Ten Things of Thankful

After spending a couple of days at the coast, I have fresh in my mind and in my camera images I want to remember, but I'll share a few here on my post that I'm linking to  Lizzi's blog hop, Ten Things of Thankful.  At the end of each week many people link up to this site to share the things for which they are thankful, often things that took place in the preceding week.  Feel free to link up your own Ten Things of Thankful post to Lizzi's blog hop, or any of the other hosts listed at the bottom of her post.  Wherever you link up it will automatically show as linked on the other hosts' sites of Ten Things of Thankful.

1.  Thankful for a short-lived virus.  It was bound to happen sometime during the flu/cold season that my husband and I would get a bug of some sort.  Such was the case this week for us, but fortunately the episodes were confined to one day each.  There was a trip to the doctor for my husband just to rule out possibly a different problem.   There will be a follow-up visit in a another week for him, but since I had some of the same symptoms show up a day later, we are pretty sure we both had just a touch of some virus. 

2.  Thankful for fun opportunities to get to know new people.  3.  Thankful for those who plan activities that can be enjoyed equally by all age groups.  There was a wonderful "Friendship Activity" one evening at church for the women.  I felt better and was able to go and enjoy a couple of hours getting to know some of the women who have moved into the area and are now attending our church.  One of the activities involved bringing something that represented a personal interest.  Each item was  put into a paper bag and folded over at the top.  Everyone sat in a large circle.  One person started the game by picking a bag and pulling out the item within it.  She got to keep the article.  The person who brought it told why she had decided to bring that item.  It was a delightful way to get to know some of the interests of those there.   

4.  Thankful for inspiration.  I made some brownies to take for one of the desserts that would be shared at the Friendship Activity.  As kind of a last minute thought, I decided to mix some plain Greek yogurt with some powdered candy cane cocoa so people could spoon a dollop on their brownie if they wished.

5.  Thankful to spend a wonderful couple of days at the coast with my husband, (6) some wonderful friends, and (7) their black lab.  My husband and I spent a couple of days at the coast with another couple we have known for many years.  They brought their six-year old black lab with them.  She is petite, has silky ears and is very well behaved.  Her silky ears remind me of the ears of our last lab, so I instantly bonded with her. 

8.  Thankful for beautiful weather at the coast.  A couple of days previous to our travel, there had been high winds and heavy rains on some parts of the northern coastline, but the section of coast where we stayed hadn't been impacted by the storm as much.  The weather was beautiful both days we were there!

9.  Thankful for people who knew that the mushroom we saw was one of the poisonous ones.  We saw several interesting colorful mushrooms along one of the trails where we hiked. These were some I'd never seen, but was told not to touch them.  We also watched the dog carefully so she wouldn't decide to eat any of them.  When we got home I discovered online that they were indeed poisonous.

10.  Thankful to be able to see such interesting geological formations and perhaps to have an opportunity to later identify them.  I took several photos along a certain rock wall where there were formations of large oval areas almost resembling sliced enormous eggs, or trees, or who knows what.  I would certainly be interested in learning what these circular formations are.

Extra Thankfuls

11.  Thankful for music to brighten my day.  One day during the week, I listened to a different radio station than I usually do when I am traveling up to see my Mom.  The station happened to be playing very old Westerns, probably from the 30's and '40's eras.  Old Westerns aren't my usual genre, but I found it very interesting to listen to the words in the songs and to enjoy the beat of the music. 

12.  Thankful for little newborn lambs.  I was surprised to see some very newborn lambs in one of the fields we drove by this week.  This seems earlier than usual for lambing, but they really did look cute!

13.  Thankful for my beautiful little begonia which is continuing to show me that even though it waited years to bloom, it really does know how to bloom!  This begonia is just blooming for all it is worth.  I'm really enjoying watching it burst forth in glorious red.

14.  Thankful for the season of Thanksgiving.  I hope each one is able to enjoy this season and truly feel some sense of gratitude.