Happy Thanksgiving

My brother and his family are here and we're having a great time. Sarge (my Sarge not LauraB's) is in the hospital recovering from some pretty extensive neck surgery yesterday. He came through it well and is resting, if not comfortably at least well medicated. We'll be sending him some turkey sandwiches and wishing he were here with us today.

I hope you all have a blessed and happy day. Lu and I send each and every one of you all our prayers and best wishes.

We also remember our men and women serving overseas. We wish you were home and pray for your swift and safe return to these shores.

May God bless you all.

And to my Jewish friends; Chag Chanukah Sameach!

Six, Lu and Angus

Happy Thanksgiving

Lu and I are having a quiet dinner at home, just the two of us and a certain lunch gut of a Black Lab. I hope you all have a wonderful day and remember just how fortunate we are. I am grateful for all my many blessings, wife, child and grandchildren. Family both close and far. Health, comfort and a roof over our heads. A dog who came into our lives at the perfect time and has brought us joy and happiness when we feared such may be gone forever. And you my friends. Thank you for visiting, encouraging and befriending me and Lu. I hope we all have many more years of fellowship yet to enjoy.

And now a little nonsense to hopefully brighten your day.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Six

A Song of Bananas

(From the "Brazilian Verse")
1927

HAVE you no Bananas, simple townsmen all? 
   "Nay, but we have them certainly.
"We buy them off the barrows, with the vegetable-marrows 
   "And the cabbage of our own country,
   "(From the costers of our own country.)" 

Those are not Bananas, simple townsmen all. 
   (Plantains from Canaryward maybe!)
For the true are red and gold, and they fill no steamer's hold, 
   But flourish in a rare country,
   (That men go far to see.)

Their stiff fronds point the nooning down, simple townsmen all, 
   Or rear against the breezes off the sea;
Or duck and loom again, through the curtains of the rain 
   That the loaded hills let free-
   (Bellying 'twixt the uplands and the sea.) 

Little birds inhabit there, simple townsmen all-
   Jewelled things no bigger than a bee;
And the opal butterflies plane and settle, flare and rise, 
   Through the low-arched greenery,
   (That is malachite and jade of the sea.)

The red earth works and whispers there, simple townsmen all, 
   Day and night in rank fecundity,
That the Blossom and the Snake lie open and awake, 
   As it was by Eden Tree,
   (When the First Moon silvered through the Tree)... 

But you must go to business, simple townsmen all,
   By 'bus and train and tram and tube must flee!
For your Pharpars and Abanas do not include Bananas
   (And Jordan is a distant stream to drink of, simple townsmen), 
   Which leaves the more for me!

30 Days of Thanks- D30

Wow, last day of my 30 Days of Thanks!  First I have to thank you all for allowing me to post all my thoughts this last month; it has been quite fun to share bits of my life and myself with you all.  Secondly, I have to thank the Six for allowing me to have a voice here, and to encourage my writing.

And so, to finish!

I think I'll end with the simplest thing I can be thankful for, and for the most profound gift we as humanity have been given: the ability to love, and to feel love in return.  The joy of my children's faces, the touch of my husbands hand, the sound of my father's voice, the calmness of my mother's smile...  Truly, from love comes all good things.

Thank you for joining me on this journey.  It has been wonderful to keep myself in the place of thanks for this last month.  It is truly amazing how a bit of thanks can change one's perspective so completely!

~The DO

30 Days of Thanks- D29

Yesterday the kids and I get back into the swing of school and I had no choice but to be thankful that this nation is still one of freedom.  I have the option of teaching my kids at home because, so far, the government has yet to claim that right in totality for themselves.  It reminds me that the point of our nation was that the government was to protect us from those things we couldn't protect our selves from (i.e. the armies of other nations) and not to be the parents to my children.  Nor to me, for that matter!  So, at least for now, I am thankful that I live in a nation of freedom and of personal responsibility!

~The DO

30 Days of Thanks- D28

This is the time of year when all eyes turn toward celebration.  Sometimes celebration can be tiring and challenging, but it also reminds us that we are alive, and that people care about us.  I try not to stress over my celebrations, I don't worry about getting every last Christmas activity done, I pay more attention to the fact that I get the chance to watch my kids discover the holidays, and what they mean to them.  I'm intensely thankful that I get to experience anew all the joy of this time of year through them.

~The DO

30 Days of Thanks- D27

I love getting lost in a project.  Ever start something, some project doing something you love, and suddenly hours have gone by and you didn't even notice?  I LOVE that feeling.

