Category Archives: Thankful Thursday

Flowers, Food, Music, Thankful Thursday

Thankful Thursday: Flowers, Food, and Music

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This post is part of a series called Thankful Thursday, where I list some things to feel thankful for. To some extent, focusing on what is wrong appears to come naturally to most people, who tend to complain, complain, complain when they get together with family and friends. (I’m no exception, that’s for sure.) So focusing on things to feel thankful for seems like good spiritual practice, a way to counterbalance the tendency toward negative thinking.

The last two Thankful Thursdays featured really big pleasures, a new driveway and a new electric car. It was the most excitement that has come to our home by the woods in a long time.

However, most of our pleasures are much more simple, and that’s the way it should be. Big pleasures only come around every so often, and if they were the only pleasures that made us happy, then our lives would be very glum indeed. But, I am happy to report that we are a family that thrives on simple pleasures, and in that way we are rich. Our lives are filled with so many simple pleasures that it is hard to chose which ones to feature.

This week I have narrowed it down to three.

The first is this wonderful hydrangea, a gift from my blogging friend Judy of NewEnglandGardenAndThread.

In June of 2023 Judy and I actually had a chance to meet in person. Not only did we have a wonderful time getting to know each other, but she also gave some hydrangea plants from her garden.

Longtime readers will know that I have one of the finickiest yards in Maine in which to garden. Lots of shade, much of it dry, and at the best only part sun/part shade in the backyard. I have lost more plants than I care to remember. But Judy assured me that hydrangeas like some shade, and with a hope and a prayer, I planted them last summer.

Glory be! Not only did they come up in the spring, but they actually bloomed this summer. I am thrilled to have these beauties in my garden. Judy, many, many thanks.

My second pleasure is another one that comes only in the summer, tomato sandwiches made with local ripe tomatoes.

These tomatoes come from Farmer Kev, and they are just as sweet as sweet can be.

I know there is some controversy over the proper way to make tomato sandwiches. Some like white bread, untoasted. Some prefer to have cheese along with theirs. Others want an open-faced sandwich. My take? Have them whichever way you like. Simple pleasures are personal. One size does not fit all.

Here is how I like mine: I use two pieces of Dave’s Killer Bread, 21 Whole Grains and Seeds. Then I toast the bread, spread a little mayonnaise on one slice, put tomatoes on the other, and finish it with a dash of salt. Oh, the joy.

My third pleasure comes from another blog I follow, Cimple, and one of the items on her Thankful Thursday list:  “On the Nature of Daylight,” a song by Max Richter. I was so moved by it that I had to feature the song on my blog.

I just happened to find “On the Nature of Daylight” along with some other songs when Richter was featured on NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert. “On the Nature of Daylight” is the first song that he plays.

This music makes me want to weep and be thankful at the same time. The language of music is powerful and mysterious. It is one of the best parts of us, and I am ever so thankful for the composers and musicians that bring such beauty to the world.

Environment, Thankful Thursday

Thankful Thursday: Electric, At Last!

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This post is part of a series called Thankful Thursday, where I list some things to feel thankful for. To some extent, focusing on what is wrong appears to come naturally to most people, who tend to complain, complain, complain when they get together with family and friends. (I’m no exception, that’s for sure.) So focusing on things to feel thankful for seems like good spiritual practice, a way to counterbalance the tendency toward negative thinking.

On last week’s Thankful Thursday’s post, my first one, I started with a humdinger—a new driveway and steps. As someone whose life is mostly filled with small, simple pleasures, I didn’t think it would be possible to top this. But, holy cats, was I ever wrong!

Last Friday, after over a month of waiting, our daughter Dee’s new electric car, a Tesla Y, was delivered to our home by the woods. (Tesla sells directly, and because there are no service centers in Maine, this one was shipped from New Jersey.)

Isn’t it a beauty? And isn’t it great that our new driveway was ready to welcome the new car?

Obviously, an electric car needs a charger, and we had one ready and waiting.

Now, this is Dee’s car, not ours, but she will be staying with us for a few more years while she saves money to buy a house. This means we will get the benefit of her electric car when we drive here, there, and everywhere. (Actually, we don’t go too far, and the car’s 320 miles per charge will be just fine for us.)

For dirty trips to, say, the transfer station (formerly the dump), we will use our Honda Fit, which is 14 years old and has seen its share of wear and tear. When the Fit no longer runs, we hope to buy an electric car, a used one.

So hot diggity dog! Here we are, an electric-car family, at least for now.

I can’t imagine anything will top this for the next Thankful Thursday.

But you never know.

Addendum: My blogging friend Eliza asked where the Tesla will be serviced. Fortunately, we won’t have to take it to New Jersey. There’s a dealership in a nearby town that services Teslas.

Thankful Thursday

Thankful Thursday: A New Driveway and New Steps

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A couple of the blogs I read—notably Cimple: A Curious Introvert’s Musing & Photos about Life and Enjoyment—have Thankful Thursday posts, where each week they list a few things they are thankful for. I really enjoy these posts and have decided to follow suit.

It hardly needs to be said—but I will say it anyways—that life is not all sweetness and light. There is much that is wrong with the world, both globally and locally.  From the climate crisis to my creaky knees, I can dwell on the negative with the best of pessimists. To some extent, focusing on what is wrong seems to come naturally to most people, who tend to complain, complain, complain when they get together with family and friends. (I’m no exception, that’s for sure.)

So focusing on things to feel thankful for seems like good spiritual practice, a way to counterbalance the tendency toward negative thinking.

I’m not advocating toxic positivity, pretending everything is hunky-dory when it isn’t. Far from it, and in other posts I will feel free to crab about things large and small. (Hot weather, I’m looking at you.) But on Thursdays, I’ll step away from that to give my thanks for the good things in my life. Like everyone else, I have my struggles, but I also have so much to be grateful for.

And this week, I have two humdingers, thanks to the generosity of our daughter Dee, who lives with us, and our neighbor Bob Smart, who lives next door.

First, our driveway. Truly, we had one of the worst driveways in our town. Long ago, it been paved, but over time it had heaved because of  underground rocks and roots. Then this year, a big truck for pumping our septic system crushed one side of our driveway into a valley.

After the truck fiasco, Dee took one look at the driveway and said, “I’ll pay for a new one.”

Clif and I, who have a budget as big as a minute, were oh so grateful.

I don’t have any pictures of the old horror of a driveway, or at least not ones I could readily find. But here is our new one, beautiful and flat and made from pea stone and gravel, one that will drain and can easily be repaired.

For days after the driveway was installed, Clif and I would stare out the window and gaze lovingly at it.

Our neighbor, Bob Smart, who owns his own construction company, Building Smart, oversaw the project, which involved moving our front steps. Unfortunately, the steps were rotten and were smashed during the process. Without charging extra, Bob rebuilt and installed the steps, and now we have brand new steps to go with our brand new driveway.

Woo-hoo! make that double woo-hoo.