It's officially over with the posting of the official Thanksgiving photo of our family.

These three are working for food from Jane. Such beggars. I think she spoiled them. LOL!

While we had more animals than this...these three are the social critters. I can't believe that Bruno, our cat stayed out in the crowed all day. The other two cats stayed in the bedroom.

This amazing woman is my SIL and she does most of the work on Thanksgiving Day. I don't know what I would do without Jane. I love her so much.

The official family picture. We were missing eight family members this year. I don't know where we would have put them.

I had a great time this year because a certain BIL behaved himself. I hope all of you had a great day as well.

Autumn Days

The clock is ticking away for soon Autumn will be here. Every year it flies by too fast. No matter how much I try to make it last, it's over in a flash. Don't you agree?




I am so happy that Autumn has finally arrived. Did I tell you how much I love this season?

I love all things Autumn. After the incredibly hot summer we endured, I gladly welcome fall with open arms. I like to decorate around my house. It is a grand respite.



Few things excite me more than a crisp Autumn day. The colors of the falling leaves are so vibrant that I feel so very alive right now. Nothing cheers my spirit more than a walk outside to see the leaves turning. Here at our home, we love all things in Autumn.

It is an ever so quick fade of colors from greens to yellow ochre to burnt oranges to intensely colored reds, then deep mahogany reds richly dressed to their splendor. So I try to take it all in as best as my senses will allow me. I feel like inhaling all of the colors, to store them for a rainy day, deep in the recesses of my mind, to recall on a cold winter's day. That's when I'll recall from memory the breath taking hues of fall. Can you tell how much I love fall?



I am like a little kid at fall. I want to jump in the leaves and roll around. I want to roast marsh mellows outside, burn the pile of felled trees ( we still have a burn ban in effect).


It doesn't get any better than walking on a trail during a sunny day. Soak it up, enjoy the day because it will be gone all too fast. Can you tell I am excited?
I look forward to the swell of hungry family that comes to our home at Thanksgiving. We have hosted it every year. Wafting, glorious smells of pumpkin, turkey and dressing, and spiced cider. Sometimes, I don't think I can do it one more time, but then by the time fall comes around, I am eager to get started. I love it when the little kids like to take me on a Nature walk. We collect leaves, you are not surprised are you? In times past, I was always the first one to help the kids make those neat leaf place mats. This year, we only have one little one that might enjoy it besides me. Time seems so short in the fall and I sense an urgency to tend to all that I can before the dreary, cold days of Winter edge their way in to our beings. I love fall so much that I take too many photos of the trees baring all their beauty. Did I tell you that I also pick the fall leaves? I know it is sad, but I can't get enough of fall. I arranged those chosen leaves on my oak table then I took pictures of them. Something about the way the light hits them. Something about the intensity of the rays of sunshine this time of year. It's magical, it's intoxicating, it's effortless on the part of Mother Nature. It is abundance at its best. I breathe it in to save for future days ahead. Perhaps this Winter, I will start painting the memories in my head of Autumn.

For those of you that read my blog, I was not going to host it again this year, but after much thinking and pondering about it, I said yes. So I'm excited and it is going to be the best Thanksgiving yet.

Gratitude Post # 30 ~ Change of Seasons

As my thirty days of gratitude come to an end, I want to thank you for reading,following and commenting. This has been a huge committment for me. I am very thankful for all of my blessings.

Gratitude Post # 29~ Wildlife

This photo pretty much says it all. Doc feeds the deer and takes photos of them when they are not looking. He also planted them a special deer garden. I am not sure if they have found it yet. While folks all around us are shooting these beautiful creatures, we nurture and feed them.

Gratitude Post # 28~My Sister

Some of you know that my sister, Candy, has been in the process of moving here. I went to get her at the end of February of this year. She has been through a hard time, but I am delighted to tell you that the worst is behind her and things are looking quite good for her.

I am so thankful that we have been able to help her in her time of need. It has been so wonderful to see her come alive again. I am blessed that God gave us both a new chance to get to know one another all over again.

I have always loved my sister, but sometimes we did not like one another. So, with this season of Thanksgiving upon us, I give the praise and glory to God for he believes in so many chances. I am blessed to have a new start with my sister, to call her my best friend.

Gratitude Post # 27~My Job

This is johnny, my hair dresser. He is wonderful. He and his wife have five children. He is always very uplifting and kind.

This is Robbin, Johnny's assistant. She is as sweet as the come.

