Some thoughts on Thanksgiving

Here in Canada it is Thanksgiving weekend, and I find myself with many things to be thankful for.

I am  thankful for employment that allows me to enjoy creativity, and lets me feel that I make a difference in the lives of young children.

We made "handprint turkeys", and then taped them to toilet paper rolls, they could be a finger puppet, or a table centerpiece.

I dried orange and lemon slices in a dehydrator, this week, strung them on fishing line, and hung them from a tree branch, in the room I work in at the day care center - to create a natural window hanging, which looks pretty with the light shining through.

I am thankful for the city workers who plant our city's trees. We are on the prairie, and almost all our trees were planted. This is very amazing to consider because our city does have many beautiful park areas, and LOTS of trees.

I walk past the city conservatory daily on my way to work. This fall I've passed several trucks carrying tree seedlings ready to be planted.

 

I am thankful for new friends I've found since blogging. I love this medium, and the chance to meet people all over our world.



I'm thankful for new friends met, when I researched some of my family roots, this past winter.

This is Mechtild, and her son Michael. Michael is the great, great, great grandson of Cuthbert Grant, a famous Metis leader in Manitoba. He founded the town Granttown, later renamed St. Francis Xavier. I learned that I am a great, great, great, great, great grandchild of Cuthbert Grant, on my Mom's side. Michael is an aspiring graphic novelist, and film maker. This year he made a film on First Nations veterans of the Korean war. Michael is also abit of a "gentle giant". :)

Michael and Mechtild were our guests yesterday for a Thanksgiving meal. Michael showed me how to use the time function on the camera to take this photo. That's me, and Herbert beside Mechtild. (Both Michael, and Mechtild said at the same time when seeing this - "steps") . We ate Vietnamese take out, and homemade apple crisp with ice cream for our meal. I'm not really a traditionalist. :)

I am thankful for the mystery of my grandmother's past. My Grandma Irene, (on my father's side - his mom), was adopted and we never knew much about her early years. I've started writing a story about her possibly background - all fictional of course.

I sketched this from a very old photo, which I found in my grandmother's things. It's from 1928, and was cut off with the person she was presumably walking with removed.  Yet this was the only picture I found so must have had importance to her. In the photo she looks happy, and full of optimism for the future.

 

 

I am thankful for the beauty of nature - the sound of the geese, and crows, the colours of fall.

I am thankful for the peace I live in. I moved here last year, and I think it was a good decision. Sometimes I miss the spaciousness of my old house, and I do miss my old neighbours. But it was time to move on, and I was tired of the huge yard and it's maintenance.

This is the front entrance of the small condo building I live in - when I moved in last year, I learned that we cut the grass, and maintain all aspects of the building to keep the condo fees low. I helped repaint this entrance over a period of several weekends with two of my neighbours. It was actually fun, and I volunteered for it. Since then I've learned to consider my neighbours as friends. Last week my downstairs neighbour, Dorothy, taught me her way to make cabbage rolls. they were good!

For me  being at home, most often involves curling up with a book - my most favourite author is Charles Dickens, I've reread these books many times.

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My two cats, Herbert and Arthur are always happy to say hello when I come home

 

 

 

 

 

 

I made this sketch with pastel crayons many years ago from a photo when Paul was just a few weeks old.

Mom was a genuinely good and gracious person. She believed in treating people well and fairly, and I believe passed this down to her children. However I always regretted that I did not inherit her looks. :)

I'm thankful for my son Paul, who is always ready to help me with my computer questions, and likes to go for coffee with me weekends. And I am so thankful for my Mom, Evelyn, for everything she was, and for what I learned from her.

For anyone who has persevered in following along with me in this post, many thanks, and wishing you peace where you live.Happy Thanksgiving!