Market forces

I give thanks that someone with some sort of control over the little cherubs next door finally put a stop to their loud music, screaming and shouting last night...the collective sigh of relief from the surrounding flats was almost as loud! Living somewhere with no sound proofing requires a great deal of consideration for others and I'm grateful how considerate most of my current neighbours are, the only down side being the noisy ones maybe don't realise how much sound carries as the rest of us are so quiet! 

I give thanks our monthly Farmer's Market is back, and that all the aches and pains continuing from earlier in the week plus a sore arm from the jab and the sense of my body processing the chemicals involved meant I felt incapable of going rather than capable but in need of a big push! Sometimes I think it's not a car I need nor even a mobility scooter but some sort of motorised settee...wouldn't that be wonderful eh?

I give thanks that things I have to do that you don't meant that I had to get out of bed and that things that happened during that meant that I had to get out of my pjs and might as well get dressed. I give thanks that humans learnt to harvest wheat so I haven't had to gather anything more arduous than toast and crumpets, though I was also grateful when I hunted in the back of the cupboard and found a can of soup to go with them - out of date but still within the limit with which we happily ate tinned food before date stamping it was thought of. As I'd already started writing this post I was grateful to have a chuckle at the flavour too...

I give thanks for a silent hour to catch up with this week's Fortitude and for grey gloom outside the window so I didn't have to draw the curtains either, which always seems a crime in itself in daytime hours. I give thanks for a good script, a good story and some damn fine acting as well so you can forget that's what you're actually watching...

Decked

As the pains came back with a vengeance (both the excruciatingly noisy kids and dogs and soreness at a level when all you want is to lie down in a state of semi consciousness) I was very grateful I had to go out and get a jab today...and that there was a long wait as the nurses were running late so I also had to have lunch on the beach before I came back. 

I'm grateful for a broccoli and stilton pasty from Luders and a just right cup of tea from Bocadillo - no better way to spend a total of £2.39 if you're in need of a tasty snack. I'm grateful I always have to go out with an emergency kit bag these days as I somehow forgot to put my purse in my bag and the emergency kit has emergency money in too. I'm grateful for how warm it was in the sun - and a hat and coat and scarf!

I'm grateful my new-to-me fleece has arrived from an ebay trader to put aside ready for nippy evenings on deck along with my in-a-sale patchwork Converse boots... I'm also grateful to hear Bob is comfortably cosy in his new jumper as well.

Knitting and sewing and holding books has been too painful to do with any great delight but I give thanks for all the left over cake and biscuits I came back from Biddy's tea with to cut down on the tricksy cutlery use at least. And I give thanks that the noisiness is concentrated on one side of the building at the moment and not the bath and early night side either!

Bird watching

Some days I'm grateful I have things I have to get up and going for but this morning I was very grateful I did not! I give thanks for a lie in until lunchtime and a very slow afternoon that included a nap, so that finally as the light drained out of the day I felt less drained and pained myself and able to get on with bits and bobs about the place. I give thanks that the day started wet and windy so that it seemed a particularly good plan, and that when the sun came out all the noisy neighbours went out too so it was a fine plan to stay indoors and enjoy the peace and quiet...

I give thanks that a knitting project that a couple of days ago seemed as if it would never come together is now beginning to look rather like what I first imagined, and that another I thought I'd put away as it was all going wrong looks perfectly salvagable to me. I'm grateful things are thus now looking more hopeful for our library decorating in a few weeks now, though it's not really of any great importance I do like to do what I mean to...

I give thanks for looking out of the window and seeing one of the workmen having a break sitting in his car with a cigarette and a newspaper. Knowing him slightly the thought crossed my mind it probably wasn't the Guardian and I was grateful I then chastised myself for making sweeping judgements. Would you be able to tell anyway from this height I wondered, and I looked again and discovered I could indeed tell what paper he was reading and what page he was on too! 

