Buoying

I give thanks for the fierce morning becoming welcoming with sunshine when it was time to go out, for a coat that's long enough to sit on a bus stop seats and a bus stop with a seat! I give thanks for seeing dogs running in the park and their walkers greeting each other.

I give thanks for still gasping at the glory of the sea after all these years, and the entrancing beauty of the winter countryside.

I give thanks for this week's buskers - the delightfully unexpected capella 'boy band' Semi-toned. Going into the city three Saturdays running for a mindfulness course has been exhausting but the quality of the street entertainment is one reason I originally moved there and it's still an uplifting joy...

Surfy

I give thanks for the internet. Bleary eyed after a painful night, I looked at my tablet to see what time it was and discovered a delivery was due in half an hour. I give thanks for getting dressed in record time, and downstairs in record time when the van arrived but the phone didn't ring as well!

I give thanks for the rest of the morning spent in recovery from this unexpected exertion, watching tennis players exert themselves instead. And for a quiet afternoon watching paint dry...

I give thanks for beginning to get the hang of my new-to-me phone. My number's the same but for some reason I can't import other people's in the usual one click way so I'm looking forward to the mystery when I get an incoming message, which is rare but does happen once in a while... I give great thanks that the keypad and screen are easier for my fumbly fingers than my previous one as this was the reason I wanted a change. Oh, and if this post uploads OK and includes a photo, I'm grateful the phone and blogger app are good too :-)

Parky

I give thanks for the twinkle of raindrops on branches in the sun...

for a coat and hat and boots and gloves to wear out in the rain

for all the ships sheltering in the bay, and being able to look them up on marinetraffic.com!

for the sound of hailstones and the surprise of snowfall watched from the snugness of indoors

for a massive cream cake from the baker's, potatoes for my tea and the long awaited Fortitude starting on TV later

Catching

Last night I deleted the last paragraph of my post which was about being grateful for apparently going down with a cold (as I haven't had one for ages and find them amusing and a perfect excuse to laze around feeding them with snacks and films and so on) but I thought I'd better wait to be sure as snuffles don't always turn out that way with me and this time they didn't either! I guess I'm grateful really...

I'm grateful for deciding my immune system was clearly telling me to rest anyway and taking it extra easy. It seemed as if it was going to be stormy and ideal day for staying indoors but the wind howled a bit and gave up, and my painting was a wash out too as I decided to try out some washes and all I ended up with were some damp pieces of slightly coloured paper - which is what washes are of course but nothing to get excited about.

I'm grateful for finding a new word game that is seriously addictive, and some catch up TV including the riveting fly on the wall 24hrs in Police Custody. I'm grateful for the glimpses into the minds of both officers and offenders but by far the most surprising one for me so far was when a police woman said she used crystals to protect her from the negativity. I'm grateful for the reminder not to stereotype!

I'm grateful the poor little lonely dog next door finally stopped yapping and presumably fell asleep for a while, and that that's what I did too...

Chasing

I give thanks for getting my mojo back which was noticeably absent at the end of last week, leading to the usual mojoless mistake of imagining it could be returned to me in any way but by me. It's so sad when people think that there are external sources of inner peace or joy - food or drink, drugs you get from the doctor and those you don't, money, purchases and possessions, pastimes, particular physical states or people - but you do tend to think like that when you're sad, don't you?

I always think hope for change is a potentially unhelpful route to go down too, as it's pushing aside the dealing with the is and now... but what really does seem to help is helping others be joyful instead. You can read the Testaments Old and New, the Bhagavad Gita, the Qur'an, the Tipitaka or the Tao-te Ching but if you're pressed for time Wilbert Harrison's lyrics of wisdom cut to the chase:

Make someone happy, make someone smile...

... and I give thanks for the opportunities I've had in the last few days to do just that :-)

I give thanks for Willie's sublime elderflower and lemon cake at choir, and much chuckling with Christine. I give thanks to Jenny for doing the more strenuous chores, and to me for tidying up so that she could get to the bits in need of vim and vigour.  Far from my vigorous myself, I give thanks for doing little else today. I give thanks to the Australian Open on TV and tablet bringing me more joy of sets!

