee!

Sketchy

Some people don't like this time of year but, even though I have little in my life that could be called 'routine', I'm still pretty grateful for the break from it! If I have anything like a plan for the coming months it is to be less purposeful, so I've been appreciating getting some practice in...without trying to do that too much either, if you see what I mean.

I'm grateful that there are still things to eat up so no proper cooking nor even planning of eating has been required; and my hands have been too painful to knit so, although it is a great treat to treat a loved one to a handmade garment, I've been quite grateful not to be measuring my progress with that either.

I often start a jigsaw over Christmas to enhance that sense of amiable idleness so, as I've not one on the go at the moment, I'm grateful I found it fun to while away a couple of hours playing with some cheap crayons. After many years of not doing anything like this I'm grateful to discover I'm sufficiently capable not to frustrate myself but nowhere near talented enough to try to achieve any artistic goal...ideal!

I'm grateful for whiling away the rest of the day looking at cruises...I love it when there's something I can't afford and I realise I don't want it! I think I'm grateful I found an irresistible bargain...ask me again when the balance is due...

On reflection

I'm grateful for a brisk walk after seeing Bob off, to work off some of the calories from a massive late night dessert and a mighty sausage and potato omelette brunch today. I'm grateful for the wintry showery weather staying fine. I'm grateful for the stunning views and that, though it has some quirks like crashing when you zoom, when pointed in the right direction my old camera tends to capture them pretty effortlessly...

I'm grateful the coveted wrapping paper in Smiths had been reduced so I could buy some as planned. I'm grateful for making a dent in the leftovers and in the washing up, and for a snooze on the sofa with Wallander on pause...

Just hanging around

Mmm, I give thanks for a sleepy wallow with a new good book in a Lush hot bath, and a little nap to follow. I give thanks for hearing the cheers from the walk into the sea this morning and feeling no need to rush out to see... for a rainy day making staying indoors very pleasant. I give thanks for catch ups with funny and informative QI and with chums via Facebook and text; for loadsa leftovers...

Oh, and for the sun and planets - some people wish for the moon and stars but I was delighted with these craftily made by Rachel and kindly hung by Bob...

Christmas special

I'm grateful I've been grateful for lots of things the last twenty four hours! I give thanks for a lovely tea last night of "taken away" veggie Indian dishes, and for the film we grudgingly decided would be OK to keep an eye on while we ate thoroughly enthralling us so that when we put our plates down we just sat there. It's rare for either of us to just watch the screen, not crafting or fiddling or tapping a keyboard, and its rare for either of us to want to see something prime time and mainstream but the combination of Sam Mendes' visual magic with a classic formulaic adventure story (chase with spilled merchandise in a souk, fight on a train roof, munched baddie, crashed helicopter etc) made Skyfall the best kind of "Christmas special". I'm grateful a dash of Scottish scenery and Ola Rapace even made up for Daniel Craig for me and I'm grateful we hadn't known it was so good or we'd have seen it at the cinema and spoiled the surprise...

I'm grateful for a long lie in today and a late bacon butty breakfast made for me, for lots of thoughtful gifts some of which were exactly what I wanted, and some I didn't realise I wanted until I unwrapped them, and some of which I'd said I wanted and forgotten about so I'm grateful someone else remembered! I'm grateful for a buffet tea this evening which means hardly any cooking again and not much washing up either,  always a special treat too...

First world

I'm grateful for taking my new boots for a walk. They are so comfy on my feet I walked further than is comfy for the rest of me now but that's a first world problem and not a complaint... I give thanks for Bob's company, fine weather and our trusty ferries for a jam free stroll across the river. I'm grateful for finding a cafe where a mug of coffee or tea is a £1 (unusual anywhere these days but on the other side of this particular river especially so.) Sandwiches and cake were very reasonably priced too... and we could have had jam on them if we wanted, I'm sure!

I'm grateful for food tea that only needs heating up and drink tea made for me and brought to me on the sofa. I'm grateful for finding my old camera seems to work just fine to take pictures still and that I was able to get a card reader to try uploading them that way...when I can find the energy to open the packet! I'm grateful for being aware having a problem uploading photos is very much a first world thing too...

It's all right

I'm grateful for not going to choir last night as I was tucked up in bed before it was due to finish...and I remember being grateful for my dreams when I woke up though I can't remember them now!

I'm grateful for thinking I didn't have to go out today - apart from sitting down in a car - and for making the best of it when I was proved to be wrong, getting to the shop I needed to to put the wrong thing right. But I'm even more grateful for the bit that was in the car, sitting down watching the soft colours of winter scenery roll by. I'm grateful to Laura for introducing me to the beautiful fragrance of winter heliotrope, and for a majestic buzzard circling low over the lane trying to get to its tea whilst avoiding passing cars.

I'm grateful for our tea too (and cake), and a look round the tempting merchandise in rather more luxurious shops than I usually go in, but I'm particularly grateful the best thing I saw was the sunset and it was free! Right now I actually am also grateful I haven't got to try and upload the photos and see if any are any good, as somehow my camera failed to come home with me. Similarly I'm actually grateful Bob's journey is delayed as I could do with another rest before having another go at all with the jobs I've still not done.

Tread softly

I don't know about you but I can tell it's Christmas when I put my sewing machine away. If you think this is a simple matter of moving item A to storage area B you clearly have no idea what it's like to live in a small space... I'm grateful on your behalf for the largesse life has bestowed on you and give thanks for my slide puzzle skills! Actually thinking about it, I'm grateful I don't live in a bigger place as it's hard enough keeping the one I have warm and clean...and on a bad day it seems a very long way from one part of it to another, including from floor to ceiling! I'm grateful I managed to stash all extraneous craft items away today without recourse to stepladders. 

This time of year we're told to remember those who are alone, and hopefully we are all doing so and making sure they're not if they don't want to be, but I'd also like to send my warmest compassion to those who are with people they don't want to be, or with people who don't want to be with them. I'm grateful for all the happy time I've spent on my own, some Christmases included, and I'm grateful that as my body requires more staying at home, my spirit becomes more fond of solitude too.

I give thanks for my disability benefits, and for my credit card and overdraft facility as they don't get paid in until tomorrow and cash is only flowing one way right now. I'm grateful I ordered my lush new boots when pennies were more plentiful. They are so soft and light and 'elfin' as Dorothy described them, though difficult to do up as laces always are these days...think next time I put them on I might sleep in them and save effort! The colours have come out a bit unrealistically bright in the flash but I couldn't wait until daylight to show them off for some reason...

Little extras

I'm not getting on with making Bob's new jumper as quickly as I'd have liked but I give thanks that his bed is made up and I've hunted and gathered gifts and plenty of good things to eat and drink. All the little extra chores of Christmas are really knocking me for six this year so I'm grateful I can revel in the thought he might be persuaded to do some cooking and/or washing up while I knit a few more rows...as he's a better chef than jumper maker!