I'm grateful to Sylvie for sharing a link alerting me to Banksy's latest work in Gaza. I'd hoped to find a report from the paper the man was reading to give a more balanced view but they don't seem to have one so Guardian it is then...
http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/feb/26/banksy-gaza-palestine

and also for this story of a kindness of corvids
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-31604026

Cake out

I give thanks for the cake fest that was the knitting circle birthday tea to celebrate Biddy being eighty five...to Linda for hosting (hostessing sounds something quite different don't you think?), to Nigel for sandwich making, to Julie, Jenny and the Waitrose bakers for their various delicious contributions and to Jenny again for driving me to and fro. We are a random bunch brought together by a desire to knit in company in that particular place at that time on that day of the week, but we're all very glad we did and that we met each other.

I give thanks I got my creakiness out of bed in time to finish a poppy I'd been struggling to knit in time to give the birthday girl, and that I forgot to photograph it because it wasn't as good as I'd have liked. I give thanks that I managed to make myself reasonably clean and tidy as well and that if anyone noticed I'd left a roller in a wayward curl they were too polite to mention it to my face! My hair's so wayward there cold be a lost tribe in there some days... I give thanks for goody bags to take home and another little belated birthday gift for me.

I give thanks I can read and write. If there's anything we tend to forget we're blessed by it's that. I just watched a programme where a young man had managed to keep the fact he couldn't from his workmates, wife and children for many years, struggling with both the inability and the secret, and it was very moving to see him reveal it and get to learn the skills at last.

Bitter sweet

I'm grateful for a great acupuncture treatment and the treat of my tea made. I'm grateful Rachel gave me a jigsaw I wanted a lot for my birthday and that she was delighted with her gifts too - especially the fibre tips! I'm grateful neither of us has lost our joy in simple playthings.

I give thanks that despite the drippiest droppiest twenty four hours nothing seems to have been irreparably damaged or indelibly stained... well as far as I can tell at this stage anyhow! I give thanks that mostly I've chuckled, though sometimes not straight away...and that some of the mess was actually lickable!

I give thanks that it's been a beautiful day weatherwise and, as I was too tired to go out in it, for the brief blissful moments of peace when dogs and kids in the neighbourhood (also stuck indoors) shut up for a while. There seems to be a lot of tension and fractiousness around at the moment and I'm grateful I know I don't have to let it rub off on me and must keep persevering with dealing more calmly with extraneous noise.

I give thanks that Adam Curtis made the film Bitter Lake and that I finally finished watching it. It seems unlikely  anyone who didn't know you shouldn't believe all the narratives you are told and sold would choose to see it and be converted to a more measured approach, but one can but hope...

I give thanks for finding a company on line that apparently sells a sort of fabric I've been looking for for years. Well, allegedly... I've sent for some samples to see.

Mindful less

I give thanks for being publicly grateful sixteen hundred times...both because I've lived so much longer than I thought I was going to when I started the practice and also because I've kept it up so diligently and can experience its cumulative effect. For one thing every moment you're being grateful you're not grumbling or worrying or being otherwise pointlessly engaged...

I give thanks for sleeping quite late and for staying in bed even later, and I'm grateful I had things I had to get out of it for (eventually) as it's been another stiff and sore day and I might have stayed there if not! I give thanks for dodging the worst of the wintry showers when I was out and for the glorious changing light as they passed over. I give thanks for finishing Bob's sweater, for the money for a cab to town to post it and the money to post it too.

I give thanks for a very caring and sharing session of the knitting group with people bringing in things to give one another and to go with our cups of tea. I give thanks I thought to empty some of those yummy gingerbread hearts out of the bag and into my biscuit tin before I took them to contribute...not that I'm mean but it was a big bag and there were still plenty to go round. I give thanks to Jenny for driving me home afterwards.

I give thanks for the caring response to the recent death of this man's horse. His lifestyle is different from so many, even what many might quickly condemn but he has become a treasured local character and it always warms my heart when we can accept and appreciate difference and be mindful of another's worth. 
http://www.northdevonjournal.co.uk/VIDEO-Renowned-Devon-traveller-cope-winter-months/story-25985605-detail/story.html

Petal power

I give thanks for a belated birthday visit from Laura; and for a book, a card I'd admired in a shop with her before Christmas (and which might have subconsciously inspired some artwork though I'd forgotten the picture) and some beautiful purple tulips!