To C

I give thanks for my usb disk drive, a requested Christmas gift. It's coming in handy for listening to a CD of 'tutor tracks' for choir whist doing other things on the internet. Of course I should be warbling along but these are midi rather than voice, and without the other parts sound like a cat on a hot tin Stylophone, making me burst out laughing rather than into song I'm afraid. I'm always grateful for a good laugh though!

I give thanks for coming home from town with an irresistible urge to mix up some colour samples, in case a sketch I was doodling with last night were to become a painting...and that there was nothing else needed doing for a few mins so I could lose myself in that. After a bit I looked up and thought my eyes had gone funny from focussing on particular hues because the light outside seemed to be the strangest purply orange...and then I realised there was an awesome sunset going on! It's the wrong time of year to have to full panorama from here but worth sticking my neck out of the window to see... I give thanks for having even a partial view.

I give thanks for finally unpacking my shopping, getting dinner on and checking out my new phone from eBay. I give thanks for my budding bidding skills and for Bob's good recommendation for an out of date model worth fighting for. The trick now is to leave it alone until the protective case I ordered too arrives...it's far too nice for a fumble and fall!

To B

I give thanks for my bath and my bed, biscuits and books...

I give thanks for coaxing my TV and internet back into what seems to be reliable connection again. I give thanks for a QIXL making me laugh when I was sad, and a shout out loud at the screen tennis match for making me shout out loud...

I give thanks for this article about 'stuffocation' and that it maybe I was doing it right all along, which I can't help but be grateful for, smug though it may seem.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-30849473

Many years ago, when I was walking to London from Wales, as one does, we arrived one night at a pre-booked hotel much fancier than we were used to and sat on rather covetable sofas in the foyer. My friend said you could buy similar items at reasonable prices and I found myself wondering why I rarely purchased that kind of consumer goods. I realised I'd a tendency to spend my limited resources on experiences rather than things... About the same time I wrote a song lyric 'Beauty is a fleeting thing, it's memories we hold' which is kind of about the same thing. I give thanks for the essential wisdom we have inside and that I clearly had a lot more in my twenties than people gave me credit for!

Bollards

The pain it paineth every day, and often most of the night as well. I give thanks for the times when it hurts the most as this is when there's the most to be learnt about equanimity, but I also give thanks for the times when it doesn't as I've clearly still a lot to learn and find functioning so much easier when my hands and neck and knees are too, especially when I want to take them out into the big wide world and clothes and doorknobs and toiletries ferociously fight me.

I give thanks for making the trek to my mindfulness class regardless as that's what it's all about. I give thanks for the sight of all the folk who seemed to be having fun in the sun, with dogs and bikes and company, for the couples walking hand in hand home at the end of the day and the bride in the be-ribboned split screen caravanette. I give thanks for Phat Bollard busking brilliantly and putting a spring in my step and a smile in my heart for a while.

Ice blue

I give thanks for the sight of the heavy frost this morning - from (mostly) snug indoors. I give thanks for a shaft of sunlight breaking though the murk and shining golden on the sea...before, eventually, it came out properly in the afternoon and so did I! I'm grateful it wasn't as cold as it looked as I could only move about slowly...and I was grateful for a rest on the seafront with a cup of takeaway tea.

I give thanks for hearing about this guy who's always travelling and finds something to take a photo of everyday - some great pictures there and I'm a bit of a fan of daily creative practices anyway
http://instagram.com/homelessceo

I give thanks someone I know is doing well after a minor op, and that someone else who's been struggling with a chest infection for several weeks seems in good spirits at least. I give thanks that despite the pesky pain I remain pretty well for an ill person and in good spirits myself...

Milking it

I give thanks for sleeping well (for me) and being woken by pain rather than neighbours being a, which is psychologically much better I find. I'm grateful I can reach curtains and heater without getting out of bed so I can make the bedroom ready for when I'm ready to.

I'm grateful for Bob finding a gadget on line that might be worth a try, but I also give thanks for now I've given up trying to find a way to keep milk from going smelly in my bedroom overnight for when I want to make a cuppa in there on a chilly morning. A flask works but then you have to remember to wash it out quick or that goes smelly instead, but I've decided it's no big deal to go and get milk from the fridge while the kettle boils - you can pop in there after the bathroom, grab a biscuit from the tin on the way back too and still have tea that's piping hot without getting yourself making it either.

