Thankful

Somedays we forget, 

To look around us.  

Somedays we can't see,  

The joy that surrounds us.  

So caught up inside ourselves,  

We take when we should give…  

Thirty days hath November. It’s soon to be Thanksgiving. Then shortly after that, it will be Christmas. The stores have had Christmas decorations out since October. It’s become a hurry up world.

The beginning of November is when it’s really fall to me. Then the leaves are gone. The wind blows and it’s winter. Not officially of course, but winter, never the less. November is the beginning of the holidays. It’s the time when family gets together. This is the month my dad was born. This is the month my dear cousin passed away. It’s a birthday month for some close friends. It’s a month of beginnings. It’s a month of endings. But mostly, when I think of November I think of it as the month for being thankful.

I feel sorry for myself sometimes and sometime even wish I was somewhere, someone, else. But I have a lot to bet thankful for. And I need to remember that. I’m thankful I have a family. Are they perfect? Not at all. But I have a good husband who loves me. As my ‘friends’ say, he must be a saint. Nobody else would put up with you! Saint, no, but he’s been there beside me, through the good times and the bad. I have three wonderful kids who have grown up to be three wonderful adults. I have a fantastic son by marriage and I have three of the best grandkids in the world. I’m glad they want me to be a part of their lives. I’m thankful I have both my parents. I worry about them more as they age and I’m glad for the times we have together. I’m thankful I knew my grandparents, all of them, including a great grandmother and grandfather. I know, through a roundabout way, they helped make me who I am today. I’m thankful I have a sister and a brother I love and who love me. I have cousins, aunts, uncles…all important in my life.

I’m glad I have a house to live in. I know there are people who have to go to a shelter or stay in their cars. It’s not just a house, and it’s not perfect, but I have a home. I’m thankful I have clean clothes to wear. Not everyone does. Some are tight and that means there is plenty to eat. Nobody here is hungry. I’m thankful for electricity. There is a washer, dryer, stove and refrigerator. I am fortunate to have luxuries, not just the necessities.

I’m thankful for the Internet. Dumb? Probably. But it has allowed me to connect with people I’d never have met or talked to otherwise. It lets me keep up with my sons, out of the state and out of the country, and my daughter, who is busy with her own life. I know what my sister, my cousin, my friends, are doing and they keep me connected with the rest of the family and world who don’t have the Internet.

I know I’m lucky; probably luckier than a lot of people. I am thankful for superficial things as well as for meaningful things. I am thankful, and I hope you can find a reason to be thankful too.

So for tonight we pray for 

What we know can be. 

And on this day we hope for 

What we still can't see. 

It's up to us to be the change 

And even though we all can still do more 

There's so much to be thankful for. 

I finished the autumn chickadee cowl. I just love sock yarn. The colors are so pretty and the patterns the yarn makes when knitted is beautiful. But I have no desire to make socks. Well, maybe one pair, someday, just to see if I can. But until then I’ll use it for other things.

Chickadee with three sock yarns

Folded over

With a pin

I’m starting a gift for my sister. Not for her, but for her to give her friend. It’s not a variegated yarn but it’s pretty. It’s purple with a pink and blue color mixed in. I don't have a picture yet.

Linen Stitch

 And bad as it sounds, I’m thankful I have yarn, probably too much, to work with when I want. But I won’t take it for granted.

Autumn colored yarn

So for tonight we pray for 

What we know can be. 

And every day we hope for 

What we still can't see. 

It's up to us to be the change. 

And even though we all can still do more. 

There's so much to be thankful for…

In My Room…

There's a world where I can go, 

And tell my secrets to. 

In my room, 

In my room… 

I watch HGTV. Not all the time and not if there’s something better on. All the shows run together for me. I don’t know if I’m watching House Hunters or Divine Design. It amazes me how they can come in and do a makeover (for a mere $75000.00), and change the look of the whole house. I wonder how they find those extra, always perfect, tables and chairs, stuck in the garage or the basement, that they drag up to replace other furniture or an empty spot.

What does get my attention, though, is when they do an ‘outdoor room’. An outdoor room is basically a space outside, small or large, that you fix up to be comfortable. It can be for you or a gathering place for family. It’s usually connected to your house but because it’s outside, it’s connected to nature, as well. Most are sheltered, maybe by a wall of the house, and some of them have their own roofs and walls. Some are just fenced in areas. Some have full kitchens. I think of them as a private space, to which you can retreat and become comfortable, with or without guests.

The door to the deck

I have an outdoor room. Really it’s a deck outside the master bedroom. Our house is not traditional in the fact that the front door is upstairs. We have a fabulous covered front deck, running the full length of the house. My husband built seats in the railing and built a wall for a windbreak. It’s great in the morning. But it faces west. In the afternoon it’s unbearable. So he built another deck on the east side.

Built in seats on front deck...in the rain!

This deck isn’t as big and it doesn’t have seats built in the rail. It is covered and has the same southern windbreak wall. I’m turning it into my outdoor room. HGTV would most likely air it as what not to do!

The wall and some chickens.

We found an old daybed at a thrift store. Then I got some dollar store sheets and covered the mattress. The whole thing is covered with pillows, thrift and Goodwill. (If you wash them you can recover or just use as they are. And because they are outside and going to fade in the sun they didn’t have to be designer!) The other side of the deck has a bench with some cushions left over from something. There is a table with two chairs and a small chair with owls on it. I planted some Iris in an ugly tub, and they are actually growing. There’s a trumpet vine that has climbed up the house and is spreading across the rail. I hung wind chimes that tinkle in the breeze, or, when it’s really windy, blow out over the yard.

Daybed with thriftstore pillows.

Bench on opposite side of deck

Table and chairs (and junk under the stove!)

The little owl chair...for little kids...and the truck in the background

Iris in the ugly tub. Seashell souvenirs.

Trumpet vine growing across rail

Old stove...for?

Wind chimes

I like to sit out there, in the morning on my days off or in the afternoon when I come in from work. I guess it’s silly, but it’s my room. Surely not HGTV but it’s my place and I can lock out the rest of the world.

Funny hummingbird whose wings spin in the wind

In this world I lock out 

All my worries and my fears. 

In my room, 

In my room… 

I found a cool little place online called Our Creative Spaces. You can link to your projects and visit others great crafts.Check it out and see what great things are over there!

Chickadee cowl in progress

I’m ready for full on fall. Ninety-five degrees in October is not fall. I like fall because it’s sweater weather. Not too cold and not too hot and a sweater is just fine. And of course, being a knitter, it’s even better. I gravitate to the fall colored yarn. I started a cowl, with three different fall colored yarns.

Three different yarns...

It’s interesting to see how it’s working up. I like it so far. It’s a Chickadee cowl, but instead of using chunky yarn I’m using sock yarn. Of course if I finish anytime soon it will be too hot to wear. But I’ll be ready for that first chilly morning! I may even go out on the deck before work, just to try it out.

Going to be pretty!

Do my dreaming and my scheming. 

Lie awake and pray. 

Do my crying and my sighing, 

Laugh at yesterday… 

In my room, in my room…