This darling young lady is my boss and she is very good at mananging all the loose ends.

If you recall, I am a retired florist/owner of my own shop and flowers are my passion. After selling my flower shop, my best friend, Darlene, and I started a custom floral design business from our homes. We did magnificent weddings, large and small and we decorated homes and businesses for the holidays. Big beautiful homes and small cozy homes. It was a magical time for our business. There was nothing we could not do, except when Darlene's mother was diagnosed with Lou Gearing's disease. Due to her mother illness and death, we put our business on hold.

Well last year I moved and you can remember how sad and lonely I was way back then. Our Realtor had told me to get my hair cut at this adorable one-hundred year old home that also had a gift and garden shop, two hair dressers and tanning beds.

I show up for my hair appointment and while I am waiting I start looking around in the gift shop. I find this beautiful young lady working ever so hard on processing fresh flowers. You know that I never meet a stranger and while talking I offer to help her with the flowers. Courtney, the young lady, ask me if I was a designer? I said "Yes, I had been one for many years, but that I had retired." Little did I know that she would ask me to work for her. Mmmm... a job? I hadn't even thought about working anymore. But I am intrigued.

I talked it over with my Hubs and he was delighted and thought I should accept the job. So that is how I came to work in this little town. I remember telling Courtney that "They really needed me." What I came to find out is that it was mutual and that I needed them too.

What makes my job so much pleasure is the people that I work with and am surrounded by. I know most of you will understand...it was a God thing. I work among the most awesome believers and they lift my spirit up. I hope that I do the same for them.

So this is my blessing of how I came to work for this beautiful faithful family. They have six children and the mom home schools the youngest three. The older children were their first family. They then adopted three precious children all unique and different. I have never met such self-less folks. Their 22 year old daughter runs the shop. She is a joy to work with and I am thankful to be a part of it all.

Gratitude Post # 26~My Friend Darlene

One of my best friends is Darlene. We have been friends for over twenty years. I first met her when we were both involved in PTA. We have been through everything together and our friendship is one of the things I am so thankful for. We have a lot of history as friends go.

I really miss her, but we talk on the phone and see each other when we can. Friends like this are a real gift.

Gratitude Post # 25~My Great Nephew and Neice

It started out as a shopping day with my sister, Candy, her son and wife and these two little cuties, their children. We were leaving this little shopping center and the kids saw this water fountain. One thing led to another and the next thing we know the little one is taking her shoes off and has her feet in the water. Big brother follows suit. It was a sweet moment. On this very hot summer day they took time to enjoy the water. I am thankful that my nephew and his wife come to visit us and we can enjoy their children so much.

Gratitude Post # 24~Thanksgiving

As Thanksgiving begins this week I am reminded of all the thankful post that I have written this month. And I am reminded of one of the worst Thanksgiving days in my life. Warning this post in difficult and I have never told this story before.

In 1971, three days before Thanksgiving my future husband left to go to basic training in San Antonio, TX. After dropping him off at the bus station, I went home to my grandmother's home. By this time, my mother and I lived with my grandmother. Moma was at work at the hospital the three to eleven P.M. shift. Grandmoma and I were watching "Hee Haw" and I was making an egg sandwich. I was sad that Doc had left for his training and I was telling grandmoma how sad I had been that day.

Nothing unusual about that night. I loved to spend time with her. She was my best friend and loved me like my mother could not. I am up and down and off to the kitchen, when I hear a sort of cough, or something like it. I call to her from the kitchen and I heard it again. I thought not too much about it. I returned to my chair and I am still talking with grandmoma. Then I look at her and notice something is different about her. She has slumped down in her club chair and she looks like she has fallen asleep or something. I am not sure what is going on and for a second I do not realize that she is dead.

I called the operator this was before 911 and told her something was desperately wrong with my grandmother. I had just completed a CPR course at college. I tried to help her, but I could not do anything except cry. The operator called an ambulance. She tried to console me and to get me to calm down. By now I am hysterical because I can not save my grandmother. Nothing I do will bring her back.

The ambulance comes and now I have to decide which hospital to take her to. One is closer in Bossier City, La., but my mother works at the one in Shreveport, La. I decide to take her to Schumpert Hospital where my mother works. I met moma in the ER. This much is pretty much a blur because I am crying so hard. My mother is crying. I am praying and crying.