I give thanks I didn't get up for hours today, so that I could rest the bits that hurt and catch up with catch up TV on my tablet as my Sky box had been a bit moody lately. I'm grateful I mostly only suffer from pain and fatigue, as unpleasant though they may be, there are far worse things you can have...and I'm grateful I don't have to watch scheduled TV when struck down with them...that would be very sad indeed! 

Points of light

Brr...that was a chilly night and day! I give thanks for a roof over my head and covers on my bed. I give thanks for being able to stay late beneath them... I give thanks for appreciating the comedic quality of some of my incapability today - there's definitely an element of light entertainment to be had in the way things insist on eluding my grasp, body parts refusing to to move as required and the involuntary groans that sound like bad acting!

I give thanks for getting up slowly and slowly getting on with things that had to be done like making food, washing up and putting the washing on. I give thanks for cleaning the sink and sinking onto the sofa after. I give thanks for the dog next door not yapping all day and the sun eventually coming out - too late to bring any warmth indoors but brightening up the colours outside most pleasingly. I give thanks for not quite burning my tea typing this...

Spaced out

When my body's hurting and I'm woken up by hail hurtling against the window, I'm very grateful I don't have to go out...unless I have a hospital appointment! When my body's hurting, there's hail hurtling against the window and I have a hospital appointment I'm very grateful if it's a Tuesday and I go into the kitchen and remember Rachel did the washing up the night before...

I'm grateful most of my appointments are in places fairly easily reached by bus and train, and the bus and train catching places are fairly easily reached from here, on a good day. On a bad day, lacking a compassionate and compatible companion to drive me, I'm still grateful for still being able to use public transport and enjoy my view of the world (literal and metaphorical) rather than being transported by volunteers imposing theirs. The loss of ability and mobility is hardest part of failing health for me, but a close second is all the time I have to share physical space with folk whose headspace is very different from mine especially when they inflict it on my ears! I give thanks for a quiet waiting room, and a consultant who respects my opinion and my ability to keep myself alive...

I give thanks for travelling further as I was half way there and trying one more time to find my favourite bread though it seems it's not available anywhere now and I can give up this arduous quest at last. I give thanks for finding some spelt wholemeal instead, plus Fair Trade roobosch, and pretty light across the estuary waiting for the train back. I'm grateful for loud unleashed schoolchildren keeping me from dozing off and missing my stop. and I'm grateful when my body's hurting and I've been to a hospital appoinment I can come home and rest!

Seating arrangements

I'm grateful I made it to knitting to say hello to the ladies who were there and supply them with milk and cookies! I'm grateful the bus home was late to remind me next time I think it's too much trouble to go back up all the stairs to collect missing gloves I should think again! I'm grateful my hands are beginning to thaw out now and my typing returning to no worse than usual...

I'm grateful I've now done the back and the front of Bob's jumper and am at the joining the first shoulder stage so that the garment at rest looks as though I'm actually knitting bagpipes...

I'm grateful I met a man on the seafront who told me the tree in the Triangle is a roost for wagtails not starlings and, due to the late bus and falling dusk I got to see them myself! I'm grateful I don't think I'm a failure for not being able to tell a starling from a wagtail in the dark - they both squeak, and flutter, and flock...

I'm grateful to Rachel for interrupting this posting for acupuncture, chatting and snacking, and the entire company of the choir for another musically diligent but merry and mirthful practice. Particular thanks for the way we sometimes applaud a section when they've mastered a tricky par,t and the fact that plans are afoot for enough seats for the seats to sit on!

Kind of

I give thanks for a clear blue winter's sky and sea, for solar power streaming through my south facing windows helping keep me warm during the day and for heaters to do it after nightfall. I'm grateful I don't have to rub sticks together, clean out a coal grate or collect kindling...