I give thanks that my water can't be metered here so that I can soak and double boil my veggies the way a good little renal patient should without wincing...and console myself about their unappealing limpness with long hot fragrant baths

I give thanks I eventually got the top off a new roll on deodorant - was beginning to work quite a sweat up trying! Also for not fainting in Waitrose where I'd thought I must sit down...and then queued forever for a free pot of tea to do it with!

I give thanks for Jenny calling to say she'll be at the library tomorrow and can give me a life home...a bit less plodding or paying for taxis will be very welcome... Also for extending my plod today to see the sun shining on the cliffs at the other side of the bay. I always seem to have more energy for shoreline than shops!

I give thanks for two short films which reminded me both of my own good fortune, and of the great goodness there is to be found in the world if you look in the right places

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-30515800

http://twistedsifter.com/videos/dog-without-3d-printed-legs-runs-for-first-time/

Just chilling...

I'm grateful to Christine for thinking to send me a text offering a chair for a choir performance this morning but, as suspected, most of my morning was spent asleep after yesterday's exertion so I'm grateful no one was relying on me to be there. They've had a busy schedule this month and I'm grateful they tolerate lightweights like me who can't join in with the business end of the process.

I'm grateful for a fairly active and well feeling couple of hours this afternoon including putting chilled stuff from a Tesco order in the fridge before keeling over again. I'm grateful the seasonal edition of the Big Issue is a good read, blissfully unsullied by absurd first world glossiness, and that it tipped me off about a film on over Christmas that I actually would like to see. Astonished and grateful for that one plus whilst tracking it down to set to record I found a Wallander was on as well, so doubly so! There were a couple of reviews of books that took my fancy too...I'm grateful Heidi and Ivor sent me an Amazon gift card!

I'm grateful that in the pages of tricksy don'ts in the renal dietary guide for the 'festive' season they include the message that 'a small cream liqueur such as Bailey's can be a welcome change' - though they don't say from what! I'm grateful I've a bottle unopened from last year so clearly my levels of abstemiousness are spot on!

PS. And I'm grateful that though Blogger twice ate my post after 'publication' it didn't eat the preview so I was able to write it all again...and again. Definitely time for chilling now!

It's what's inside that counts

I give thanks for all the money the NHS has spent on various scans and tests for me over the last few years, and I'm grateful today's scan is just too late in the year to have a follow up appointment until the next one starts, as travelling to the city is a bit unravelling at the best of times let alone at this time! I'm grateful I had no shopping to do, and no money to do it so that I wasn't tempted to try anyway as it looked a miserable pastime from the faces of folk I saw.

 I'm grateful for the hospital corridor galleries and the wonderful images they have on display...like x ray decks for instance!

I give thanks for getting up early enough to get some filling breakfast to see me through the non eating hours and for arranging to meet a friend afterwards to break my fast a tad festively again this afternoon. I'm grateful I only waited half an hour for him to turn up before I gave up so that, despite the slowest traffic, the sky and sea were not completely drained of colour before I got home, but with hints still of that very special translucent blue. 

I give thanks for fine tunes in my ears and fine sights to see along the way and for knowing how blessed I am to know how to chuckle with joy at what others might miss or dismiss. 

Out reach

It was mild here last night and I gave thanks for being able to have the bedroom window open and listen to the whooshing wind as I turned over and over trying to find the least acheful spot. This afternoon I was grateful the pains subsided and I could get dressed and get down to the sea. I give thanks for the rather surreal experience of passing a nearby house that always puts a big inflatable snowman on their upstairs balcony just as they were blowing it up...so that he seemed to be collapsed over the rail at first but to gradually recover and stand upright. 

This time of year I always want to be out in the countryside away from buildings and people and roads, appreciating nature at the turning of the year, so I'm grateful I live so close to such a wonderful substitute - with so many people on the roads and bustling between buildings it's a very peaceful time to enjoy the rhythm and blues and greys of the shore. I was grateful they had a cherry picker on the walkway to attend to a problem with the lights so I had to walk along the sand in the lightest of mizzly rain - what a treat!

Though it heals my soul, my body protests a lot about being out in the great outdoors and I was grateful for many well positioned vacant seats along my route to rest on. I'm grateful for hunting and gathering a collection of veggie Indian dishes for an easy meal next week...plus a much needed free cup of tea at Waitrose! Since getting home I've been giving thanks for remaining mostly in the feeble position. I'm sure I'll get some more pre-Christmas things done soon...though probably not tomorrow as I've got to go for my pre-Christmas scan.

Partly season

Yesterday I was giving thanks for not having to work...and today I've been grateful I don't have to play! I give thanks for the memories of parties, dancing and staying up late...for dining out when I could eat anything I wanted from the menu and people close by weren't in danger of being impaled on my flailing cutlery. Oh, and clothes... I give thanks for being able to wear a lot less than I do now and neither contracting pneumonia nor mentally scarring the locals.

I give thanks for being able to spend more than twenty four hours mostly horizontal and a goodly portion of that asleep. For watching documentaries in bed on my tablet. For not having to make or partake in chatter.

I give thanks for finally waking up a bit this afternoon and tackling some washing up and cooking up leftovers. I'm grateful for not making any progress on partly finished projects but for starting a small one I was sure I could get done...which is now partly finished too!

Not a waste

After a nippy night I was grateful for a fine day ideal for a brisk walk. My legs were grumbling about merely carrying me from room to room so I couldn't go out myself, but I don't begrudge others such bliss! I was grateful for the sun streaming in the south facing windows to keep me cosy for a while without the heaters on, and a few brief attempts at getting on with craft projects, though my arms and hands were equally uncooperative and painful, and the main event of my day was an afternoon/evening nap or three! I've been too tired to enjoy anything much the last few days so I was extremely grateful for lots of sleep and dozy inactivity.

I'm grateful I don't have to go out to work, also to Rachel for cooking, washing up and houseplant husbandry last night, and to Jenny for cleaning today so I've not had to stay in and work much either! I'm grateful that when I was well I busied myself with so many things, so I don't look back on those times and think they were wasted.

Dusk to dawn

I give thanks for the sea and sky at twilight...a very soothing beachscape to escape from the sometimes frazzling nature of life. I give thanks for remembering to give cards and gifts and goodwill where I can, and that silent metta is better than speaking my mind when my heart's not as generous as might be.

I give thanks for home alone with hot buttered crumpets and my twinkling Christmas tree...and just as I wrote that Rachel came to make me scrambled eggs and to feel better with acupuncture for which I was also very grateful...We were just hurrying to get ready for choir, hurrying to finish the conversation we were having about doing more of what you want and less of what you feel you should, when it dawned on us we could finish the conversation instead of going to choir...so we did and, much as we love singing, we both gave thanks for that!

Lights, camera, right action

I'm grateful for a grey old morning to wake up to slowly and gradually deal with the usual post exercise stretch/cramp conundrum....