I'm grateful she gave me a lift to the recycling bin and that though it seemed completely full there was a hidden gap just big enough for the box of cardboard I'd taken with me. I'm grateful for being able to admire the grey of the sea and sky before slowly staggering back up the hill

I give thanks for the extra bergamot in the last tea bags in the box and the burst of fruity fragrance when you open a jar of a St Dalfour spread. I give thanks for managing to open a jar of St Dalfour spread!

I give thanks for taking a break from sewing up with snaggy fluffy yarn and almost indistinguishable fluffy stitches and doing a little work on a frilly flower panel for the upcoming library embellishment.

Stripping it down

I give thanks that yesterday evening I felt uncharacteristically lively for an hour or so and used the time wisely to prepare food for today when I feel even more sore and stiff than usual. 

I give thanks for my singing teapot. Maybe singing isn't exactly the word...it sounds a bit like an extremely tiny or very distant Tibetan monk chanting but it's quite enchanting to me! I give thanks for the selection of interesting teas Bob got me for Christmas and that Rachel gave me some self fill teabags to make making a brew less messy. I give thanks for my William Morris pattern mug and tray (useful and beautiful), my almost twenty year old teapot and its new jolly stripy hand knitted cosy and the cosy and cossetted feeling I get from preparing myself a cup of tea with these.

I give thanks for the sound of two sets of arguing neighbours reminding me how lucky I am to have no one to shout at me...nor indeed anyone I feel the need to yell at myself.

I give thanks that I've now finished knitting Bob's belated Christmas jumper and am half way through sewing it up. I'm also grateful it's a Christmas gift jumper not a now out of season design...and I'm pretty sure he is too! I've a few other knitting and crochet projects I want to get back to and get on with when it's completely completed, and as I'm not entirely sure what sewing I'd like to do next, I've decided to make strips of some left over fabric and sew them together in case it's something to do with that...

Search no more

I give thanks for spotting Hector and the Search for Happiness is available on Sky Box Office. It was a wise and funny book so I'd like to see how it was adapted though I'm grateful I can check if it's at the library or local rental store too and maybe save some money!

I give thanks for a hint of spring in the air today despite a nip in the breeze, and for sitting by my open window to dry my hair and a mat I'd cleaned and use the best light to start sewing up Bob's jumper.

I give thanks for going out this afternoon and, while I was resting watching the very low tide turn, meeting Jenny who also needed to sit down so we could have a natter. I'm grateful the photos I took were rubbish so instead I can insert a random one of the floor at the museum that enchanted me last week.

I give thanks for finding out if you want to make alligators sing you need to play a deep B flat...it sounds the kind of thing it might be useful to know, in case you're stuck in the Everglades or a quiz!

I give thanks for finding that, after a long and unsuccessful tussle with timetables, the coach for the ship leaves later than I was first told and I could get a coach direct from here to catch it.

Oh and I give tremendous thanks that my bloods have improved from last time and they don't have to start poking me about looking for the best way to put a fistula in. More cinnamon in my tea tonight I think!

Day of the trifles

I give thanks that the ladybird I found in my bed was still alive, not squashed and could crawl away. I have to check nightly as they like to bask on the windows when it's warm but when the sun goes in or down they look for a cosy nook...

I give thanks that the surreal colour scheme as dawn broke this morning was due to an orange and pink sky and a bright lime yellow mimosa tree rather than the rye bread I like going mouldy. It reminded me of this a bit which I was grateful to find too...

http://twistedsifter.com/videos/holton-rower-pour-painting-timelapse/

After a couple of tough days I give thanks for being in a bit less pain so I could catch up with the washing up and other essential chores, and get in and out of the bath without needing to call the fire brigade. I wouldn't mind but that's really not my kind of thing...and I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be theirs! I give thanks for weather neither clement nor apocalyptic enough to tempt me outdoors, but being grey and wet and breezy it was just the sort of day I always say is ideal to snuggle on the sofa with a film in the afternoon so I was grateful to do something along those lines. I give thanks for Fortitude, for it's Fargo/Twin Peaks/Nordic Noiriness and for Iceland's icy beauty.