The next thing I know is my mother is having an episode with her heart. She has tachycardia and her heart beats too fast. So now the doctors are working on my mother as well as my grandmother. I am besides myself with no one there to tell me a thing. This was the worst night in my young life. I was twenty-one years old and two of the people that I loved most in the world are in critical shape. "Dear God in heaven help me" is all I can pray right now. I can barely even put two words together for all the crying and hysteria. I was so afraid that I would loose both of them.

That night, my wonderful grandmother died, my mother would recover, but my life as I had known it changed forever. Moma and I were exhausted and numb from the night. I can hardly make my lips form the words "grandmoma is gone". This was three days before Thanksgiving. We had to arrange funeral plans and notify the funeral home, friends and the newspaper of her passing. Moma went to her room to take a tranquilizer. I just sat in my chair with a blank stare and thinking over that night to see what I could have done differently that might have made a difference. The doctors told us that she died immediately from a cerebral hemorrhage and that there was nothing anyone could have done to save her.

People flooded in from her church and neighbors as well as her friends. Grandmoma was loved by all. There was all kinds of food just too much, we don't really want to eat, but we go through the motions. We are thanking everyone, writing down names and the dishes they brought, fixing coffee and walking like zombies. Expressionless, sad, no words can confort me. My mother is in her own grief because she has lost her mother. She has no words for me, no comfort, though all she can offer me is a little pill to dull my senses. Nothing can dull this pain or make it ever go away. This day will haunt me for the rest of my life.

We bury grandmoma with graveside services only. The service I don't remember because I am too caught up in my own grief. My sister and I hold one another and cry. We try to console moma, but she pulls away and needs to be alone. When we returned home to grandmoma's house, the thought suddenly occurs to me that we have a huge turkey thawing in the refridgerator. If you knew my grandmoma, then you knew it was a cardinal sin to waste anything.

Up until this day, my job in the kitchen for Thanksgiving meal was to chop all the vegetables into exact uniform pieces. I knew this job well, but nothing else. Grandmoma had always cooked the dinner. Who knows how to make dressing? None of us. What about gravy? Nope not a one of us can do gravy. So at one of the sadest time of our lives, my sister, mother and I attempt to cook our very first turkey with all the trimmings.

Grandmoma always got up at the crack of dawn and got it all together while we sleept in sweet dreams buried under a pile of hand made quilts. Those heavenly smells would awake us. It was like an intoxicating perfume wafting through out the house. Not on this day, we gathered in the kitchen and began cooking. I don't remember too much except I did the chopping of the vegetables and I did the best job I could do for her.

This one day my mother, sister and I pulled it together and we made the meal. While it taste nothing like grandmoma's, we knew she would be proud because we did not waste that turkey, we united and we did not give up. That night would bring us wonderful loving memories of her. The healing had began. We laughed at the sight of us cooking and we knew grandmoma would like it.

It would take me years to accept that I was not to blame for not being able to save her. Doc and I married and I would wake up in a nightmare about that night. I think I spent the first year of our marriage crying over my beloved grandmother. I am blessed that my husband comforted me and offered words of encouragement.

This is the first time I have really shared this story with anyone other than my family and best friend. If you managed to get to the end, I thank you for reading along with me. It was hard to write still after all the years.

Gratitude Post #23~ New Appliances

After all these years married, I feel like a new bride because tonight Hubs and I bought new appliances. When we moved in January, we knew we would have to buy them sooner or later. I keep thinking about cooking our Thanksgiving meal in an oven that never stays the same temperture no matter how much I adjust the temp. The old appliances are really small and not in good shape.

So the day before Thanksgiving, our new stove, fridge and dishwasher will be delivered and installed. Hot dog! I am excited. So I am thankful for my new appliances. It will bring much joy back to my cooking. I will let you know how my Thanksgiving meal turns out.

Gratitude Post # 22~My Cats

This is Bruno, my husband's cat, but in reality I belong to him. The one thing I like about my cats is that they know how I am feeling. I don't know how they know this, but trust me on this one. They know. The other thing that I adore about cats is their purr. It is such a soothing sound to me. I always thought cats were aloof, not mine. They are into everything I do.

This is Stinky and she is my cat. We adopted her from the vet. She was abandoned and lived in a wood pile. She had eaten the wood and it had torn up her intestines. She was a little kitten at the time I got her. She had a really rough start in life, but she has turned out to be a sweet cat. Except when she goes psycho when she is ready to be left alone. I love her crossed eyes.This is Bruno, Hubs cat. He and stinky were not friends before. They each had a cat that they were close with, but unfortunately they died. So now they are forming a new friendship. Bruno reads my google reader in the morning with me. He is never far from me. Usually he is right in front of my laptop in my arms. I really don't think he knows he is a cat.

