Ten Things of Thankful

I think this might be the latest I have ever linked my weekly Ten Things of Thankful post up at Kristi's blog Thankfulme.net.  She is one of the co-hosts for this weekly blog hop.  I thought I was going to have some of the afternoon free yesterday to write my Ten Things of Thankful, but life got in the way and had to be dealt with before heading out for a wonderful meeting at my church last night.  It was very uplifting, and I certainly needed that following the crazy few hours before that.

Now, for my Ten Things of Thankful:

1.  I'm thankful for having had the beautiful experience of going with my husband on Labor Day to visit my mother in the nursing center and being gathered with her and a few other residents and some of their family to listen to one of the residents play his accordions.  He has played in a band in the past and has a couple of his accordions in his room at the center.  Because of his memory loss, it is difficult for him to remember a lot of things, but if you can hum or sing just a bit of a song, he often times can remember a portion of the song and play it without needing sheet music.  It is so amazing to see how one who has memorized music, all though be it long ago, is able to recall how to play the music in spite  of the other memory issues.  It makes me want to try memorizing some songs.  I wasn't very good at memorization when I was taking piano lessons, but perhaps I just didn't give as much time to the task as was needed.  I might need a sound-proof room in which to practice for the sake of the sanity of those listening. 

2. I'm thankful that I was able to witness how even a little dog visiting the nursing center seemed to perk up and smile when she heard the accordion being played.

Smiling dog listening to accordion music

 3.  My husband and I went on a drive one day this past week and stopped at the Courthouse Square Park (AKA the Dayton City Park) in the Dayton, OR.  I decided to walk around a bit and take some photos.  On one corner of the park is the Fort Yamhill Blockhouse, along with signs about its historical significance. I'm thankful for opportunities to keep learning about the history of our state.

Fort Yamhil

4.  On our drive, we drove through Lafayette, OR which I've heard tell is a wonderful place to browse antique shops.  Since I wasn't driving, I was paying particular attention to the numerous places that I want to go visit on a future trip.  For that trip, I'll take a friend who might be more likely to enjoy such an excursion.  I'm thankful to have something to add to my "fun-to-do" list.

5.  On the same trip, we drove up to Forest Grove, OR.  I can't even remember the last time I might have been there, if ever.  It is such a nice little town with so many older homes, the kind that I wish offered tours.  The reason we went there though was to see visit Rogers Park where there are several tree stumps where the Acorn Woodpeckers frequent.  One of the stumps is being used as a granary tree for the acorns.  My husband took lots of photos with his "better than mine" camera while I used some quiet time at the park to write.  It was surprising how some time out of the house in a peaceful place helped the ideas to flow.  Perhaps I need to go outside to write more often.

6.  After leaving Rogers Park, we drove to the Fernhill Wetlands where we walked on the winding graveled paths, took photos and watched birds.  It really was too hot to stay there long, but we vowed to return again at a much earlier time of the day.  This area is very similar in idea to the Talking Waters site in Albany, OR,  but not quite as far along in its development.  I'm thankful for discovering new-to-us places to  explore.

Water area at Fernhill Wetlands

7.  One day this week my husband learned that John McCutcheon is going to perform a couple of concerts in Oregon in October.  For those of you who are near our ages, or perhaps remember singing along with your parents while listening to some of his folk songs, you might be as enthused as we are to learn of his upcoming concerts.  We are doubly excited that our son and one of his daughters is going to go with us to the concert.

 

8.  Sometimes I am thankful for very simple things, like learning a new word and then using it in one of my blog hops.  Did anyone see the word liminality in one of my previous posts this week?  Click here to read the post.

9.  This is a big thankful!  The nerve pain in one of my legs that I have still experienced off and on since my back surgery, seems to have decided to leave me alone.  So now, I think it's mostly strength building until I can do those tasks I want to get done.

10.  Lastly, I am so thankful that I was able to go with a friend to the Portland Oregon Temple on Tuesday, and that I was able to attend wonderful meetings this weekend at church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints).  In my church, periodically we have Stake Conferences at the Stake Center (all the congregations, called either wards or branches depending on their size, meet together instead of attending their own buildings for instruction and counsel).  Some of the members who live further away have a satellite conference in their own building.  I know that not everyone attends a church, or perhaps may question whether they even believe in a God.  Hopefully I am not offending anyone reading this blog by including this as one of my Ten Things of Thankful, but in my mind it would certainly be a sin of omission if I didn't include this as one of the things for which I am grateful.