TToT: Giving Thanks For Whimm With Two M’s, #Thanksgiving #10Thankful

This seems almost too easy, too obvious, a thankful post on Thanksgiving that is, but here we go.

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Diving right in.

Ten Things of Thankful

I am thankful for all the friends and family who participated in the surprise for my mom.

I got the idea to make a book of people’s best wishes for my mom on her 60th birthday.

I sprung the idea on many, but so many people who care about my mom jumped at the chance to participate.

I was thrilled by the response I got from so many.

I am thankful for another peaceful yoga session.

I tried a few old favourite poses and a few new ones. Those left me a little sore, but I hope to be strengthing muscles I’d needed to be stronger.

It is becoming a highlight of my week, my Thursday yoga hour.

I am thankful for days of quality time with my seven-month-old niece.

I spent a lot of the week on the floor with my niece and her toys. She is starting to move around, the beginning stages of crawling, and she moves quickly now.

She is into everything she can get her tiny hands on and looking this way and that at all the goings on.

It is a joy to witness.

I am thankful for my sister’s help and mine to her, like sisters should do.

All week I helped my sister out while she got her house ready for Thanksgiving and she helped me a little with sending contracts and other writing related things.

I am thankful for a family day, no matter how eventful.

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One nephew fell in the pond. He was wet and smelled like pond water,but seemed rather pleased he’d managed something we’d all warned him about all day long.

Another nephew made it through an entire day, we all did, without being stung by any of the many yellow jackets and hornets that were around, until near the end. He went to put on a water wing to go in the hot tub and was stung on the finger.

We all felt so bad for him and that was pretty much the end of the party for him.

The rest of the day was splendid. Lots to eat and rink. Lots of fun was had with the kids, flying kites and playing baseball and on the swing set. I had a lovely cuddle with my baby niece on a lawn chair in the breeze in the yard while the bigger children played.

My night ended with a bad headache, but family days are worth it.

I am thankful for my sister’s work to put on a delicious Thanksgiving dinner for us all.

She hadn’t really hosted us all for a big holiday dinner before. It is a lot of work and my mom always made it look easy. It isn’t.

The food was perfect. Her stuffing was my favourite. We all enjoyed it.

I am thankful for the surprised reaction from mom when we presented it to her.

She had no idea that I’d been contacting friends and family to write birthday greetings and well wishes and memories of their individual memories with her.

Some were handwritten notes, emails, or written directly in the book. The children drew pictures, handprints, and other little things.

My brother took lots of photos of the day and those will be included in the finished product.

She was truly surprised and touched. My mission was completed.

I am thankful for my mom on her 60th birthday.

She is amazing, at any age, but we wanted to celebrate this year and the special person she truly is.

I am thankful for a leisurely Sunday brunch on a beautiful fall day.

The Pancake House is a staple breakfast place in my town.

The waitress was friendly and chatty and it felt like a real diner atmosphere.

I am thankful for an evening checking out a friend’s new condo.

We had Thai food (delicious), champaign, beer, Mexican candy, coffee, and cupcakes.

It was a perfect night.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4IWlFutwXo

My mom and Gloria were both born in 1957 and so, since I love her music and I love my mom, I finish with a little music because music always makes things better.

TToT: Paper Has More Patience Than People

The title for this week’s post is a direct quote from Anne Frank (1929-1945).

So I am having a bit of a blah day, tempted not to do this, but I know I can come up with ten things and so I’m giving it a try.

TEN THINGS OF THANKFUL

Sunday: A History For Today opening Reception and Speaker Series.

For these insightful events happening all summer long at a museum nearby. I felt a bit strange sipping champaign during the reception, but I was there to learn about a very important topic, from someone who knows what she’s talking about. I am writing a series of articles about it for my website.

Julie Couture is French-Canadian, but moved to Europe and has worked at The Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, for the last five or more years.

She designed the website and is in charge of the Canadian portion of a traveling exhibit on Anne Frank, her diary, and WW II in schools and museums like the one I was at.

