Celebrate!

The season of giving thanks has begun, and I have had the first chance to be the one who gets to say thank you for something very special - being remembered. Yes, simply for being remembered.

For me, the best gifts have always been just being surrounded by my family and celebrating all we have and that includes our personal and of course those national Holidays as well.

Today I received the gift of good wishes with love, and I am celebrating! There are two days until our Thanksgiving Day here in the States and I am beginning the Holidays out right - giving many thanks along with a few wishes for the same blessings to all who frequent my little part of the world here!

I wish everyone a blessed and meaningful day to give thanks for what we have, and for the friends and family we know both near and far.

A Little Movie Called UP

If you haven't yet seen and giggled your way through the movie, "Up," yet please do so - soon!! With all that haunts us these days to laugh and hope again with one person, even an imaginary one is good! The humor and life's tension within the story was just right, and the computer generated graphics were phenomenal! But honestly, the movies have perfected all of the items mentioned here so why should you take time and go see this small movie? The one tiny thing that Pixar has done better over the past few films than almost any studio today is the reality of our daily experiences with a special finesse given to what I'm going to call feeling, or love. They seem to grow the compassionate characters of Carl Fredricksen, the 78 year beginning a new life adventure, Russell an 8 year old wilderness explorer with no experience in life but a real passion for doing what's right in the face of all kinds of adversity, and especially through the wonderful little golden retriever named Dug.

From the far fetched, to the the very real this story line doesn't lose the strong feelings of love, hope, and friendship but includes them whether it be through the figure of Mr. Fredricksen (who would be a wonderfully exciting person for a small boy to get to know), or through Dug who trusts himself and others to the love of this little old man even though he has NO reason what so ever to have any confidence that his devotion will be returned. This relational uncertainty is not only the stuff of legends, but it's where the magic of real life begins here in this precious little movie.

I won't spoil it by sharing any more of this gift from the Pixar's magicians, but I hope you'll take the time to experience and live for even a few moments this grand little film.

A Simple Cup of Tea

I'm still out of it with my dread disease (see last entry), and with the sun shining in I needed a pick me up since I now also have a very sick husband.

While he is resting I got out a very special tea pot, cup and saucer and made a two-cup pot of Earl Grey tea. I sat at my table and the sun is painting the surface with streaks of white this November Sunday morning, and as it changes to the afternoon I'm adding some quiet time alone with my dogs around me.

Hopefully tomorrow will be better, but right now I'm enjoying the quiet that comes from a nothing to do Sunday and remembering how I use to crave this kind of day when the kids were small and underfoot. There is no further complaining from this tea drinking Irish lass (Ha ha!). Instead, I am enjoying the rays, my cup of tea and the company of a quiet, peaceful morn.

Slan agus benannact
(In Irish, "God bless you till we write again!")

Held Prisoner

Confined, held captive - that is how it feels when you cannot do anything because of illness. I don't have H1N1, no I simply have a case of pneumonia, but since I have asthma they want me in with little or no contact with the outside world.

I have my son on a dangerous mission - shopping. He understands what is needed and cell phone in hand, he has promised to call if he gets lost or needs directions as to the aisle or the exact item to get.

My husband is doing yard work on an absolutely gorgeous day and I am stuck doing laundry and sitting, reading or doing some of my cross stitch Christmas presents, which need to get done - but I want to be out and about on my own!

So I'm complaining, and trying to be productive - sort of, and praying for a healing (NOW!)

A Report of Fall

Michigan is on the upside of a warming trend again this week. We've been in the cold and damp for a while, but it's suppose to hit 60 degrees this weekend - woo hoo! It will give me the chance to do some tiding up on my garden which looks very rough right now. The frosts we've had has left so many of the plants dead and brown, or dying.

My sweet autumn clematis will remain until spring as a hiding place and momentary safe haven for the birds from the hawks that haunt our grouping of houses. We have quite a number from this avian family that swoop and dive 'round our feeders throughout the year.

The goldfinches are still visiting the remnants of my sun flowers and cone flowers despite the brown stalks and flower heads. Those finches seem to ride the stems in the wind and they bob and weave through the air on those slender stalks. I've had many varieties of birds at the feeders around the yard, many more than we've had in previous autumns. I've had three kinds of woodpeckers, and a bevy of sparrows!

I had a sad moment yesterday when I lifted the lid to my squirrel feeder and found a dead red squirrel all curled up inside on the hulls of the sunflower seeds. Death is not an unusual thing this time of year, but I am never prepared for it. I still have two tiny reds dipping in and out of the trees so I'm still enjoying those tiny comedians of the squirrel family.

Our flying squirrels visited off and on most of the summer but are now back in force to beef up before the cold hits. I turn off all the lights in the kitchen to be able to catch these little flyers. They're great to watch gliding to the seed or suet during the evenings.

We also have rabbits back under our shed in the back yard, which means I will have to put mothballs under there to shoo them away. There are plenty of other places of hiding places for them to escape to in the neighborhood thank goodness. My dogs go crazy chasing their smells all around the shed and dig like crazy to get at those darn cotton tail critters.

You know, there are many other wild critters that frequent our part of the world here, but as I clean and sweep the yard in preparation for the onslaught of the snows of winter these are the little wild things that I've watched passing through lately - and all are enjoyed, photoed or simply observed as they sail the skies or wander the grasses near our home.

It's finally fall, and I'm getting into the season by enjoying all the things wild here in my world.