I'm grateful for just the right amount of sunshine at just the right time of day to feel removing its glare from my eyes by getting my laziness out of bed would be a fine idea!

I'm grateful for prioritising all the many things I'd like to have done by certain points within the next ten days, by the morning, by when Bob gets here etc...and then abandoning the sensible schedule to fiddle around with tinsel and baubles, batteries and lights; upload photos and natter on Facebook instead! I'm grateful for finding new ways to arrange my deckies and for knowing it doesn't matter in the slightest that I do, other than because it gives me pleasure (and a pleasured me is usually a more good natured one, so you could argue I'm making the world a better place!)

I'm grateful for getting something out of the freezer that would last for two meals and then eating it all in one. I'm grateful I'm kidding myself somehow this will help with the washing up...

What may be

I give thanks for being home! There are many ways in which my home is far from ideal...but it's a great deal more delightful than railway platforms and waiting rooms on a cold dark and very busy Saturday evening. I give thanks for setting out on my day's journey hopefully and arriving part of the way on time, for not losing anything (including my temper), for stoicism, the money to buy refreshments and some refreshments worth spending it on. I give thanks for the beauty of the winter landscape...particularly for the sunlight painting the very tops of the trees gold as the train dipped into the tunnels and the water coloured estuary slipping by as darkness fell...

Most of all though I give thanks for the chance to participate in Marie's wonderfully warm and friendly 'leaving do', and for all the folk there I got to know a little better there...including, maybe, myself.

Diolch yn fawr

Yesterday I thought it would be good to talk to someone about how I felt about going to a family funeral today... But today, I'm grateful to say it's just been good just to talk to the family! I give thanks for seeing for a splendid variety of delightful cousins. ..in particular Simon, Sally and Adam of course, but others too, some maybe only met once at most before but lovely to get to know a little more... some half, some second, some not really related at all but connected by marriage, once marriage or long affiliation like Tashi and Maggie. I give thanks that despite thirty years or more apart everybody seems to seem pretty much exactly the same...and that everyone insists I look it!

I'm grateful that despite close calls with connections, hat loss, seat theft and a cab driver who drove me so nuts I walked the last bit instead I made it to the service. I give thanks for the kind weather and the well chosen words... some by Marie herself in preparation. I give thanks for sharing tears and hugs and laughter. I give thanks for seeing the beautiful Welsh countryside and mountains and remembering to say (and spell) diolch yn fawr!

I cannot lie

I give thanks for all the straws that have slipped through my fingers this week for reminding me not to clutch. When times seem hard we have more learning to do, so I'm grateful for the lessons.

I'm grateful to Linda for taking me to her lovely house for a cup of tea, and to Maddie for cutting my hair at short notice after I realised if I went to the Welsh borders untrimmed I might end up rounding sheep! I'm grateful for the array of tankers in the bay, sheltering from the storm and fascinating me as usual; for their twinkling lights at dusk and for the pinkness of the sky this evening too...

I'm grateful for remembering when you feel like you need a hug and a sympathetic ear, a weep and a sleep can help, though I'm so tired at the moment I'm not so grateful I have to get up and get moving again soon and can't stay here til morning... Talking of which, I'm grateful I remembered to phone for a cab to take me to the station, and that the cab man said he was free.

Flash in the pan

Today I've been very grateful to be free of schedules, timetables and appointments. I could probably have watched the clock a bit more than I did to be more connected to the prevailing course of the day, but I do appreciate not doing so... I'm grateful I'm hard pressed to think of much that I've done - that's always a good sign of a relaxing time, I think!

I'm grateful I've so nearly finished a letter to Kostas it might actually get printed and sent tomorrow.

I'm grateful for finding lots of nice things to eat with little prep or cooking required, including some homemade garlic bread in the oven (cosies up the kitchen on a chilly day) and an omelette in the wondrous ceramic non stick pan I bought in the kitchen shop here a couple of weeks back after much umming and aahing.

I'm grateful I've done some staring out of the window... including at the growing number of Christmas lights displays flashing at me from the windows and rooves of neighbouring houses. I'm grateful cash is a little tight just now which helped me resist a (far more tasteful, obviously) twinkly snow flaky thing that caught my eye the other day. I figured I wouldn't see it as I draw the blinds and curtains when it gets dark to conserve warmth, and the folk in the houses below wouldn't as they'd be dazzled by their own, which only leaves the gulls and the odd passer by looking up (right up, so as to get a cricked neck if they're not careful!)...so that was money well not spent!

Two right feet

I only managed half of yesterday so I'm grateful it was the best half with beautiful new socks from Jenny, the washing up done for me by Rachel and a jolly time at choir attempting to make a promotional video of ourselves...

Today? Well, I've not noticed an abundance of opportunities to feel grateful so I'm grateful I realise I clearly must try harder!    

I'm grateful I'm home watching TV. There were times when I wasn't sure how I'd get home and, after getting here, when I wasn't sure I'd ever get the TV to work again! I give thanks for the helpfulness of Tesco staff, and for rigorous training at the particular school of life where there is no 'phone a friend' option so you learn to rely on yourself whilst keeping an eye open for anyone who looks like they might have a hint of Samaritan in their genes...

The last few days I've had a lot of ill health related pain so I give thanks that right now I have the sort that comes from hefting awkward objects and confined space contortions - it doesn't hurt any less but it makes me feel so much more tough and strong! I give thanks for the soft mizzly rain this afternoon and the muted greys of the sea and sky. I'm grateful for leftovers for tea and a tank full of hot water.

p-p-p-p-pick up a pillow

I'm grateful for...

Punctual taxis
Perfect socks
Perky banter
Pesto pasta
Palliative treatment
Piping voices and a very
Persuasive bed...

Night night

Special needs

Last night I was grateful for one of those magical episodes when nothing hurt nor exhausted me. It was such a treat just to make some food, wash up and do a few chores completely forgetting there was anything the matter with me at all! The pain caught up with me later in bed and I was grateful I could see the funny side in there being so many different types in so many different body parts all competing for attention...

Sleep was in short supply so I was grateful I could rise late today, but equally eventually I was grateful I had to get up and get on with things. There's always something that seems to need cleaning (including myself), always something that seems to need creating (including meals) and always some entropy I seem to need to try to keep at bay. To some extent I'd rather be in pain trying to achieve a goal than just lie there thinking about it (both pain and goal) but I'm grateful for all the reminders of what I cannot do, or only so ineptly and inefficiently that more energy is expended than is really worthwhile. I'm grateful for remembering how unimportant most of what we think is, is. We get so caught up in our aims and aspirations, don't we? Or worse still, someone else's...

Arts of crafts

Wow, what a gorgeous morning here! I give thanks that I had to go out, wearing that special beatified and slightly smug smile of a local in a stunning spot in the sunshine...It was really warm on the seafront too and I give particular thanks for the little splashes a cormorant taking off from the water makes - like cartoon puffs of smoke behind an ancient car!