I give thanks for combining the last of the vegan gluten and sugar free chocolate cake and the last of a bag of frozen cherries with a dash of fruit liqueur, some custard and cream to make something almost trifly...and for making this last over twelve hours which for anything almost trifly is a very long time for me. 

I give thanks for Tesco deliveries for a £1 and the Co-op in town regularly giving me spend £5 get £1 off vouchers for the inbetweeny stock ups. Now the consultant has said no reason not I must budget carefully over the next few weeks if I'm to see Slartibartfast's best work.

Lentamente

I give thanks for getting into bed last night and feeling the covers were giving me a hug...

I give thanks for sitting up in bed at exactly the right time of morning and year to see the sun coming up golden over the sea

I give thanks for making pancakes late for breakfast and for Shrove Tuesday too...and lentil and veg curry for tea with the veggies cooked in the potassium reducing way

I give thanks for a very soothing level of sound in the neighbourhood ie. not very much at all! I'm particularly grateful for the yapping dog and squabbling kids next door being slow to return from wherever they've been, helping me to be as slow and snooze as seems necessary right now

I give thanks for finishing knitting the neck and joining the back and front of Bob's jumper, damping it down and leaving it to relax (the jumper and me!)

Takes the cake

I give thanks for the springiness of the day - in the sunshine at least. Though there's still plenty of shivery winter left in the shade it helped me get going this morning when there was little springiness in my body but lots of soreness instead.

I give thanks for the beautiful blue of the sky and sea, just right for all the tourists down for the day or week as well as the locals of course...and that they left room in a cafe for Linda and I to sit down and have a long catch up chat.

I give thanks for my treat of an enormous slice of cake and for cards and thoughtful gifts from various folk including just what I asked for, just what I wanted and didn't and something very random but well chosen indeed!

I give thanks for doing very little with my day apart from appreciating these things and the peace and space to do very little...

All hail half term

Heavens I'm grateful I decided to travel on the train where I'd a seat booked instead of one of the others my ticket allowed, as I'd completely forgotten it was the first Monday of half term and the world, his wife, the kids, the dog and granny too would all be on the move...or at a standstill a lot of the time! I'm grateful the refreshment trolley couldn't make it down the aisles as they were too full of passengers and luggage to get to the loos either... I'm grateful for my key for the disabled facilities at stations as I'm not sure I'd have had time to negotiate the queues at the normal ones and still make my connections and I'm grateful that folk were mostly good natured and considerate through it all.

I'm grateful I managed to get through to a friendly and free cab driver and book a lift up the hill as a ferocious hail storm started as soon as I got off the train. The fare wasn't free of course so I was particularly grateful it was a friendly driver who wasn't put out by me realising I didn't have my purse and needed to rummage in my suitcase for the emergency cash stash.

I was grateful to hear that Jan had found my purse and will send it to me so I didn't have to rush about cancelling cards and so on and could have a relax until Rachel came... And I'm grateful that Rachel was able to ring and explain what unexpected minor half term emergencies meant she couldn't come in time for me to rustle up something for a solitary tea, a hot bath and a very early night. At least that's the plan...who knows what might happen next eh?

Sat down beside her

I give thanks to Jan for persevering last night and working out how to make a beaded spider which I've had a yen for after seeing this a while ago http://www.viralnova.com/ukrainian-christmas/

I give thanks to the cats and dog for alerting me to rats traversing the gardens taking treasures from A to B in a fascinatingly blasé fashion so that the humans joined in watching too.

I give thanks to Mark for making a mighty vegan Sunday lunch and being made welcome to share it by Jan's other son Adam and her wonderful mom Hilda as well.