~The DO

30 Days of Thanks- D26

I am immensely thankful for imagination.  Watching my kids play with Angus, out in the Pirate ship, making up games, is seriously amazing.  They are so creative!  My kids make books,  build amazing Lego creations, are creative problem solvers, and they see life in an amazing way.  Imagination allows for fascinating books, beautiful art, and fantastical science.  Imagination allows for a more interesting world, for a more creative existence, and for a more fulfilled life.

~The DO

30 Days of Thanks- D25

I'm late posting today, as we've been enjoying our Thanksgiving meal a day late but with much  joy, love and laughter.  Today I'm very thankful for the internet.  It has allowed me to keep in contact with my family in way that you didn't use to be able to, making living so far away a bit easier.

~The DO

Happy Thanksgiving To You

My daughter has been posting the 30 days of Thanksgiving all this month. I'll add my voice to hers. I am truly thankful for her and my beautiful grandchildren as well as a son-in-law who has treated them so well and givenb their care over to us so many times without complaint. I can't wait to see them in just a few hosrt hours. My heart sings with joy.

I am also thankful for each and every one of you out there who visit with us and leave us your precious thoughts and ideas. You have shown me so much kindness and support I cannot begin to show my respect and admiration for you.

Happy Thanksgiving my friends. May you celebrate this and many more with those you love.

Six

30 Days of Thanks- D24

(After Vienna with my husband yesterday, the kids and I are on a plane today on our way home)

 (All the Rockwell photos found here)

Family, friends, home, peace, joy.

 Thanksgiving is an awesome day, one of my very favorites, and I'm very thankful I'll be getting to spend it with family.

I'm also very thankful for the Wright Brothers, since it will take me 17 hours, and not 17 weeks, to get from Hungary to Utah today!

Happy Thanksgiving all, may it be truly blessed.

~The DO

30 Days of Thanks- D23

(We are all in Vienna today enjoying our last European city trip before we move, hence my thoughts about moving!)

I am beyond thankful that the military moves us, rather than having to do it myself.  Nothing beats telling other people what to pack, and where to put it!

~The DO

30 Days of Thanks- D22

I'm thankful for Hungary, and for the Hungarians, and for the people of Pápa.  I know I've done the whole living abroad thing already in this 30, but as I sit here on my last full day in this country, perhaps never to return, I'm a bit nostalgic. Hungary has been good to us, and it is a great place to live and to travel.  A new chapter is exciting, but sometimes it's hard to turn the page...


~The DO

30 Days of Thanks- D21

Tap water.  I'm so very thankful for tap water.  Imagine having to walk a mile roundtrip to the town well for water.  Drinking, washing, you name it, you have to haul it in on foot.  Yeah...  I'm thankful for the tap!!

~The DO

30 Days of Thanks- D20

I'm thankful to Monsieur Eiffel for his fantastic temporary structure, and especially for the fact that originally the Parisians HATED it!  Irony, how I love thee!

~The DO

30 Days of Thanks- D19

Unlike the supposed 99%, I am thankful that I have a husband willing to work hard for what we have, and that we have enough money to enjoy life.  However, I'm also thankful that we don't have so much that we become douches!

~The DO

30 Days of Thanks- D18

Kisses from my kids.  Can't get more simple, or more moving, than that for me.

~The DO

30 Days of Thanks- D17

I am very thankful for clothing, food, shelter and warmth.  Even more, I am thankful that my family and I don't struggle to maintain any of the above.  We have more than we need, and we are very blessed for it.  Beyond that, I'm thankful that I have an amazing family that would drop everything to help me were I in a situation where I had lost the above.  Not feeling alone in my attempt to take care of my kids is priceless.

~The DO

30 Days of Thanks- D16

Music.  Need I say more?  Well, alright then.  I'm thankful not just for the music I love, and the ability to enjoy it, but also the ability to pass it on to my kids and watch them fall in love with what I love.  'Course it IS heartbreaking when they hate your favorite stuff!!

(The Six's song that I grew up with and love)


(My song that my daughter is growing up with and loves)


~The DO

30 Days of Thanks- D15

Some of the most important things are those that are the simplest.  I am so grateful for the warmth of the sun, especially in the spring when it feels like it will never be warm again.  And the coolness of the fall breeze when you were sure it was NEVER going to be cool outside again.  The sense of change, renewal, of the next cycle and of life ever after.  Each change is a reminder that nothing lasts forever, the good or the bad.  I'm on the precipice of a major change and I've been reminded by the change in weather that change can bring on amazing new situations.

~The DO

30 Days of Thanks- D14

(My little Hungarian POS)

Transportation rocks!  It took me 30 min each way to walk my kids to school, but 5 to drive.  And it had heat, and air conditioning.  Yeah, I'm thankful for cars.  The cooler the car the better, but wheels are wheels!

~The DO