Ten Things of Thankful

This photo captured my mom's
happiness at being with her children
when they were both able to be
with her in the nursing home.

From my childhood and throughout my life, through her words and actions, my mother's greatest desire was that I be happy. I am thankful for her beautiful example.

Thanks to Kristi of Thankful Me who hosts the blog hop Ten Things of Thankful we have a place to share those things for which we are thankful. I am linking up, and so can you every weekend, actually from Friday to Tuesday. Click the link to get the details and to read what other bloggers are sharing.

Time out with my husband and doing it with friends

We got together with some empty nesters in our area for lunch one day and then met with some of my husband’s fellow retired teachers and their spouses on another day.

The realtor we worked with to sell mom’s house a few years ago, as a way of saying thank you to clients, paid for them and for us to see the original Mary Poppins at a local theater.  Since it had been a long time since we had seen the original, it was nice to be able to see it so soon after having seen the follow-up film. The invitation also included a free meal from the theater’s offerings.

Visitor at our door became the main character in my SSS blog hop post. The visitor has a family, as verified by my seeing a much smaller, and younger gopher snake among the flowers, where I did some hand weeding earlier in the week. These snakes will help deplete the ground squirrel, gopher and mice population that may decide to try to take up residence.

Gopher snake on the threshold of the doorway

Beautiful art and craftsmanship at the Historic Carousel and Museum in Albany OR.

Giraffe and hare on the carousel

My learning to watercolor paint has an added benefit. It turns out that this may be art therapy in that the physical pain I was feeling in the morning eased up during my lesson and wasn’t noticeable afterwards.

The feeling that comes from making progress in the beginners' watercolor painting class

My attempts this week to watercolor paint
a couple of leaves

My neighbor’s friendly gesture of loaning me her copy of a video because she knew that I like historical movies. Not only that, I received my very own copy, a gift from my daughter a couple days later . I am really looking forward to watching Jane and Emma.

The feeling of anticipation

Looking forward to Mother’s Day and seeing part of our family

Mothers and all those who mother and care for those around them

Quotations about gratitude

"Gratitude is a powerful catalyst for happiness. It’s the spark that lights a fire of joy in your soul." Amy Collette