Gratitude Monday - Giving Thanks

Canadian Thanksgiving, outside.

It's Thanksgiving here. It reminds us to look upon our lives and be grateful.

We have a saying up here that if you're born in Canada, then you've already won the lottery.

Yeah, that's about right.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Photo-Finish Friday -- Autumn Moment

Autumn has its glorious moments.

Freaky or Dull?

When I was young I would think ahead and I would see me at certain ages. However, this sight stopped at age 42. I’d think of me at that age and a huge, thick curtain would fall in front of my mind’s eye. I never had the sense of anything sinister, but I did wonder what I was hiding from myself.
Turns out I, or maybe a Guide, had more sense than to show me I was doing exactly what I wanted then. I was a stay at home writer. I suspect this was kept from me so I’d go about learning what I needed from life and reporting in order to be a writer. If I’d known it was coming, then I may have focused on it instead of learning what I needed from life experience.
Then a few years ago I kept seeing myself in the hospital. In this sight I was in for nine days with a life-threatening condition from which I made a full recovery.
The big difference between that and reality was I spent 10 days in three different hospitals. Oh, and the recovery’s not full yet. That’ll happen.
Today I can’t see much of anything. There’s a whitish haze or cloud when I try to think ahead. Further, every time I try to meditate my mind wanders away or I fall asleep. No sinister feelings this time either.
My guess is something so wild, so freaky, and so exciting is in store for me that it’s better if I don’t know about it.
The other possibility is things are going to be really, really dull and my Guides don’t want to bore me.
Whatever it is I want a record of it here. And for said record I’m going with freaky and exciting. I hope I’m ready.

I’m curious? Has anything like this ever happened to you? Can you see yourself in five years? Ten? Fifty?
Ever have the view blocked?

Calm

It was a blustery day here yesterday. So much so that I fully expected Piglet to sail by at any moment.

Calm was needed. A nice, peaceful scene was the antidote. Here's a look along the Forestry Trunk Road.

Please click to enlarge it and take a moment to enjoy.

Tuesday Twosome

A coyote runs into the bush. Please click to enlarge.

What have I read this past week? Not very much. Newspapers mostly. Stuff on the web. The TV Times in the Edmonton Journal. All worthy pursuits in their own right, but nothing particularly quotable.

I've had two good editing sessions in a row this week. One on Sunday night and again most of yesterday. I'm learning a great many things about writing and editing, chiefly that my first draft is not so great. It's got potential. I'll give it that much right now. But it's fun to work with.

My glorious neighbors, bless their vibrant sound system, like their music. They like it loud. It pounds and that irritates me. In a brilliant moment of fighting fire with fire I fired up my own sound system on the computer.

I like nature and music combined. Here are two lines from the back of Dan Gibson's Solitudes (R) series, Exploring Nature with Music CD called Harmony.

"The musical compositions weave you into the vibrant world of natural sounds, bringing out all the expressive rhythms therein. Music and nature unite, completely, and in perfect balance. "

It covered enough of the contributions from across the street that I could get some work done.

My two sentences are from The Legend of Shallal where the hominids are meeting with the wolf pack leader.

"He turned to the small band of two legs behind him and bared his canines in a smile. They

caught the reflected light of the quarter-moon straight above his head and glowed."

I haven't been lucky enough to get a photo of a wild wolf yet, never mind one smiling. I hope the picture of the coyote will do.

For more, or to find out how to participate, please see the Women of Mystery.

Gratitude Monday - Baking Weather

The weather turned the other day. It has grown cold and grey. By yesterday snow was falling from leaden skies and the outside air was humid and biting.
It was refreshing to be outside though only for a few minutes. I had most of a cup of coffee outdoors on Sunday and found it bracing.
"Now this," I said aloud to the Universe, "is what I call a great day. Thanks."
This weather is for hunkering down, for preparing for the cold and dark ahead, but more than anything else, it is for baking.

I am grateful for the change in weather as it makes me introspective and willing to do the household chores. Perhaps willing is a strong word, but certainly readier to do them than on a hot, languid day.
I'm also grateful for the wide variety of cookbooks I own. They fascinate me, whether they are several decades old, or ethnic, or specializing in something, they are a wonderful window on cultures. In my world the best way to study a culture is to eat.
I dug out The Ultimate Hot and Spicy Cookbook (Acropolis Books) and sniffed around. There, on p. 241, was this:

It's Peach Kuchen. Not hot in the spicy sense as it uses only cinnamon, and neither did I eat it hot in the temperature sense. It was easy to make and even kind of fun as I like to work with my hands and this involved topping the cake with sliced peaches. It smelled wonderful and looked like a right-side up upside down cake.

We had some more apples to use up. I had the time and inclination so I did this:

I used too much cayenne for my tastes in the last apple pie so I tried this one with black pepper. It's resting comfortably in the freezer right now so the results of the experiment are still pending.

I'm grateful for knowing how to bake, for having the time and the weather to bake, and for being adventurous enough to try new things, and new twists on old favourites.

And I'm grateful that I get to eat the results.

Photo-Finish Friday -- Jonesie

NB:
Cancer affects all of us whether we're able to admit it or not.
It's LIVESTRONG day in the United States, the 10th anniversary of Lance Armstrong's cancer diagnosis. A blogger buddy of The Bag Lady is asking people to tell their stories of how cancer has affected their lives. Please check out POD.
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Why, yes. I am cute. Thanks for noticing.

This is Jonesie. He showed up on our back porch one day a few weeks ago and acted like he owned the place. I gave him his name because he's been Jonesing to get in our house from the very first moment he set paw on the place.
Until now.
We put the quilt out to take the air yesterday. About an hour later I went into the kitchen and saw what I thought was bird on it.
Instead, it was ears.
The above pussycat knew we clearly put it out for him. He made one token effort to get in the house, and then went back to his down-lined nest.
Since then he's barely twitched a whisker.