I'm grateful the sun followed me in in the afternoon because even though I did nothing yesterday evening and then had another very long sleep, I was ready for a big rest when I got home. I'm grateful I had no intention of putting my new tree lights on my tree as it took me an hour to get them out of the box, the battery holder open and the batteries in! They are very pretty lights but setting them up is clearly not a task for the manually challenged... I'm grateful Rachel is coming on Monday and might be persuaded to hold the TV while I get the deckies out from under it, because having seen how the lights might look in situ I'm getting keener to do that bit...

I'm grateful I'm good at working out what fabrics and yarns might be really like from inadequate descriptions and unappealing pics. Thus I have managed to purchase some remarkably good substitute yarn to make a replacement for a much loved (and already second hand) sweater of Bob's that someone else took a fancy to and took, plus win some gorgeous fabrics on ebay that other people didn't fight me for because they were so unphotogenic...

Green light

I'm grateful I had a hospital appointment today because it was such bright clear weather for a bus ride, the sun shining on the moor on the way there and the big full moon playing hide and seek behind bare trees on the the return. I'm grateful for Buddhist chants on my Walkman to remind me to feel loving kindness towards fellow travellers, and more raucous tunes to drown the sounds of them when it begins to run out!

I'm grateful I had to go to somewhere with bigger and more numerous shops than here so I could get the last bits of that kind of seasonal shopping, but that they're not much more so - as the smaller the area to be covered and the less the stuff to see the better for me! Though I love to give gifts, this time of year I'm grateful I don't actually have many folk to give them to, because the actual physical processes involved are so tiring.

Similarly sometimes I wish I had someone to come home to but tonight I was grateful to come home to no one needing anything and no neighbours within earshot for a while so I could move straight into uninterrupted sloth mode! I'm grateful I bought a slice of spinach pie back with me too. Spinach is to be "avoided" but I've got to have some greens or I'd die of something else I'm sure...

I'm grateful for top deck glimpses of other lives through lit uncurtained windows, for Christmas lights and the twinkle of ships in the bay, and the way the estuary was dark blue at dusk nearest the sea fading to lighter blue further inland. I'm grateful the orthoptist was pleased with my progress and I don't have to go back for a while...

Choose life

I'm grateful for a lot of sleep. After a full eight hours of upness I was in bed before 9.00 pm last night and spark out soon after, so when I woke up a few times I assumed that's how I'd stay...but my body just kept arranging for more! I'm grateful for a chilly grey day to stay indoors and not be too bothered about getting things done, though as is often the way when you set yourself no goals, achieving more than I thought I would do.

I've been known to grumble about too much choice. I'm grateful that there are so many businesses producing so many goods and services from the point of view of those for whom these create a living, but the individual would be consumer can feel a tad overwhelmed sometimes.  So after a long on line look I'm grateful I finally managed to get just the right sort of pockety thing to go on the back of my door and store/choose gloves and hats and scarves. This time of year these garments tend to be in much demand but to hide away in bags and coats or get lost, so at least this way I'll be able to see if they've made it back to the designated place! Plus I'm sure there must be some extra home insulation involved as well, so gratitude for that...

Recently I've also been grateful I know even if the National Rail website says there isn't the ticket you want the Trainline one might sell you one, and that if you ring a hostelry and ask for a particular type of room and they say they haven't one available you may be able to book the very thing on LateRooms! I'm grateful I've thus arranged not only to go to to Marie's funeral but to stay at the hotel for the large family gathering afterwards. It's not the kind of thing I'm usually involved in, my closest relatives (apart from Bob) not being what you'd call close in any other sense, and I'm particularly grateful to my cousin Simon for making me feel I'm welcome and wanted there.

Find the gap

I give thanks to the sun for shining so brightly in my eyes this lunchtime and forcing me out of bed! I'm grateful for the long soak in the bath I decided to forego last night as my joints were seizing and my muscles were squeezing and I feared I might get in but not get out... I'm grateful that eased the stiffness and pain and eventually I managed to get dressed and get a cab to get one or two things done that were better done today on account of the aforementioned sunshine and their opening hours.

I give thanks for the restorative beauty of the very chilly looking sea, and the cloud of gulls round the homecoming fishing boat - which sped into harbour before I could get my camera out! I'm grateful that big places have things like exhibitions I want to go to, but for the big gaps in between doing stuff like that I prefer big gaps between people, buildings and machines...

I give thanks to Luders for baking an exceedingly good cake to fill a gap in my tummy at teatime, and for home made beansprouts to go with my supermarket made supper. I give thanks I've a hot water bottle, books, a tablet with catch up TV and a rather early night planned...

Picture place

Well, I tackled the thing that couldn't be done and found that I could do it! Humongous gratitude for that! It took a lot of planning to make it as sit down full and step free as possible so I'm grateful for all the pre-departure work I put it in. I'm also grateful the things I couldn't plan went according to...regarding weather, waterworks, the vagaries of the great British public transport systems and the great British public, who mostly thronged where I was not and were quiet enough to let me nap on trains.

I'm particularly grateful I also stuck to a simple and very effective rule of not succumbing to the 'might as well while I'm here' urge to do anything else but what was on the itinerary, and absolutely NO shopping at all apart from purchases of tasty and nourishing food and drink. It's amazing how tiring looking round even the nicest shops can be, especially if you start to choose and queue...to say nothing of carting round extra baggage!

So yes I ache most resoundingly and am fit for nothing but supper, bath and bed for most of tomorrow, but I got to feast my eyes on some sights I thought I wouldn't by doing some things I thought I couldn't... and am very grateful I did!  I would hazard a guess you won't know where this is, which is why I've chosen it as an illustration. I like to be a woman of mystery!

Cross patch

Last night I was grateful for the marvellous film Marvellous - very funny and moving and, remarkably, mostly true!

Today I've not felt very grateful at all, and been a bit of an uncharacteristically crotchety grump. (Oh yes it is uncharacteristic, she snarls aggressively!) Part of it is probably cabin fever, and it would probably have done me good to get out for a bit of contact and interaction, but I've a long and busy day planned for tomorrow so it seemed wise to conserve energy for that, as far as is possible. Actually I've been quite grateful to be able to get on with this mood on my own...and everyone who knows me should be too! 

I'm grateful I'm going to attempt something I've been saying for a few years I can't do any more - partly due to a bloody minded and most un-Buddhist desire to succumb to my desire to do it, and partly because I believe very strongly we shouldn't stay willingly inside our comfort zones or they will shrink to enclose us even more firmly. It involves an early start so I'm grateful that short of starting now, I seem to be mostly ready for departure...

I'm grateful I've done some bits of vacuuming, that I've wrestled some very unco-operative waistband elastic into submission and for Sikkim Girls perfume on my wrists to bury my nose in!

Slow finisher

I give thanks for a mild and sunny, almost springlike day. I only got as far as the postbox and bins but it was lovely to feel the softness of the air while I was out and have the windows open and the heaters off when I was in! Some people I know were involved in an outdoor baked potato and singing thing so I'm grateful it was such ideal weather for that. I give thanks for the fondant sky after sundown too...