I give thanks for simple systems for enabling generosity to those experiencing hard times - food bank collection points, suspended coffee schemes and so on. Maybe there are scroungers about, maybe there are scoundrels running the country, but in the meantime the human need for sustenance won't wait for it all to be sorted out...
http://twistedsifter.com/2015/01/customers-pay-it-forward-with-post-it-note-pizza-vouchers/

I give thanks for a free Kindle book bonus after buying three paperback ones the other day. I give thanks for the everyday miracles of modern technology that make life so much easier when they work, and usefully remind us not to be dependent when they don't!

I give thanks for finding a TV programme about extreme runways - very entertaining if you like that kind of thing - and a quiet couple of hours playing with my paints (ditto)

I give thanks for a sumptuously smelly tea of baked Camembert, garlic bread and salad with raw red onion. I'm not sure if it's my allium intake that powers my feisty immune system or the fact that my breath means people rarely get close enough to give me germs... but I'm grateful I realise having said that I'm bound to go down with something now!

Vision on

I give thanks for the bright stars in the clear sky last night, the twinkle of ships' lights in the bay...and for now knowing which ships they are. I give thanks for a very funny film and a lift home after, for a warm bowl of soup for my supper and being warm in bed after that. 

I give thanks for shooting into the sun this morning....I give thanks for my sight and my vision. I give thanks for coaxing my stiff and sore bits into some forms of action, for warm trains and window seats, and appropriately for the day after disabled access day, for stations and buildings that have lifts. I give thanks that I've just cobbled together the most unsightly Sosmix sausage rolls ever...and that they still taste quite divine!

Hot food

I give thanks for an unscheduled chat with a friend this morning, having a 'sauna' moment! You probably think I mean something else...but no, I mean just that! I give thanks for running into another friend in town the other day who asked if I'd like to join her doing something tonight, and that I've managed to get confirmation this is still on in time to get ready.

I give thanks the little girl next door has progressed from screaming to wailing. It's still pretty much relentless but a little less piercing and easier to deal with...

I give thanks for this fascinating glimpse into the changing food choices of a nation http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-30828142

I give thanks for three new novels to read, and I give thanks for my new pen grips arriving too though I can't actually fit them on any pens or pencils so I'm still grateful for the laccy band solution I came up with the other day.

This day

In view of the many weaknesses I've encountered today, I give thanks for my sturdy spirit and boots, my appreciation of irony and also spellcheckers - as the eighth word above wasn't 'encountered' when first I typed it!

Having a fondness for a particular loaf only some Co ops sell, I'm grateful I decided to try the one a half hour bus ride away rather than the one an hour's train ride distant as I had urgent need of a loo about 25 mins into my journey. I'm grateful there was a cafe with a loo near the bus stop, and that the loo had a washbasin inside it.. and some very nice cake outside it too! At least I think it was a cafe, it might have been a care home judging by the clientele and the caring way the waiter dealt with them...so ideal for me really. I was grateful for my cunning wardrobe choices that hide a lot of problems and, as there was none of that bread in the Co-op and sorting myself out meant I'd missed the bus back, I was grateful for sunshine and breezes to air them so to speak...

I'm grateful I thought of going to see the sea while I waited, and that when I saw it...and how far away it still was, I'm grateful I found a shortcut back and that there were seats here and there!There were times when I thought I'd not make it to the top, but at I thought how grateful I'd be to die on a walk in the woods so that was OK too...

I'm grateful for the sight of workman moving their ladders so a lady with a walking frame could get past, and for hearing her say it was kind and reminded her of an old TV show she liked to watch. 'Which one?' asked her companion...'Bread' she replied! And then... when I rested on a bench by the bus stop I was grateful I stopped to check which pocket my bus pass was in as it turned out to be in a pocket of my purse which had parted company with me at some point. So probably I'm most grateful of all for finding it back in that cafe...

Pigs might swim

I'm grateful for being snug inside on a wild and stormy night. Last night it was quite bracing too, and I was grateful I could do something public spirited whilst lounging on the sofa watching a programme featuring swimming pigs and eating an antisocial amount of raw garlic...being on the town council was never that relaxed! Later I became enthralled by on line maps of maritime activity watching the Brixham pilot boat go out to liaise with and turn a container ship nominally bound for Algeciras but heading purposefully North West towards the Devon coast instead. At least that's what seemed to be happening and I was grateful for the opportunity to make up stories and scenarios such as charts upside down, or threatened mutiny unless supplies of something or other were topped up!