Her talk was very informative and I am looking forward to the other speakers in the series, with five more spread throughout the rest of the summer. This exhibit is a once-in-a-lifetime experience and I thought I’d better make the most of it, just in case I never make it to The Netherlands.

For where and when I was born.

Listening to Julie speak I realized how it’s simply the luck of the draw when a person is born. Or not luck at all, as the case was and is for so many.

It’s beyond our control.

Monday: Dr. Ruth.

This might sound like a strange one, but I heard an interview with her. She’s an amazing lady. She’s tiny but strong.

You’ve likely heard the name, but just in case you know very little to nothing about her…

She was born in Germany,

(a common theme runs throughout more than one of the ten this week, as you can probably tell)

into a Jewish family, and lived a normal life, until she was sent away on a Kindertransport to Switzerland, never to see her parents alive again.

After World War II she went to Palestine, then moved to France, and finally to the Us and settled in New York City.

She has studied psychology, sociology and human sexuality. In the 80s she was given her own radio show, answering people’s questions on sex and relationships, something nearly unheard-of at the time.

She has been married three times, speaks four languages (German, French, English, and Hebrew) and has written many books.

It’s strange to hear someone that sounds like my grandmother, yet definitely is not. She has always spoken her mind, not letting the fact that she was Jewish or a woman stop her. She is the sort of tough girl that Hitler and the Nazis did not get a chance to silence. That’s pretty amazing to me and I am thankful she survived, when Anne Frank and so many others did not.

Tuesday: for hot musicians.

(Okay, so changing subjects here for a bit, trying to lighten the mood a little.)

This is a band out of the UK and is made up of just two guys, bass guitar and drums. No other guitar at all.

Royal Blood – Figure It Out

I like the drummer best. Unfortunately, he’s the married one.

For the road trip my brother and a friend are planning for later this summer.

He has been sick or stuck on dialysis and tied to machines for the last several years, unable to travel very far. Before that he was young and didn’t realize how valuable or exhilarating travel could be.

Now he’s free to do what he wants, to really enjoy a summer off, and he is going to get to see a different part of Canada. I’m definitely envious, but mostly I’m thrilled for him.

Wednesday: for my first introduction to a sweet little doll of a baby girl.

I went on a lovely walk with her and her mother. I had to wait until after to meet her, until she woke up, but I will never forget the first time we met.

For the strong mother she is lucky to have. Life is often sad and unfair, but I know they are lucky to have each other.

Thursday: for the stories of Robert Munsch.

My childhood was made a lot more enjoyable with this man’s stories. He celebrated his 70th Birthday and I enjoyed reading a list of 70 things I did not know about him. (Well, I did not know mostly all of them.)

http://www.cbc.ca/books/2015/06/70-amazing-facts-about-robert-munsch.html

My favourite on that list was number forty-seven. Apparently his first date with his wife was a walk around Walden Pond in Boston. The literary geek in me enjoyed knowing that one.

Friday: for Sir Christopher Lee and the role I will always be glad he played.

I was sad to hear of the passing of Lee this week, but it wasn’t all that unexpected. He was ninety-three and had a good, long life.

I wrote a tribute to Lee here.

I will always think of him as Sauroman the Wizard, from The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, but check out this recitation of the Edgar Allan Poe poem, The Raven, that he did.

Eerie stuff, but he gives the perfect delivery.

And finally – last but certainly not least…

For the existence of Anne’s diary.

On June 12th, 1942 Anne Frank turned thirteen-years-old and received a diary for her birthday.

“I hope I will be able to confide everything in you, as I have never been able to confide in anyone, and I hope you will be a great source of comfort and support.”

Anne was only five months older than my own grandmother when she wrote these words.

“Writing in a diary is a really strange experience for someone like me. Not only because I have never written anything before, but also because it seems to me that later on neither I nor anyone else will be interested in the musings of a thirteen-year-old schoolgirl.”

How wrong she was when she said this.

I’m glad she did write it, but Julie did point out that it’s just as important to remember the 1.5 million children also murdered by the Nazis had stories of their own that deserved to be told
Anne’s diary must represent not only her own unique voice, but that of all the others’.

If you have never read it before, I highly suggest you do. Have a great week all.