I've been fine at starting things recently but have tended to run out of staying power to finish within what seems to be to me an adequate time frame, so I'm grateful that over the weekend I've (eventually) succeeded in changing the bedding (mmm, clean sheets!), making a meal to go in the freezer for when Bob's here that is light on most of my usual staple flavour ingredients to appease the dietery requirements but which still tastes pretty good, and cleaning out a dishevelled and disorganised drawer. Oh, and after several hours of trying, finished this blog post too!

Where there's hope

I give thanks for the life of my cousin Marie. She was always open to new experiences, bless her, so I'm sure she's regarding her journey into the next world as an awfully big adventure...

I didn't meet her until I was a teenager, and she already had children older than me, but the kindness and encouragement she gave me in the years after my father died and my own mother couldn't or wouldn't, was very precious. She took me to my first meditation session for instance, and introduced me to avocados...important developmental milestones I'm sure you'll agree!   

I'm grateful she passed peacefully surrounded by her closest relatives and that they were together for each other because even when a life is full and long and it's a good time to go there's still some sadness. For me, although I remember so many happy times with Marie it's hard to remember them without other sorrows creeping in, so last night I was grateful when physical pain was keeping me awake so I could spend the time dealing with some emotional stuff too. 

Thank you for sharing your wisdom with us Marie, and for all the laughter and fun...

Browny grey Friday

I've been very stiff and sore and tired today so I was very grateful I had to go out and do some things...and that they included looking at the rather stormy sea! It doesn't physically help of course but I do find it exhilarating to the mind and soothing to the spirit. I was grateful the wind died down a bit for my excursion and that the rain held off, but there were few folk about on the seafront - mostly just me and the gulls surfing the breeze.

I give thanks that though I had some shopping to do, and even some bargains to find, I didn't have to negotiate queues and crowds and consumer madness but could potter around small and friendly local shops and businesses instead. I'm grateful I got just what I wanted, including a friendly cab home.

Last night I was grateful for eating a delicious supper I'd made in instalments throughout the day. Today's instalments have more or less been getting ready to go out, being out and being in recuperation...so I'm very grateful there's things I can pretty much just heat up and munch with no effort.

Matters of life

Ah, there's been some shadows the last couple of days. A friend has lost a much loved son still young, and a much loved much older cousin of my own is nearing the end of her journey. I give thanks for lives that touch others in the warmest ways...and for those who pass unappreciated as well. We are all here for a reason.

I give thanks for the sunshine that started the day giving way to bands of dark clouds and rain. My spirit was much tempted to venture forth in the bright bits but my body was having none of it at all!  I give thanks for a great deal of recorded TV which moved me to moist eyed compassion for those who suffer from clinging to things, or excessively cleaning things, who struggle to live a good life when beset by hopeless poverty or reviled sexual urges. There are many other shoes I'm grateful I do not have to walk in...

I give thanks for making a delicious omelette for my lunch and for finding some things I was looking for on line. Many years ago when I was briefly an art student, we had models in the life class who due to some now forgotten religious affiliation wore garments only in shades of orange...before removing them of course! I give thanks for remembering this while searching for purply red dye options and finding a link to a blog by someone who due to her religious convictions wears only shades of these colours. I give thanks for the solace and support some find in organised devotions - as long as this doesn't lead to them condemning other people's, of course!

Where there's no sense

Hearing more of more neighbours than I prefer, last night I gave thanks for escaping into a long bath and a good book. I'm always grateful for how comfy my bath is for a wallow, that the ancient plumbing means the flats can't have individual water meters so I can keep topping it up! I give thanks to Bob for introducing me to the amusing and intelligent series the book came from too. It's set in an alternative reality and this one contains a TV programme called Evade the Question Time where 'distinguished public figures generally evade the audience's questions and instead toe the party line' Where does the author get his ideas, I wonder?

I'm grateful for setting the alarm on my tablet for the first time as I wanted to wake up early and see/hear how it worked. I'm grateful it happened in that order as planned - I hate being woken by alarms and usually only set them to warn my body clock not to let that happen!

I'm grateful for mostly winning the tiring, tiresome and sometimes tearsome struggles with basic tasks such as washing my hair and getting dressed, and that limited feeling and control of one's limbs can have its funny side too. The other day my hand was between my laptop and my lap and I suddenly thought 'What's that moving on my leg?'

I give thanks for following a sensible man to the unqueued for train door...and realising it was someone I used to work with and to chat to on the journey sometimes years ago. Nice to do it again! I give thanks for getting most of the things I went on the train for, before the stupor of pain and fatigue set in, and for a very long sit down in a cafe when it did so.

I was grateful I even remembered to go to 'Little Glastonbury' to see if they had a suitable incense burner (they did!), and just before I got to the station to come home I was also grateful I remembered that was where I left a shopping bag. Unfortunately this meant I missed the train so I was grateful there was no babysitter, or cross legged dog or wife with a souffle waiting! I'm grateful pretty much all I've done is lie down since I got home as that is pretty much all I can do...

Much of a muchness

I was grateful to be able to go straight for a nap after writing my blog last night... I am most fortunate not to have anyone dependent on me being around! I was almost sure I would not be able to make it to choir but after Rachel had come and given me a treatment, made my tea and washed up after I was very grateful I felt restored enough to ride in her car there and back. I was so grateful I even shared the last of Sunday night's Eve's Pudding with her...though I must admit I wouldn't have minded at all if she'd declined her portion!

It was a nippy night and I was grateful I'd got my cosiest boots and coat out of storage at the weekend. It was a very heartwarming practice though and I gave thanks for listening to and contributing to the lovely sounds we made.

I was grateful for going to bed as soon as I got home, and for staying very late in it today. Much gratitude for the dark and damp weather ideal for staying snuggled up warm, catching up with much needed rest.

Sharp and sweet

I'm grateful that after much mutual consultation it was decided to postpone my treatment today...it was far too sunny to have to spend it traipsing to the hospital and back. I was grateful for waking up early enough to see the tail end of a glowing sunrise though, and early enough to beat the pain so that I was able to get a few things done before it seized me.

I'm grateful it was my hands that were most affected and that my knees were still willing to take me down to the seafront, and I gave particular thanks for my almost totally zip and button free wardrobe so that I could get suitably cosily dressed to do so. I'm grateful for a most acceptable pre-packed lemon drizzle cake now that the "real" ones are out of season at the cafe...and for lots of places to sit!

I'm grateful for a lift home from Knit and Natter and leaving the library building in time to see the pretty colours at sunset too. I'm grateful the children next door are having so much fun, otherwise I might have fallen asleep before I finished writing this!

Homes and gardens

I give thanks for the pretty mild and pretty weather today, with sparkly sea and fluffy clouds. I give thanks for the energy to go out in it for a bit and get some bits of this and that done... I give thanks for a rest and free cup of tea at the supermarket where children called Olivia and Barnaby are called with beautifully modulated vowels to casually well dressed heels...