He thinks he should be allowed to go everywhere he wants and guess what? He does.

This is their sleeping chair that I am having recovered. Looks like the will have to find a new place to sleep. Can't you tell that they don't like each other!

Stinky on the deck. She does not like to go outside at our new place. We are working on it.

So that is it for today. I give you a big shout out for reading all of my gratitude posts. It has been fun and I am truely blessed.

Gratitude Post #21~ No Pain

Today, I am very thankful that I am not in pain. A lot of you know that I have Rheumatoid Arthritis. It was just a year ago that I was in so much pain that I could barely move. Constant pain makes me miserable. I feel like I am on fire with the pain. It drastically changed my life.

A few years ago when I was first diagnosed with RA, the doctor put me on all kinds of horrible medicine and they made me very sick. I gained weight and could not believe how bad I felt.

I went to another doctor for a second opinion. At the same time, I also started going to Dr. Zhang. He is a Chinese trained physician from China and he has been treating my RA with acupuncture.

By the time of my second doctors diagnosis, he confirmed that I was in remission from RA. I am no longer on any medication except when needed. I am so thankful to Dr. Randy(as I call him) for he has made all the difference in my life, especially the quality of my life. I am not saying that I don't have some bad days, but they are fewer and far less than ever.

Gratitude Post # 20~ Leah at South Breeze Farm

Today as I look forward to writting each post, I forgot someone very important to me. That would be Leah. I am thankful for Leah from South Breeze Farm because she organized the Thirty Days of Gratitude. Leah has a beautiful heart. I am thankful to her for connecting so many wonderful bloggers for the month of November. Thank you, Leah.

Gratitude Post # 19~Trees

Trees

Joyce Kilmer. 1886-1918

I THINK that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the sweet earth's flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.

All theses trees are on our land. I feel so blessed to have such beauty to look at every day.

Gratitude Post # 18~ My Church

One of the hardest things about moving this year was leaving my church. My church is like another family for me. I love all the folks there and I know that if I need anything they would be the first ones to help me. The same goes for me if they needed help.

My Sunday School class is called the Seekers. We are a mixed assortment of married couples, widows, singles, and women whose husbands don't come to church. I fall into the later group. It has taken me years to find a class that I felt comfortable in. I did not fit into the couples group, or the younger group, so when I found this group I knew it was for me. I love each and everyone of the people in my class. We hang out together and most of us sit together in church.

The class is so open and we all have different problems. That is what makes us unique because we all have had problems, but we are dedicated to helping others. I can be honest and speak my heart without fear of acceptance or judgement. It is rare to find friends that are so different and yet so similar.

I miss volunteering with the choir kids,VBS and helping out. I miss that connection and I am looking for it in our new community. This is one of the reasons that I am so sad, but I know in time I will find my place. I will build those friendships with new folks. I am blessed to be in a loving church with open hearts, open minds, open doors. I am a Methodist in case you did not know by the next to the last sentence.

Gratitude Post # 17~ My Husband

This is us when we were young and about to get married. We were young and dumb. We dated for three and half years. I knew so little about relationships, neither did he. We just knew that we wanted to love and care for one another for the rest of our lives. We fought a lot because we are both very stubborn. We have been married thirty-seven years longer than anyone thought that we would make it.

Sure we have changed a lot, but not our hearts. I love him more today than yesterday. It has not always been easy, but for the most part we have stuck it out. Doc is my best friend and he has always supported me in everything I do. We have two wonderful sons and my life has been blessed because of my hubs and our sons.

Life changes you. It has made me a better person. I know I am loved and I am blessed.

Gratitude Post # 16~ Shelter

I am blessed in that I have a home, and enough to live on. I have food, clothing, utillities. I never take that for granted. Thank you Lord for all that you have given us. We try to give back as much as we can. I am thankful that we are able to do it.

Gratitude Post # 15~ My Dogs

In the last two years we have acquired these three dogs. We had not had a dog is twenty years. My cats were spoiled that whenever we tried to get a dog, we could not keep it. There is just something special about these dogs.