I give thanks for a walk by the canal before it got dark and that when Lucy the dog rolled over and fell in she was easily fished out again...

Day on the tiles

Phew, I give thanks for a quiet lie down with a chamomile tea after a busy day appreciating city sights...

I give thanks for many things including birthday messages and cards; having breakfast made me and being driven around; the fascinating back to backs and delicious sweets in the sweet shop there and finding a free table to eat somewhere without an overpriced Valentines's menu...always a rarity and especially when it falls on a Saturday!

I give thanks for a glimpse of the Staffordshire hoard treasures, the glorious flower patterned mosaic floor in the museum and the Burne Jones piano. No, I didn't know he did pianos either and he only designed the pattern for this but one of William Morris's wallpaper ladies did an excellent job of executing it don't you think?

Birmingham Post

Well, here I am in the not quite Great Barrier Reef and I'm grateful for many things. I'm grateful for a smooth though rather squashy train ride and for a downloaded TV programme and headphones to burrow myself in. I'm grateful for the lady next to me saying it wasn't as bad as earlier in the week when there were lots of men in suits with ironing boards everywhere. Yes, I did check and that was definitely what she said and saw!

I'm grateful for a lift to the station from a taxi that got there just in time to walk straight on to the train, and for a lift in a car to save getting a taxi the other end, so that I had leg strength to spare for a walk by the canal before dark. I'm grateful for the light on the converging lines, the crocuses and daffodils sprouting and birds singing in the bare trees...a sliver of country before heading into the city tomorrow.

I'm grateful for having a lovely vegetarian tea cooked for me... 

Putting it on

I give thanks for Olive Kitteridge, something I recorded before Christmas, concerned it might be a chick flick thing but willing to give it try and also for Death Comes to Pemberley which I almost didn't in case it were Downtonesque but which turned out to be far better! Nothing wrong with chick flicks and primetime period drama of course...as long as you're not me...

I give thanks for finishing putting lace on the black neck of this dress/top/tunic thingy and a black bit on the bottom to put lace on to match. I'm grateful I also managed to fix the fit a bit better too though it's not exactly shown off to best advantage here...

I give thanks for soothing Imee Ooi chants to calm me on the bus to see the consultant this afternoon, and for thumping Fat Boy Slim to drown out noisy teenagers on the way home.

It was a long day and I'm exhausted but I'm grateful I'm a bit more sorted for my trip tomorrow. Well, I've packed the things I can't borrow anyhow, the rest will have to wait until I've had a rest! I could say I was going to the Great Barrier Reef...but that's only partly true...

Pretty tidy

Yay, I give thanks I've finished the first sleeve of Bob's jumper...and I'm sure he does too! I'm grateful I've also done some more altering and embellishing of something I bought in the January sales and want to be wearing soon...and for lots of rest in between...

I give thanks for getting my new to me from ebay Paisley drawers to complete the new storage arrangements in the corner of my kitchen/diner/office/studio. It's been a long neglected area of the flat and it's the one my eye falls on when I'm sitting at the table so has been nagging for some time for a sort out. I didn't realise it was going to get beautified along the way so I'm grateful that happened too... Oh, and I'm grateful my idea of beautified is not the same as a lot of other people's in case you're wondering, I'd hate to have my place 'made over' by some mass production team!

I'm grateful one of my favourite cab drivers is covering for another who is away, though it was a bit strange when he answered the wrong number as it were. He was grateful to hear and see me too as it turned out as he wasn't impressed with the quality of the other firm's clientele and needed to let off steam. Oh and I'm grateful the man at the bus stop who wanted to chat found someone who appreciated what he wanted to chat about more than I did too...

Mist opportunity

I give thanks that Rachel had a bit of a sore throat last night... not bad enough not to come but too bad to sing so that we had a leisurely talk and tea instead and after my treatment I just chilled instead of rushing round getting ready to go out in the cold. I love going to choir but was very grateful for a long visit to lala land instead!