And talking of modulation I give thanks for Lloyd Grossman pronouncing 'phenomenon' on some TV programmes about TV programmes about homes and gardens over the last fifty years (it's almost as good as Neil Oliver saying 'world'!) In fact I give thanks for the programmes themselves - fine entertainment for anyone with a penchant for the history of popular culture and domestic design.

I give thanks for making a start of reorganising my clothing storage so that summery things are out of the way and wintry things accessible, and for thus rediscovering how much personal weatherproofing I purchased last year! I give thanks that this start was made after making and eating lunch as I'm too exhausted to produce a proper tea now. I give thanks that I could maybe rustle up a sandwich later with some of the delicious cucumber from Mr Bromley's allotment...

Hot pot

I give thanks that despite dire warnings about renal taste failure my buds are still going strong... I give for Breton butter biscuits, and for opening the fridge in search of something savory and almost as quick and finding a forgotten pot of leftover pasta, veg and feta from yesterday's tea.

I give thanks for finishing my cheery tea cosy, and for the pretty wool originally bought for a different project that I decided wasn't quite right for that and clearly was perfect for this one!  I give thanks for the cup that cheers in so many forms - usually I have green, white and black versions in stock, plus various shades of pink and red and yellow flavoured with herbs and fruit.

I give thanks that I've still not found a charcoal incense burner that seems to me to be both attractively designed and priced...plus in stock and in this country. It's as if there's a correlation between inhaling fragrant burning resins and exceedingly bad taste (who would have thought it?), but having a yen for a different aroma around the place reminded me I had some rose nag champa cones so that's what the gratitude is for!

Shining on

I give thanks for not getting into a strop about coming over all of a flop again last night, but just equanimously getting on with getting on with nothing at all. Considering how many maladies I have that either make doing things more tiring or simply make me too tired to do them, I achieve a lot a lot of the time and when I don't I'm grateful I often achieve acceptance...

However, after a couple of hours I also gave thanks when my catatonic converter kicked in, and I suddenly felt quite wide awake and motivated again. I gave thanks that, when having a tidy up, I dropped something in an inaccessible corner which led to me partially accessing it! I didn't find the lost thing at first but I did find a lot of fluff and cobwebs and got rid of all I could, and I'm always grateful for getting things clean...

I give thanks for finding the beeswax polish I like for wood also works well on my big leather chair, and with a lot less elbow grease required than shoe polish which I've tried before. I give thanks for remembering I bought it with my Asham Award prize money, thinking that I might sit in it and write a masterpiece...and for considering writing more than fifteen hundred grateful blog posts is one!

I give thanks for doing a little work on the slomo dress. It's a seasonal garment of soft and cosy brushed cotton and needlecord so the intention is to finish it this time round of said season. Will the stitches be in time? I give thanks there's no voice over commentator saying it will be a 'disaster' if they're not!

The rest of the day

I give thanks for a very long rest...pretty near three quarters of a day horizontal! Not all of it was sleep, but none of it was reading or surfing the internet and very little was spent visiting the kitchen or bathroom either...

I give thanks for eventually getting up and dressed and getting a cab to town for various small important things including enjoying being out in the wet and windy but quite mild weather, and admiring the neutral palette of the shore. I give thanks for Specsavers excellent lens cleaner to make the world visible again afterwards...

I give thanks for a pretty pied wagtail hopping on the pavement beside me

I give thanks for remembering a colour correctly when buying thread without the fabric to match it.

I give thanks for having enough energy to keep the NHS and Royal Mail on their toes even when I'd none left to stay on mine...

And I give thanks for a delicious tea including leftover mashed potato mixed with chopped onion and grated cheese and baked, and a warm (and warmly donated) mice pie with clotted cream. These are, of course, dishes that should be rationed from the renal point of view...but having eaten so little the last twenty four hours I reckon I probably had a bit of spare potassium limit to use. My tastebuds and my tummy were very grateful anyhow!

Gaudete

I give thanks for making it through a very busy couple of days by current standards, unscathed except for being sleepy and chilly rather than chilling which often happens when I'm tired, and which I'm sure will wear off when I stop trying to achieve things and settle down with a snuggly throw and the remote control!

I give thanks for an invigorating acupuncture treatment from Rachel last night and for a lovely meal she made while the needles did their thing. Gratitude for her sous chefs at Cauldron foods and Tesco, and to John for contributing delicious home grown red cabbage! I give thanks for a less demanding choir session than usual due to the fact that the two 'new' songs we learned were actually pretty old, so old I'd sung both of them before at school...and gratitude that I remembered them both with fondness.

I give thanks to Jenny for cleaning my bathroom and windows and floors, and for changing a very high up light bulb that conveniently blew just before she arrived. I also give thanks to Laura for taking me and a pile of defunct items to the recycling centre where I also claimed a large old saucepan just right for non culinary needs. And I also give thanks to both of them for the pleasure of their company...

I give thanks that a rather random phone call revealed I have another appointment for intravenous iron next week as I've not yet received a letter about it, and that the brown stain on my arm where they failed to master the intravenous bit last time should eventually fade though it may take a very long time. They do seem to think I really need the treatment so I've reluctantly agreed to another attempt, and I'm grateful this means I'll be in reach of a Lush store and can treat myself at the same time!

Walkies!

I give thanks that Mia has been on a Sahara trek to raise money for Hospice Care. She's always been a tireless collector and campaigner for worthy causes but she's never donated her energy in this way before, and she's not someone who does a lot of willing walking in the everyday life, so well done her! Seeing the photos reminded me of travelling in the desert south of Ouarzazate so I was grateful for that, and hearing of the preparations reminded me of my own long distance charity walk in Wales and England many years ago - organised without the internet of course which is hard to imagine now... Well done me! (In fact double well done because I managed to spell Ouarzazate without looking it up!). As my sponsored walk was for Band Aid, it's strange that it's been in my mind and then has been in the news again so I also give thanks for the coincidence and all who benefit from giving and receiving in whatever way they can.

I give thanks for a good neighbour tidying up the rubbish left beside the bins and tidying the bins up when they're emptied and left all higgledy piggledy. And for another neighbour good naturedly turning her music down on request. Also for more friendly swapping of goods and services at the library knitting group. I have more cookies than I went with but less jam!

I give thanks for these reflections by women on their toilet facilities around the world.. I give thanks that mine is indoors, inside my door and mostly used just by me... We are most of us more fortunate than we ever take a moment to imagine...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-30027513

Rubbish!

Yay! I give thanks for last night and this morning feeling better than I have for a couple of weeks. I'm grateful for getting some overdue household tasks done without too much effort including taking a big bag of rubbish out, and for making some tasty pepper, feta and olive pastries. The illusion of healthiness wore off this afternoon, in fact I felt worse than usual, but I was grateful to have a rest by then... and eat them!