First, Hubs found the little mixed brown dog. He was ate up with fleas and looked so pitiful. He was a trooper though and probably one of the smartest dogs we have ever owned. His name is Hot Dog. Someone had dumped him out in the country where no one would ever find him. He was the yard dog at work until we moved over here.

Second, is the yellow lab, Susie. Once again, she was an abandoned dog out where Hubs works. I think the word got out that there were some kind men there, so all dogs head to the work yard. Susie was terrified of men in work boots and jeans. She was horribly beat down and was terrified of everything. She just had this way about her that won us over. She lived with me and the cats until we moved to where Hubs worked this year. I knew it would take time to love her out of her past. She is such a joyous dog. She is kind and rambunctious, but always up for a game of catch or walking. She had been trained some, but evidently she did not pass the course with the people that had her before. She now is so full of life and I am so thankful for her.

Next is the Doberman Pincher, Carmen. We found her near our home. Sister and I were going to town and I saw her. I stopped to give her some water. In the front seat she went and then to the back seat of my truck. I had to go back home to get Hubs to get her out of the truck. We spent the next month trying to find her owner. She has tags on and I called the vet to inquire about her owner. The owner's phone had been disconnected, so I called my vet to see if anyone was missing a Doberman. No luck there. I called Carmen's vet back to at least get her name and age.

We took her to our vet for shots and a check up. She had heart worms and had to be treated for them. My vet said that is probably why they let her go. Carmen is another abused dog. Something spoke to me about her that day. This is the first dog I have ever brought home. She is just now learning to trust us and look us in the eyes. She is a sweetheart of a dog, but very stubborn. She can run so fast after the heart worm treatment and has gained weight.

So this is how I came to own three dogs. We are blessed that we have the land, the temperament and can afford to care for these dogs. They protect us, guard our home, and entertain us. I love my dogs.

Gratitude Post # 14~ All I Need~

I have all I need and all I need I have. I need nothing more. I am blessed beyond measure and I am thankful.

My father n law was one of the finest men I ever knew. He was so very humble, generous,and benevolent. He was a country doctor for fifty plus years in a rural area of central Louisiana. He had more living heart patients than most of the specialist. The big city doctors sent their patients to him because he was a great diagnostician

I never saw the man finish a meal before the phone rang or a patient would come by the house. He was always available to everyone. He never took more than he needed and sometimes he did not even get paid, but they were self-sufficient. Sometimes he was paid in chickens, venison, eggs, vegetables and other items that could be
bartered.

He never turned anyone away. Never... anyone sick was seen. When he closed his practice his office call was six dollars. The AMA wanted to honor him in New Orleans, but he would not go. He gave all the credit to his wife. He said that he was just doing what he loved. He did not need accolades or awards. That was not his style.
His joy came from knowing his family was happy and cared for. He loved his family.

I will never forget when he died. We found out just how much this amazing kind and humble man was loved by all. If kids needed glasses, they got them. School could not afford milk for lunch, he provided it. There are so many wonderful stories about him. He co-signed a loan for a car for someone. He saw a need and met that need, but he did it with out recognition because there was a need. This little town loved him dearly and they showed it. I have never seen so many folks cry in mass. The church was so full that people had to stand outside the church to attend his service. It was a beautiful sight to see how much they loved him.

This is the kind of men my sons have grown up to be. Papa lead by example and never raised his voice. My hubs has some of his dad in him, but a lot of his mother too. Through the generations we see nephews that have Papa's personality. It keeps his spirit alive. I am thankful to have know him. I am thankful that he loved me. I am better because of him.

Gratitude Post # 13~ Life as it use to be...

This is a repost from last year, but it still has a timely message.

Grandmoma and Papa always helped anyone in need. No questions ask, nothing expected in return, but just simple kindness from their hearts to strangers. I witnessed this over and over as a young child, people in need would come to the back door. They would sit on the steps while she would get them a cup of coffee and a homemade buttermilk biscuit. They would talk for a while and she might give them a jacket or offer them some work, but they never left with empty hands.

My grandparents were not rich, just average hard working people that understood the commandment to help those in need. I miss those days when people helped one another, and kindness was a given and shared. A sense of community, a sort of wellness check, where you knew how your neighbor was doing and the pulse of their heart.

I know that change is a must, but why do we forget about those in need? Everyday we should look for an opportunity to help someone. It does not have to be a grand gesture and it can be as simple as opening the door for an elderly person. We have got to do more because what we are doing now is not enough. Open you eyes and see the possibilities.