This morning I was grateful I woke up in time to open the curtains and watch the dawn, even though it was the moon that dazzled me instead. I'm grateful for a relaxed day, pottering about with a bit of housework, a good book and some knitting. I'm grateful for discovering you can refresh biscuits that are going soft with a few minutes in the oven, and that someone just rang to confirm I'm attending a hospital appointment I have yet to receive a letter about so didn't know I had!

Bright intervals

I'm grateful that Rachel phoned me before she bought our tea last night as she has a talent for choosing what I've just had for lunch, and that we managed to fit in eating and treatment and a good deal of nattering and still make it to choir more or less on time. I'm grateful for a hard working session but also a very humorous and uplifting one, and for seeing someone I remembered from the knitting group a while back - though I got the impression she didn't remember me.

I'm grateful for having less pain and more energy the last couple of days, and for having a long potter around town today to bring it all back. Much thanks for seeing lots of folk I know and being able to share my ebullience at being out and about. I give thanks for a takeaway cuppa on the sea front in the sun and for the starlings swiftly swooping into shelter from the pier when it started to rain. They often fight to find a favoured spot in this tree on the triangle at dusk...but maybe they haven't been back for a while as I see they've left their Christmas decorations up!

I give thanks for a lie back in the dentist's chair until the clouds cleared again and for him making my smile even brighter...

Altering images

I give thanks for Albert Nobbs... and Hubert Page!

I give thanks for the DPD driver calling me to say he was outside so that I could pop down and get my parcel. I give thanks for a sale on at an on line art materials shop so I could get some paint in new hues. Although I have close to zero experience of picture painting, I'm grateful I'm a dab hand at colour mixing after my craft painting years and so knew which would be good additions to the basics. I'm looking forward to getting some bigger paper and brushes so I can try creating the images in my head, but in the meantime I'm grateful for journey of discovering acrylic paint, the density and intensity etc,  I'm always up for an adventure... even (or maybe nowadays even especially) one sitting down. I give thanks you can paint over the top of a wash without the under colour coming through, and that if like me you're inclined to drop whatever you're holding, paint on top of an under colour that you didn't mean to be there can be swiftly removed as well.

I give thanks for Jenny talking me out of going to the knitting group at the library this afternoon. She didn't really, but she's a sympathetic and supportive way of conversing so encouraged me to go along with not going along for no good reason other than just not being in the mood. I had nothing else to go into town for and the cost of taxis or effort of walking and waiting to bus in the wind and rain just tipped me over the edge of indecision, but I'm grateful I did some knitting of Bob's jumper anyway (and I'm sure he is too!)

I'm grateful I just rustled up an apple and cinnamon Eve's pudding for a spot of late afternoon comfort food. I'd be happy to share it with Rachel but she's on a sugar free diet at the moment. Shame...

Band of hold

Last night I lay me down to sleep...and had to keep getting up again to look out of the window! First there was that bright bright moonlight...and then the softest of rain...and then a tremendous wind blowing the ancient evergreens about with a swooshing sound. Much thanks for all of those - I'm so grateful I love weather and live in the British Isles...

I give thanks for watching the Undateables. The thing that moves me most is how loved and valued the participants already are by friends and family - no one gives them that look that I've had when I've said I'm joining a singles site or whatever (well, not on camera anyhow!) This is exactly as it should be, of course. I'm grateful I can see that everyone is lovable, though I can also see some are much easier to love when they are further away...

I give thanks it's my body falling apart and not my mind...how's this for an excellent budget idea to make art things easier to hold? I'm grateful for a peaceful couple of hours playing with my paints. I said it was just going to be playing, but if you're blessed/cursed with a creative soul there's always going to be something your head wants your hands to try and so I'm grateful for finding some bigger brushes and paper at a good price on eBay. Time was when I used to paint lattice windows and blooming rose bushes on cottage brooches an inch across but I think I need to upsize a bit these days...

I'm grateful Mr Tesco has made some cauliflower cheese to go with my jacket potato. I know I mustn't go mad or the potassium will creep up again but...jacket potato! It's almost as exciting as having baths and hair again. I give thanks for a life that's contained a lot of doing without what seems to matter...it helps you to understand what really does!