I gave thanks for watching Gareth's celebrity Children in Need choir practices - like the special Sewing Bee sessions this year, I enjoyed being able to actually imagine doing what the participants were trying to do!  I give thanks for a hot water bottle to cuddle my kidney and an episode of QI to make me laugh...

Help! Fire!

I was grateful for the surprising sparkle of the stars in yesterday's not yet moonlit sky. And for it being mild enough to have the window open and hear the sounds of the night...except for a noise that woke me up in the wee small hours. I thought it was some large vehicle reversing because there'd be beeps and then an announcement repeated again and again, and it seemed to me to be at first close then further away. But today I see people saying it was something to do with a faulty alarm and the message was telling people to evacuate the building...people from all over the town but none identifying where, so I give thanks for the mystery!

I'm grateful I chose to accept my missions for the morning which included taking some bits to a charity shop and collecting my new little bottle gas fire. It's not heavy but the box was awkward so I gave thanks for the taxi driver holding it for me while I unlocked the downstairs door. I gave thanks for some opportunities to be helpful myself - letting the woman behind me in the Post Office queue go in from as she only wanted a stamp for France and I thought (rightly) getting the package might take longer than that, and also assisting a bemused knitter in choosing some buttons in the wool shop. I'm grateful said wool shop also had, in their rather random stock, just the knitting needle I was needing. I give thanks for not knitting a stitch since I got home though...in fact mostly doing nothing at all...

I'm grateful to the well behaved rain for not falling on me at all, but for the colour of mud and sea and mimosa buds bright outside my window.

Warm orange glow

I'm grateful the orange gaffer tape seems to be holding my broken dress rail together. I'm grateful I've ascertained neither gaffer tape nor glue will fix the mini gas heater (nor pliers turn it on without the knob), but that I've found someone to take it to the dump for me plus a reasonably priced replacement and a reasonably minded eBay trader who agreed to despatch by Royal Mail instead of his usual courier service, so that I can collect it from the post office here. I might do that tomorrow if I've a bit more get up and go...

I'm grateful for bright sunshine giving me some today. It was really hard to move first thing but I thought a scenic bus ride might be pleasant distraction from aches and pains without causing too many more. First choice would have been to go up on the moor, but this time of year, though there's market day buses from there to nearby towns they're going in the wrong direction for a visit. However, thinking of this reminded me that there's one bus a week from the bottom of the road that winds along the opposite bank of the river through narrow twisty lanes and impossibly pretty thatched villages with improbably long names... I was very grateful it was two hours til it departed so there was time to get dressed and go!

I gave thanks for the visual glories of this journey, with the slanting sun on the furrows and folds of the land and the many shades of autumn foliage. And, when I thanked the driver for its delights as I alighted at the bus station, he suggested if I'd time there was another service up to the tor later, and that contrary to popular belief (and most timetables), although the route officially ends at the top the bus doesn't stay there and you can request to come back down to a small town renowned for classy craft shops and cafés and catch a connection back this way. So I got to go through more lanes and villages and up through glowing ancient woodlands onto the moor, beaming with gratitude and gasping (quietly) in awe at the views. I'm grateful I managed not to cry with joy because I know it can make other people feel odd, but to desire something so seemingly simple but simply out of reach, and then find it's not, is the kind of thing that makes me very emotional.

I'm grateful for uplifting music of various kinds to accompany me, from Imee Ooi to Fat Boy Slim via Ladysmith Black Mombazo, for fortuitous finding of tasty refreshments in the perfectly timed intervals between journeys... And for the rain during the last leg (when I could hardly stay awake) starting when the bus pulled away and finishing when it arrived at my stop. I'm grateful I've had nothing to do but lie down for the last couple of hours since I got home and that Mr Tesco has provided supper if I can just get off my bum and heat it up!

Don't diss order

Why don't Buddhists vacuum in corners? Because they have no attachments! I'm a little attached to cleanliness and order, but not to the point where it becomes a disorder, I'm grateful to say, as if I got anxious if things weren't kept clean and tidy life would be pretty difficult these days!

I'm grateful I vacuumed the middle of the living room floor this morning as I wanted to pin some fabric that without attaching carpet dirt to it. And I'm grateful I wrestled the carpet attachment off and put on a little brush just right for getting dust off lampshades and picture rails. Unfortunately after using it my hands were too sore for sewing and most of the afternoon was spent in dozing. I'm grateful those screamy children next door were out!

I'm grateful eventually I pinned and even sewed the seam... And for another nap after that.

I'm grateful after eighteen months of trying to get the dirt and debris strewn around by the ex tenants of upstairs removed, it seems to have been done. And I'm grateful I've not checked the quality of the cleaning in the communal areas today in case I find I want to improve it.

I'm grateful for being able to read the Big Issue in the bath instead of selling it in the rain. Pretty much everyone I know wouldn't envy me where live, but quite a lot of folk I don't know would do.

Accumulation

So...the gist of the Google happiness programme I was talking about yesterday is to practice mindfulness and/or meditation, to take note of happy moments in your day and do, or at least wish, kindness to others... The evidence of its success is anecdotal but suggests the effect is cumulative and, as someone who has been accumulating the effects for some years, I urge you to start at once if you haven't already - because I really do want you to be happy you know!

I was grateful for less pain and more energy this morning so I could take some stuff to the little food bank collection point at the station cafe. All the supermarket ones are at supermarkets it's hard for me to get to, so I save up little light things I find on special offer like cup-a-soup and teabags and take a bag in now and then. Today, getting tired and also about to get wet, I rewarded myself with a cup of tea while I was there...and some chocolate wafers as my potassium levels were so (relatively) good on my latest blood results!

I give thanks for the mild temperatures, being out in the sunshine and also the pouring rain...but not getting cold. For the strange yellow light you get here sometimes when it's stormy at sunset, and the frequent glowing rainbows. For these beautifully glowering clouds...

I'm grateful I had the money to buy a Big Issue and the time to stop for a chat with the seller, and that when I got home I had just enough oomph left to sort out the post and junk mail in the hall, putting the latter in the recycling bins and letters that belong in another letterbox to the one they should be in. I'm grateful for ready chopped stir fry and ready cooked rice and hummous, and being too sore to do anything more than have a long lie down with the TV. All I need now is a masterchef to cook some supper and an obsessive compulsive cleaner to wash up...otherwise I'll be very grateful for crackers and apple and brie!

Curled up

I give thanks for a soothing treatment from Rachel yesterday evening. For a while I completely forgot she was there or that I had needles in various parts of my body...and when I came to I realised I was pretty much lying in savasana so I guess that might have had something to do with it. 

I'd already decided not to go to choir, and after she'd had a cuppa and kindly washed up for me she decided she wasn't either, so continuing in the mood of let's not be bothered I contacted Jenny and said if she didn't want to walk over to mine this morning in the wind and rain she needn't and we all gave thanks for some extra curling up in the warm and dry.

