Ten Things of Thankful - Week 23, 2017

This above illustration is of a young Caucasian girl around seven years of age that appears to be done with pastels. She is wearing a fluffy knee length yellow-orange dress, gathered at the waist, with short sleeves  and a white Peter Pan collar. She is  standing on her left leg, with her other leg lifted off the ground to the right, apparently dancing with joy. She is wearing black shoes with a strap across the ankle and white socks. Both of her arms are stretched straight out to the side with her palms extended. Her dark golden curly hair is shoulder length, parted to the side, and flying out around her face  as if she is twirling. The shaded-in background is of pastel cream and sky blue and there is a dark brown band across the bottom which creates the floor she is standing on. A quote is printed to the right of the girl in the same dark brown color. It says "A joyful spirit is evidence of a grateful heart" and is attributed to  Maya Angelou, one of my favorite authors.*

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Well here I am, finally! It's Monday, the clothes washer is running, and I have settled into the quiet of the morning to work on my TToT wrap-up of last week. Papa Bear was off on Saturday, his one Saturday a month off for the month of June,  and I opted to spend my time with him rather than doing much reading or writing. I can do that when he's not home.  I am thankful for the time he has off to rest, do something fun, and catch up on a house project or two. It was a good weekend all around.

As I put my load of towels in the washer this morning I realized once again how blessed and thankful I am for the conveniences we have... good appliances, a clean water supply, money for detergent and softeners, and the ease of having the washer just down the hallway from where I write. My mother made many trips up and down the basement stairs doing laundry for the family all day every Monday, and in the early years she also hung it all outside to dry. Our lives are so simple by comparison.

Last Wednesday was Papa Bear's birthday. He got the German Chocolate cake he'd been hinting for and pronounced it the best one I've made to date. It did turn out nice and he was really happy with it. We enjoyed cake for five days. :-)  I also took him out for a seafood dinner. I am thankful he is so appreciative.

The above photo depicts Papa Bear's birthday cake. It is a tall, round two-layer cake covered in a traditional German chocolate cake cooked topping of caramel, coconut, and chopped pecans. It is setting on a white plate. On the top outer edge of the cake is a ring  of red maraschino cherries and inside of that a ring of pecan halves. In the center are two large lighted blue candles in the shape of 6 and 4 in honor of his 64th birthday. He is seated behind the cake but the photo is cropped closely so that all you see of him is the gray fabric of his knit shirt.*

On Saturday we went to the new Cinergy Theater here and enjoyed watching Wonder Woman. It is the first movie we've been to in several months and the recliner seats and food trays made it very comfortable. The movie was far better than I anticipated, and we thankfully noted there was no foul language, no graphic sex scenes, and the violence fit within the story line and was in keeping with the positive message they wanted to relay... how refreshing! A reminder that something can be interesting and done well without being trashy. The vibrating seats of the IMAX experience made the explosions very realistic and fun! :-)

I am thankful for happy phone visits with both of my kids yesterday, and for photos of their lives shared via text. My daughter has been working on her house and yard, moving into the final phase of preparing it to go on the market, so she can sell it and move to Dallas.  She and her husband found a great new apartment and got him moved into it over Memorial Day weekend. It has an open floor plan and lots of light.  I am thankful she was able to help him choose and move and that she likes it.  They will both be so glad when the move is finally done... and I will be VERY thankful, it's been a long process!

My son moved out of his Nashville apartment and in with his girlfriend and her young son this weekend. They've been together for some time now and I am very content with this. We really liked her when we met her and my son adores her.  He is also really enjoying being a step-dad and they do a lot of fun things together as a family.  The move will make it possible for them to save up  money for a house.  Marriage will likely be in the future, but not the immediate one.  I'm okay with that too.  I am thankful he has met someone who suits him so well.

We set up our game cam on the deck this weekend, now that we once again have feline visitors. The following photo was captured last night, and from another shot where our resident feral kitty had his tail to the camera lens, it was apparent that "Andi" is  most assuredly "ANDY"! :-)  I am thankful there will not be kittens.  He is obviously young and sweet, and drops by early each morning, in the evening for supper, and several times during the night for another fill-up.  We are thankful we can make his life a little easier, and we are enjoying watching to see who else shows up to eat. Last night a dark cat came in the early house of the morning, probably the small black cat we've seen a couple times now.

The  above photo is of  Andy, a young orange tabby cat with a white face and chest. He is light colored and on the thin side. He is sitting on the wooden boards of our deck next to a small  plastic patio table under which there are dishes of cat food and water. The water is in a round white glass bowl to keep it cooler, the cat food is in a glass bowl placed inside of a rectangular plastic dish that has a small amount of water in the bottom to prevent ants from getting to the food (they can't swim). A couple boards have been placed against the West side of the table to keep the dishes in the shade and provide a cooler place for him to sit and eat. Andy is looking straight at the camera lens, he probably heard the whirring sound it makes when it takes a photo. Across the bottom of the photo is a black timestamp label which white lettering that says "MOULTRIECAM  - 11 JUN 2017 - 07:48 pm".

I am thankful that my younger sister and her husband got to spend several days last week in the beautiful Black Hills of South Dakota to celebrate their 30th Wedding Anniversary. They had a wonderful time and shared several photos of a place I love so much. One day I will be able to take Papa Bear there, God willing.

Last evening Papa Bear was collecting the trash to take out and decided to go ahead and change the furnace/AC unit filters too, since they get covered in cat fur quite quickly. When he accessed the furnace closet he discovered that the water drain line had blocked up and was dripping water unto the floor! We were both very thankful that he caught it now and not later when they floor would have been soaked and damaged. Although he was not planning to spend his evening getting the drain line cleared and working, and the closet cleaned out, it is done now and we can rest easy. I am thankful he knows how to do so many handyman things, that would have cost us a bundle if we had to call a repairman!

Last but not least this week, I am thankful for the Six Sentence Story post that came to mind on Thursday. I wasn't sure what to write, but I knew I didn't want to do something dark or negative, it is too easy for me to always go that direction.  As I pondered it while driving home from town, the prayer I wrote was given to me almost word for word, I felt as if it was something I was meant to share. Not my typical offering, but most certainly something from my heart and well suited to this time. I was thankful for the positive response it received.

And now I'm off to fold the towels and wash the bed sheets...

Blessings to you this week. Keep your eye out for reasons to be thankful, and remember to be a blessing to someone else!

The above photo is a click-button to the TToT link-up. It is photo of one of our beautiful Texas sunsets with blue still peeking through the clouds; yellow, orange and pink bands around the remaining sliver of bright sun, and a wide band of black earth below it on which I've written Ten Things of Thankful.*

* Descriptions of the included photos are being provided for those who may be unable to view the illustrations.