As a weather goddess and fan of Mr Cale, I was grateful for a change in the weather today to exactly what I felt was required - still and rather murky, and ideal for staying indoors. Hardly anything seemed to be moving or making a sound, not the wind, the pigeons, the children or dogs. I give thanks for the sound of peacefulness and, when I opened the window, of waves breaking on the shore...

I'm grateful for lots of easy bits and bobs to eat and no major chores to do so what energy I had could be spent on quiet creative things. I give thanks for being able to work round the various sore bits. I give thanks for the mist creeping down the hillside and the blue and green on a magpie's back.

Matting of life and death

I'm grateful for my comfy bed and that for the last couple of nights I've slept quite soundly, cosily and deeply. I (mostly) give thanks for my dreams: last night I'd met an interesting and attractive man and we were getting rather close when I found myself wondering what the catch was...I knew there was a catch and after concentrating hard without waking up I worked out the catch was I was dreaming!

I give thanks for attempting a home cure for ostrich syndrome and spending some time reading posts on a kidney patient forum...and I'm grateful I've decided to go back to beaks and feathers instead...

I'm grateful it's still mostly only fibromyalgia that causes troubling symptoms and for overriding their request for more rest and going out to be beside the beautiful pale blue sea. There was some real warmth in the sun today to soothe both the joints and the cockles...

I'm grateful there was room for my rubbish and recycling in the bins on the way and for putting lots of side waste that wouldn't fit in last time in the newly emptied ones. There was one big black bag too heavy for me too to lift so I was grateful I felt I could approach someone else and ask them to do it...and that they did!

I give thanks for spotting someone shopping in a shop that said 'Shut' and going in and asking if I could too as I was sure it was the shop that would sell me exactly the right size and colour mat to go in a draughty corner of the dining room and seal up the gap between skirting and floor. I'm grateful I was correct about this... and that they agreed to sell it me even though they were indeed closed.

I give thanks for the glow of mimosa blossom in the last rays of the sun before it dipped behind the hill...

Warm home discount

I sometimes get phone calls suggesting I night be eligible for a discount on solar panels, cavity wall insulation or a new boiler and I have to explain I live in a flat in a very old house with no central heating so none of those are any use at all. Having found lots of bits of cardboard in the cupboard, I give thanks for trying this behind my electric radiator though, which is! It's not a thing of great beauty but considering fumbly finger work and that I only had the cheapest teariest foil and sellotape to hand it's not too bad...besides, you can move further away from the radiator now so you don't have to look too closely!

I give thanks for creamy cranberry porridge for a late lazing in bed breakfast - very warming too...

Though I've been too stiff and sore to do much more than the above, I'm grateful I've been able to have a tidy up and put the still unsorted things out of sight so things look homely again, and also for a fortuitously peaceful patch this afternoon to watch another episode of Fortitude and catch a snooze or two.

I give thanks for a plane with a pink vapour trail after the sun went down, and for having someone to go 'Oooh look, there's a plane with a pink vapour trail!' to as I happened to be talking to Jenny on the phone at the time.

Screwed

I give thanks that I don't mind my hair being back to its fully woolly self...after undoing ten small, not at all stiff screws plus screwing three tiny hooks in over the last couple of days (plus all the scrabbling on the floor after each fail!) washing it was effort enough and any 'style' has been created by a hat! 

I'm grateful that my lower half was marginally less painful than my upper upper parts so I was able to get to the recycling bins and the sea. No matter how raw the wind, or sore the body or soul I get this close and let out a sigh of soothedness.

I give thanks for a quiet bit when I got home so that I could watch some Fortitude. I'm saving it for when the noisy folk nearby are out as the chilling atmosphere is somewhat ruined by toddlers, teenagers, and that pesky yapping dog, but I like what I've seen so far and look forward to when I can next catch up. Instead I watched another difficult dating show which featured both a woman with alopecia and unattached folk with bags attached. I'm grateful it reminded me of when I had both, and used to joke with my men friends that if I 'met someone' and felt I could tell them about the wig and they replied along the lines of 'It's what's inside that counts' I could respond 'Well, it's funny you should say that' and reveal that some of the things that normally are inside aren't.