Shipshape

I give thanks for the solace of quietness, time to really think about things, to absorb and assimilate, and that the neighbours have been quite quiet too...though I also give thanks for the wind fluting a tune from the neck of a bottle on the way to recycling!

I'm give thanks for watching a tanker creep through the shallows to the port here last night on a shipping site - well a little moving shipshape, anyhow. Not the same as standing on the seafront or quay but it would have been draughty and dark doing that! In a similar way today I followed a plane taking off from the nearby airport and then saw it for real climbing to full height through a gap in the cloud outside my window. Particular thanks too for the swirls of Saturday gliders riding the thermals too south of Gloucester and north of Exeter - seen on a flight radar rather than a footpath but knowing what it's like to do the latter helped make the former more fun.

I give thanks for the Cambridge Buddhist Society's quote today from Elisabeth Kubler-Ross who wrote so intelligently and eloquently on grief and loss and dying...''Learn to get in touch with the silence within yourself and know that everything in this life has a purpose''. I'm grateful the last few years has taught me so much about so many things, including finding joys where they might not seem to be...and when it's a damn fine idea not to phone a friend!

I give thanks for getting some bits of post Christmas this and that done - finding where new things belong and generally restoring a little more order about the place. I give thanks for leftovers for tea, and that amongst the grim figures from yesterday was a blissfully good one - a potassium level low enough to treat myself to some chocolate for supper and maybe a jacket potato for tomorrow.

Mister plan

OK, I'm bored with that now! I'd planned to call this post N-n-n-nineteen as I'd been optimistic my kidney function would have taken a turn for the better...but as it hasn't I'm grateful I have a plan for when they say 'We need to plan the start of your dialysis,' - I'll say 'Yeah, I plan it for after the summer holiday I've booked!' I'm grateful I feel a good deal better than all the figures on these bits of paper suggest I should, quite fired up for any ensuing battle of wills and quite relaxed and laissez faire about the actual ills themselves...

I'm grateful that despite a lot of aches and pains I went to the local fibromyalgia group monthly meeting. Hanging out with a bunch of women talking about miserable medical conditions is pretty low on my 'what would you like to do today', but they were nice, well meaning women and I could wash up heaps of mugs and feel I was being useful!

I give thanks for the mild air and slightest lightest of mizzly rain, the soft colours of the sea. For discovering the joys of on line marine and plane tracking so I can see what boats are in the bay, and what's flying overhead. No, it's not sad...it makes me very happy! I give thanks for living in a century and culture when it's increasingly acceptable and even sometimes desirable for a female to be in touch with their 'masculine side' - if there is such a thing and it isn't all an assimilated construct.

I give thanks for this story about a photographer with Down's, for the way his eyes behold beauty in the world...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-29107894

I give thanks for remembering to order some books in the Amazon 3 for £10 sale that ends today. Bob got me some good reads for Christmas and I've a few of my own choosing still waiting on the shelves but you can never have too many books waiting, you just need to sit down more and read! And although I know we're told not to judge what's inside from the outside, I'm grateful for the coded classifications in the cover images which save you from a lot of unnecessary clicking. If I were still a Social Anthropology student I think I'd feel an academic paper coming on!

Eight all the pies

I seem to have lost the knack of making scones. I've tried several methods, even following a recipe for once, but they all seem to turn out a bit crumbly and need holding together with lashings of jam and clotted cream. Of course I'm extremely grateful for this you understand, it's not in any way a complaint! Likewise, as this time last year I discovered Bramley apple and marzipan makes a wonderful crumble filling and now I'm not supposed to eat marzipan, I'm grateful I'm engaged on a pleasant mission to try to find some new dessert taste within my diet restrictions. I also give thanks that if this is unsuccessful, trifle is still allowed and I haven't lost the knack of that!

I'm grateful I don't seem genetically inclined to put on a great deal of extra weight, and that if I counted calories I'd have to spare what most people take in in meat and alcohol and now chocolate too. I'm grateful that though I'm clearly a lot less energetic than I used to be, not having a car, a cook or a carer does burn a few though today it's been very few indeed... I give thanks for not having to be anywhere or do anything at any particular time - my favourite!

