Ten Things of Thankful

Well the appearance of spring may be a little late this year, if Punxsutawney Phil's forecast is verified, but my post here for the Ten Things of Thankful blog hop hosted by Josie Two Shoes is going to be closer to the beginning of the link up day this time. There are some things I am trying to improve in my life and this is one of them, although this week I did listen to a podcast about procrastination that suggested that it isn't necessarily a bad thing.
Wendy at Josie Two Shoes would love to have you join in with sharing your on post about gratitude. Please click the link to see what others have shared this time and add your own.

1. Theme from Second Movement of Beethoven's Symphony No. 5. I chose to practice this piece by Ludwig van Beethoven (an arrangement by John Thompson) when I practiced playing the piano this week. Although there is still much work for me to do, I am glad for the progress I've made. Since I can barely reach an octave with my hand span, it will be a "stretch" for me to accomplish this easily, but it will be worth the effort, because the music is so beautiful.

2. Daughter who had just what I needed in front of her at the time I called her. For one my blog posts this week I was hoping to find a photo of a blessing dress I had made 18+ years ago. Like so many things I have made, I didn't think to take a photo of it before I gave it away. What amazed me was that she had something so nearby, something that I would have expected to be packed away somewhere or maybe even passed on to someone. She quickly took a photo and attached it in an email. 

3. Retes (Apple strudel). One evening in the middle of the week we ate at a Hungarian restaurant and instead of eating the dessert there, I took my piece home to eat. This was the best apple strudel I have ever eaten! The dough was stretched really thin, or maybe it was phyllo, and the filling was thinly sliced granny smith apples with a very generous portion of cinnamon and as near as I could tell maybe just a smidgen of sugar, maybe. Soooo good.

4. Quick repairs. My glasses had gotten to the point where sometimes when I bent over they fell off my face. One time I almost stepped on them when they dropped. It had been on my to-do-list for a while, but I just kept putting it off, not wanting to sit in a waiting room. Finally I had the time, went in expecting a wait, and had barely sat down when the technician came and got my glasses and in a few minutes later brought them back good as new. Score!

5. Being able to participate again in some of the blog hops I used to be more actively involved. Six Sentence Stories and Finish the sentence Friday.

6. Retirement. I've been retired a long time, but this past week I appreciated how glad I was that because I wasn't working eight-hour days, it was easier for my husband and I to just go and help someone who needed help that day.

7. Those who dare to explore. If it hadn't been for our forebears, the majority of us in this country wouldn't be here. Many came here to escape conditions in their own countries and came here to explore their options for survival in a country that was still in its formative years, at least to their point of view. Today we had an explorer in our home of another kind. He had no intent to do harm, but he wasn't in a safe place either. How he got here remains unknown, but I rescued him and put him outdoors where he  wouldn't be so likely to be smashed by our shoes.

A millipede about 1-1/8" long is slowly making its way down the light blue carpeted hallway. In the photo there is a red pencil horizontally placed with the letters WRITE WRITE written on it to show how very small he is. There is a gap between the words. The millipede is positioned on the rug by that gap on the upper portion of the photo.

8. Good reports. In earlier years a good report might be grades on a report card, or words of praise given by a teacher at a parent/teacher conference, except I don't remember that there were such conferences then. Now in the more advanced stage of this existence, good reports are not the aforementioned but are reports shared by the doctor with the patient about the latest blood test, etc. Sometimes the reports are good and encouraging. Such was the case this past week for one of us in this household and also for a close friend. Such news is always welcomed.

9. Quiet keyboards on the many devices used now. Having taken a number of business classes in my day, which was way back when, the noise from typewriters could be deafening. Even the electric typewriters were noisy. One didn't carry a typewriter with them wherever they went, like is done now with laptops, pads, phones, etc., and it was a good thing. Just imagine each person in a family room using a noisy typewriter at the same time. Yikes! 

10. Sundays. I look forward to Sundays because for me it is a day of rest from the work I do the rest of the week. Not only that though, it is also the day I attend church, and the day to do things that help me focus on things that help me strengthen my spirit and my relationship with God. 

Although my earthly Father didn't attend church very many years, he did come to a point in his life when he began to see that invariably when he did farm chores on Sunday that were not an absolute necessity, something broke or went wrong. He apparently took that as a "sign" and limited his Sunday farm labors to the bare minimum after that. (As told to me by my mother.)