I never met anyone, obviously, but I'm grateful my men friends did and have found the perfect people to snuggle up to on these cold days and nights. I'm kind of grateful I never even got to go on a date as I'd have been sure to drop something you're not supposed to...crockery, cutlery, clangers and so on... but I do miss hanging out with boys! Today I've been grateful no one's even so much as turned my head as my neck if far too stiff for that! And I'm grateful I'm not not loved if you see what I mean ...it's the loneliest thing in the world to be with someone who wishes you weren't or vice versa.

Angel delight

I give thanks for letting the brain take the strain as far as possible by working out how to make the things I want to do less physically arduous. There's not always an easy alternative of course and sometimes the extra effort required to do tasks the way I can (or think I can!) means they feel just as much hard work as if I'd done them the fit and strong way... Sometimes you really do need a whole pair of fully working hands, never mind an extra one, and tasks can defeat even ingenious devious me so I'm grateful I know when to give up on them too. I'm grateful that more possessions have settled into new positions nonetheless, and the pile of things to puzzle over is slowly shrinking in size.

I give thanks that when my brain needed a rest as well as my body there was peace all around on the terrace - no dogs barking, children squawking or others doing it for themselves for a blissful few hours. I'm grateful that now the little cherubs next door are back on the raucous rampage, I've stirred and am staggering around getting on with getting the kitchen floor fit for footsteps so that I can get some tea, watch TV and dilute my aches with hot water. 

I give thanks for finding these images of very unappealing Valentine's cards  http://valentines-day.viralnova.com/weird-vintage-valentines/ and these far more delighful that I'd be delighted to receive http://www.boredpanda.com/funny-valentines-day-card-ideas/

Of course I don't actually get Valentine's cards so I'm grateful I usually get a few for my birthday instead!

I'll be blowed

If you clap in corners it stirs up stagnant energy, so if you remove everything from a large corner cupboard, remove the cupboard from the corner and clean behind it for the first time in years energy hurtles about like nobody's business. It's energy of the spirit you understand, not necessarily the strength and stamina sort but I give thanks for the buzz, and for trying to pace myself with keeping pace with it. I'm grateful for thinking to stagger to the bus stop when the pain became too strong to carry on because if I'd have stayed inside I'd never have been able to stay still.

My hair's been tied up over and over again since I went to the hairdresser's on Tuesday (and a lot of the time under a hood or hat even indoors) so I was mystified when I went to get it detangled and it tumbled out of the scrunchie in pretty much exactly the same state as it went in in the first place - smooth on top and bouncy waves below - and needing no attention whatsoever so that I had a Fonz moment instead of a fuzzy one! I could never hold a brush and dryer long enough to style it myself, and even if I could I wouldn't do it quite like Maddy did, but I must ask what product she used because hair that stays in shape for more than 48 hours is not something I've encountered before and would like to again! I'm extremely grateful for being able to use the hair washing energy for other things instead...

I give thanks for more friendliness with neighbours and for an absurdly generous offer on at Boots for their Sanctuary Spa products so that I can soak my aches in a long bath later instead of succumbing to more sorting, cleaning, tidying and rearranging...

I give thanks for a pair of swans flying, lambs in the fields and snow on the tops of the moors seen from my seat on the first bus and wisps of starlings flocking together to become a murmuring throng as I waited at the stop for the last. This is the best I could do at capturing it and I bet you're grateful I've told you what it is!

Not a drop

I'm so grateful for stopping trying to achieve things today! There were things that really did need to be done, and when I'd done those and had much needed nap, I thought I'd try doing some things I wanted to do instead but that quickly proved far too demanding... I give thanks that I don't mind the kitchen being covered with slithery piles of stuff freed from cupboards and shelves as I'm lying down in the living room instead! 

I give thanks for having to get up early in case the courier came for a collection because it was so cold l did some cooking to warm myself up and had curry and crumble for an early tea. I'm grateful during the prep I discovered we had no water, partly just because it made me realise how lucky we are that we usually do, and partly due to the friendly way it was sorted out between neighbours.