I'm grateful I fondly imagined for a while I'd actually do rather more than that, but in the end, apart from finish the snake to do it with, that was pretty much it for today! 

I give thanks to my downstairs neighbours for letting Ms Tesco in which helped, and for discovering my many times broken dress rail has collapsed again as this means it's far too difficult to the back of the cupboard under the stairs and get my most weatherproof clothes out! I've still got an old curtain pole that would fit in the alcove and might have found someone to make me some ends which 'just' means some sawing and drilling left to allocate. I give thanks for remembering a roll of wide bright orange gaffer tape I found in the road a couple of months ago, coveted and kept. That might effect another temporary repair if I feel a bit more lively tomorrow...

I give thanks for finding out that Google has a 'happiness engineer', and was even more happy when I read this article and found out what they recommend!

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20141110-googles-algorithm-for-happiness

   

Pretty smelly

I give thanks for a very long lie in... and a very slow getting up to follow. I give thanks for cancelling everything that didn't need to be done and for doing the things that did. It seems I'm going through a phase of having to ask twice so I'm grateful for repeating myself while retaining some pleasantness.

I give thanks for mostly unpacking and for the pretty smelly things I found in my case such as the incense and the patterned tin of vegan cream. I've got as far as opening the packet of the former and putting the tin of the latter on my dressing table though still not lifted the lid... I like to make my pleasures last! Thanks also for my soft and warm new scarf (love the colours even more for being half price!) and for the bath salts that were an unwanted gift for someone else. A fortuitously timed conversation about such things led them to be offered to me  and my fortuitously timed groans at the weight of the jars they were in led to the contents being decanted into takeaway boxes and the containers going to a potter who uses blue glass in her designs.

I give thanks for the bright and beautiful jays in the trees behind the less scenic rubbish bins. For a cheery cabbie and a churning sea. I give thanks for the sound of the wind and waves and rain and that I can stay snug indoors for a day or two now.

Sweetness and light

I'm so grateful I decided to keep a gratitude blog as if it had been any other kind of journal I might have felt moved to have a little rant about some of the situations encountered (and indeed NOT encountered!) over the last two or three hours. I know there's a school of thought about the value of 'getting things off your chest' but in my experience usually the more you remember and recount tales of exasperation and woe the more weight they gain both for you, and sometimes your listeners too.

I give great thanks for a soothing Roobosh and a few episodes of Coach Trip to restore my equilibrium, also for the remaining slices of pizza from a hasty lunch found in the supermarket, prepared and wrapped by John when we included too many very pleasant detours and delays on our 'elevenses' drive today. 

I give thanks for a visit to a fine old Saxon chapel and a Norman Abbey with some of the most delicate stonework I've ever seen, a mighty iron stove and a very well stocked gift shop - I was tempted to make an impulsive purchase there...and gave in! Also for exceedingly delicious cake at an Italian cafe... 

I'm grateful if all goes according to my current plan soon I should be wallowing in bath water...and then snuggling under the covers, and that even if plans go awry, the mere thought of such pleasures is sweet!

Setting off

Woohoo... I give thanks for Cheltenham Round Table firework display! My visit here was timed to coincide with it but, although we've been before and know it can be worth the effort, it did seem like an effort to get wrapped up and brave the crowds and car parking conundrums. I'm very grateful my meteorological manipulation skills meant we didn't have to worry about the weather as, despite a dark and blustery day and early evening showers, it was fairly mild and fair by seven, with a big bright moon peeking between the clouds.

I give thanks that we appealed to just the right marshal for leave to leave the queue of traffic inching towards parking spaces in the distance on the grounds that the distance was just too far for me to walk back to the venue, and that the end of the line he let us squeeze on to turned out to be right by an exit which made for easy exiting afterwards too. I give thanks that as we inched our own way through milling crowds, unaware of the best place to stand for the best view we came upon a good sized space that turned out to be in just the right place to watch the main display and lots of littler ones going on on the hillside behind. I give thanks for some wonderful fireworks, some of which were new to me set to music too which is always sets them off a treat I think...

Burning bright

I always wake gratefully from a needed nap but even more so when someone else is up first, making some tea and attending to other necessary tasks. What a treat to be looked after for a couple of days, though I'm grateful I did make my own cuppa first thing today - be a shame to get home and find I've forgotten how!

I give thanks for a pretty drive through dripping autumn scenery to Prinknash Abbey, somewhere I've always wanted to go, not least to buy some of their delicious incense. It's years since I first encountered it, and I didn't realise it came in different blends... I chose Basilica. Much thanks for hot drinks and delicious cake in the cafe there as well, and the beautiful mural in the peaceful chapel there which reminded me of Lynd Ward's illustrations in the Cat Who Went to Heaven. And then I was grateful for remembering that!

I give thanks for the yummiest cauliflower cheese for an early tea and then a drive out to a local school's bonfire and fireworks display. It wasn't the most designed display I've ever seen (several times we thought it was over whilst at the end we didn't realise it had finished as there were a few random smaller ones after the bigger rockets, so we were particularly grateful for driving towards a rather grander finale somewhere else on the way home. And I'm grateful for finally finishing writing my blog now we're home and frequently distracted by all the other ones going off around the neighbourhood.

Break time

I give thanks for the smell of onions frying...especially when it's not your face over the pan! That's two teas being cooked for me this week, which even though one of them was merely boiled eggs and toast is definitely something to be grateful for!

I give thanks for getting up and ready in time for the taxi that was on time to catch the train that was on time too. And for the kind passenger who offered to carry my suitcase up the station stairs as the lift was out of order and when I 'asked for assistance' (as per the poster) the member of staff I asked said he'd find someone and went off and did and then the two of them walked past me and up the stairs without giving me any help at all.

I give thanks for the trolley coming round with a cup of tea just when I'd begun to think I'd have to go without... And for the trolley having a very tasty cookie to go with it!

I give thanks that I'm at John and Jo's with a hotty botty and central heating and don't, for now, need to concern myself with the fact that last night I broke the knob on my little gas heater for the bathroom.

Seeing the lights

I give thanks for an early night last night using the 'sofa' for its original purpose as a bed, and dozing with a book, the TV and an ethical conundrum that I'm grateful I finally got my head around... I give thanks for lying in very late into the day today...

I'm very grateful that, though the tights I collected yesterday were brilliant. the t-shirt I'd also brought home to try on was no good and needed to be taken to the Post Office for returning, otherwise I wouldn't have been going anywhere...

I give thanks for realising if this time of year I want to do some sewing and have to go out I need to do the sewing first to make the most of the light...both in the sense of daylight for sewing and light like this for being out! I love to see the moon shining on the sea but I usually do when it's darker, and I'm at home. Much gratitude for this delightful variation...

I give thanks for the rather astonishingly helpful arrivals of buses and that, though going out again to another organised display tonight is beyond me, I get to see so many fireworks, and even bonfires and sparklers from my kitchen window...all under the sparkly Plough!