I give thanks for my washing machine, and the sunshine and relatively mild temperatures today so the clean laundry could start drying on a rack in front of the open window. And I give thanks for the howling wind last night making a great soundtrack for a TV programme about storms that had stunning images and a very annoying commentary!

Seven synergies

I give thanks that even though I woke late and dawdled later I made it to my blood tests just about on time... and that they were running behind themselves so I could have a catch up with various members of staff while I waited. You might think It's a bit sad I've come to know them so well... but if you do I suggest you think about it again!

I give thanks for a cheery locum ticket seller at the station, for being able to afford some tickets and to Jan for accepting my invitation to myself to stay next month. I give thanks I didn't make my bed before I went out so that after lunch (and a busy few days) I could snuggle back in it for a much needed mid week nap.

I give thanks that Bob has had his lost bag and contents returned and that Rachel, back at work and back in tights  is appreciating her Christmas gift included some...

I give thanks for the recycling lorry finally making it here. I'd heard it winding it's way through the neighbouring streets, even seen it sometimes, and as dusk begun to fall I was beginning to think we might have been left out so it was a great relief when the chaps arrived and emptied the overflowing communal bins...

Six sensibilities

Close the door, light the lights...I give thanks that it's pretty much night and I don't have to deal with the outside world for a while! I give thanks for watching the lights come on in other people's windows before I drew my own curtains and blinds...the view from the kitchen window reminds me of an advent calendar sometimes. 

There have been several opportunities to be ungrateful to the universe and its inhabitants today so I give thanks for unfolding plans B, C and D and appreciating both producing them, and having the energy to follow them through... I give thanks for Jenny good naturedly helping with the chores and Damian from the medical supply company breathing friendly fire at the courier company so that their new driver actually came back and delivered my package to my hands instead of playing another round of knock and run! I give thanks for the warmth of the sun on my face through south facing windows and the edgy brake screech of a trick cyclist whizzing down the hill. I give thanks for managing a few rows of knitting...

Today I'm also giving thanks though for our extra sensibilities, for the connections we sometimes miss in all the constricting common sense we're supposed to live by... Yesterday morning a Facebook friend called Tashi posted pictures of clouds moving down a mountain. I was very grateful to see these as they are beautiful photos, of an area I remember walking in with fondness and because he is someone who knows why it's wonderful to share the wonder we encounter! Yesterday evening Rachel was telling me someone had recommended she watched a manga film and thought I might know how to access it. She was trying to remember its name...'Something like Tashi's Moving Mountain' she said. For some reason I thought I had a book called that just two feet away but when I reached for it I said 'Oh no, it's Howl's Moving Castle...' 'That's the one!' she said. Rachel does not know Tashi, and I had not told her about the cloud moving pictures, and I was looking for a book with the wrong name when I found the right one. This is why it all makes sense!

Five finger exercise

I'm grateful I'm getting rather good at doing very little at all! Not much has been achieved today that could be described or remarked upon apart from creating and sustaining a feeling of some calm contentment, and I give great thanks for that of course...

I'm grateful for spotting the first buds of the mimosa tree have opened, flecks of acid yellow gleaming in the gloaming...

I'm grateful for remembering I did take a photo yesterday. I'd forgotten as most of the time I was outdoors my hands were just to cold to take them out of my pockets, but close by home I spotted these snails getting up close and cosy on a pretty bit of wall and had to give in and get them and the camera out...

I'm grateful for doing some research on various aids for the manually challenged. I thought some grips for pens and pencils would be good but when I checked out one listing on ebay they suggested I might like a midwife's measure to go with it...I'm grateful I found another instead!

I'm grateful I had a tidy up so I felt ready to relax further for my acupuncture treatment, and that Rachel arrived early so that we had time for a good natter and catch up as well as tea before we left for choir. Well, nearly enough time - we did end up almost last through the doors and right at the back which does bring out our rebel schoolgirl side but I give thanks for that as well!