Being too sore, stiff and sleepy to attempt anything craftily creative I was grateful I managed some constructive destruction by unpicking a seam on something I want to alter...and that when I clumsily spilled a lot of something it was anti bacterial spray - could have been a lot worse!

Just in case

For someone who vowed to spend more time being there's been a lot of doing of late, so I've been very grateful for any oases of stillness in between. My body demanded another one before choir finished last night, seizing up like it often does in the morning so that standing up and sitting down again were very hard to do in time with the rest of the throng but I'm grateful I managed to stagger to the refreshment table and avail myself of one of Jenny's delushious toffee apricot flapjacks! 

I'm grateful for being able to go straight to bed afterwards and not get up until late today, munching on a brunch of leftover kedgeree from last night. I'm always grateful when Rachel makes my tea but I'm not sure I've ever had kedgeree before and I'm sure I should more often...

I'm grateful I let Maddy play with blow drying my hair after trimming it today, she's young and newly qualified and it must be very boring that I never want anything done. It did look nice when she'd finished (and was warmer than going out with a wet head on a cold day, of course) but I didn't think it actually looked nice on me, if you see what I mean so I've warned her that it's unlikely to happen again.

 I'm grateful for meeting Linda for a natter so she could give me my gloves, even though she didn't...and that I have plenty more pairs to wear. And as for the first time in ages I had some time in town and some pennies in my pocket, I'm grateful for looking in a few shops and finding some rather splendid bargains including coveted wrapping paper at 20p a roll, a half price pretty little case I might put my painting things in and even reductions at the bakers! I'm also grateful for stocking up on inactivity since I've been home again...

Past appreciation

The more you practise gratitude the more there is to find. I've been thinking about the things I've been grateful for over the last few days that never made it into my posts...

For finishing the pasta I didn't like and starting a new packet of the one I do!

For the sight from the bus of primroses and crocuses by the side of the road...and for Jo mentioning catkins and reminding me..

For finding the best fudge I've ever tasted...and for it being about as good for you as fudge can be being organic and unrefined in the sugar department

For discovering Sacred Truth face mask is currently unavailable at Lush. This is not in itself something to be grateful  for, of course, but knowing I'm not just being unlucky when I go there and they haven't got any any is!

For managing to remove my pesky inward curling eyelash - a tricky and slightly traumatic manoeuvre that means my eye is irritant free until it grows again

And for remembering that my monthly water payments are only for ten months of the year not twelve!

I've been grateful for things today too of course - not having to get up early for one thing as my joints were very painful and my energy levels low. For Linda making me cups of tea at knitting and for Biddy being well enough to come so she and Dorothy can natter together again. I was very grateful to Julie for offering me a lift home too. It's a shame in the rush to gather my belongings I didn't gather my gloves and the library staff said they weren't there when they looked a little while later. I hope whoever gained a pair was in genuine need...the weather was rather inclement!

Oh, and for just writing the above and hearing from Linda that she has them!

Content

I'm grateful for starting a reorganisation of my possessions and storage spaces. This series of interconnecting tasks has been long overdue but needs the stages organising in my head first so I don't end up with stuff everywhere when fatigue and pain set in. Today I've been grateful that there has been energy sufficient for the plans already plotted and places still to stuff the stuff still disorganised! I give thanks for bags ready to go to charity shops and for recycling too...Mmm, removing superfluous content makes me very!

I'm grateful for desire to watch tennis being played on the other side of the world getting me out of bed early to make an early start, and for the match not going on as long as it seemed at first it might do so because it was much too cold to sit still for long. 

I give thanks for doing a few rows of knitting and for playing with paper and paint. As an image I'm not as pleased with this tree as the first one, but it doesn't matter because it's A4 rather than large postcard size so I could start the story with it. A3 would be even better but I don't have any yet...and if I did I'd probably need more paint so this is fine for now...

Once there was a tree that was dying. Its pretty leaves fell to the ground...