Four words

I'm grateful for another quiet day... my subconscious comes up with plenty enough adventures in my dreams at night! I'm grateful for some further improvements in pain, and particularly that my hands recovered enough to rub some Tiger Balm in other sore bits, but mostly apart from domestic tasks I've been trying to rest them some more. This means stifling all creative urges and avoiding holding even a book or tablet for too long, so I'm grateful for satellite TV and eclectic tastes so that I can find something to enjoy in both Top Gear (the scenery on their challenges) and a programme about choosing wedding dresses (the remodelling of old ones). I also give thanks for an uplifting meditate in a soothingly silent part of the afternoon.

I'm grateful for the tingling cold of the wind and finding just enough space in the recycling bins for the cardboard and plastic I took there.

And I'm grateful for coming upon these fascinating drawings, ...
http://twistedsifter.com/2015/01/moleskine-doodles-by-kerby-rosanes/

Three wise

I'm grateful for the almost monochrome morning view today, and for feeling much better with less debilitating fatigue and pain becoming more localised and easier to attend to. I'm grateful for remembering to bind up my hands in elastic bandage mittens - it looks daft but makes me think twice about moving my thumbs and aggravating associated tendons and stops me doing it unconsciously when asleep. It's amazing what you can do with the just the rest of your fingers if you're careful and slow...and I give thanks for the patience of the shop staff in town when I was being careful and slow, for the tender concern of the of Big Issue seller and that I don't have a dinner date as using cutlery is particularly ungainly! 

I'm grateful I was able to do things to my hair to make it look as if it might have been brushed (oh the joys of curls!) and get out in time to catch the Post Office open. When I saw a neighbour from this block out with his dog I was wondering how to avoid meeting and greeting him on the stairs with a bin bag full of smelly rubbish and a bus approaching the stop far faster than I could...but we crossed paths at the communal door which meant he could both open and close it for me in good natured passing, thus saving me a lot of digital dithering with knobs and keys so a great deal of gratitude for that. I was also grateful for the one way system in town so that when I saw the bus home was likely to leave before I could get to that stop, I could actually outpace it to its next one!

Two much

I'm grateful I didn't realise yesterday how much pain I'd be in today, as I'd actually been feeling quite well and the anticipation might have spoiled that. I'm grateful I don't remember all my tender points being quite so sore before, even if it's some kind of mercy amnesia going on, so that I can marvel at the magnitude of my suffering. I'm grateful I can do this without feeling the need to announce or describe it, even on the local fibromyalgia Facebook page which seems to be precisely for that purpose...and that I can tell the difference between being grateful I'm not announcing it and actually announcing it even if you can't!

The longer I keep a gratitude blog the less I understand the social need we seem to have to share what we're not grateful for, especially when the recipient of our outpourings cannot change the situation at all...and I'm grateful I realise this kind of lack of comprehension means I probably need to socialise even less than I do now! I'm grateful I understand mostly we can't change anything but how we think about things, and due the particular limitations of the particular pains today I've had lots of time to think...

I'm grateful it was a chilly afternoon so that eventually I got dressed, and for finding leftover curry and trifle in the fridge so that eventually I got fed. I'm grateful I didn't go out or go anywhere on line where I might spend money, and I'm grateful for checking my meter reading and account balance and negotiating a small refund and reduction of charges for when I'm able to again.

One day

I'm grateful for an extremely early night last night and for maintaining a semi sleeping state throughout the neighborhood celebrations. I'm grateful for no last minute invitations today...but that Mr Tesco and Mr Waitrose are kindly cooking my tea!

I'm grateful for watching a magpie stubbornly clinging to the topmost twig of a slender young tree as the brisk wind blew it about, and thinking that it brought me joy...

I'm grateful for a smidge of tidying and sorting out, and a great deal of dossing around. I'm grateful for finding this photo of ironwork not far from here taken a couple of weeks ago and quite forgotten about in all that Christmas kerfuffle. I find the patterns immensely pleasing...

I'm grateful for one man and his dog being away from the flat upstairs for a while...one man on his own is much quieter. I'm grateful for watching Gordon Buchanan's two parter about wolves in the arctic...lovely photography and a good background sound track from the weather outside!

I'm grateful remembering that despite the deliciously laid back Sunday feeling there are three more days until real life truly returns...