(1).png){kind=small}
.png){kind=small}
.png){kind=small}
Thanks-Giving
“Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” Marcel Proust
Here's to a White Thanksgiving
Greetings from Snowy Maine! Yes, we had a White Halloween, and now a White Thanksgiving. Luckily, the snow came down on Wednesday, making turkey-day travel easy as the plowing has been done and the plow-guys can stay home and eat today!
For my readers not in the U.S., the fourth Thursday in November is perhaps the most “American” of all our holidays, at least for me, and that includes our National Day, The Fourth of July. The holiday springs from a feast the new settlers had back in the Colonial era, when rough times and rougher weather made it uncertain that they would make it. Help from the Native Americans and hard work got them through it, and the colonists had a celebratory after-the-harvest feast inviting the first peoples to share. That tradition is now perhaps my favorite holiday of the year: family and friends, without all the crass commercialism that has sprung up around Christmas.
Yesterday I received an e-mail from Morna McEver Golletz of IAPQ (association of Professional Quilters), in which she had the quote at the top of this post and this one: “Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent. (Cicero)”
So today I give thanks with abiding gratitude:
First and foremost for my family: we may be small, and have gotten smaller by one this year with my mom’s passing, but we are fiercely loyal and love each other, no matter what. Here’s to Paul, Joshua, Eli and our critters (current and departed)! And to my extended family, beginning with beloved sister-in-law Joyce. Life is so much better because of you—you are my life.
Here’s to friends far (Marie! Lunnette!) and near (Kathy, Kate, Deborah–who’s a bit far now, and all the Coastal Quilters), you enrich my life and I am so honored to know you and be able to call you friend. And to friends from long ago in the Foreign Service, and before that school… I’m glad to still be in touch.
Here’s to art and the internet: without the internet, I would never have embarked on this incredible journey which has filled my soul. I’ll start with the QuiltArt list which I joined in 2002 (and WHIZZZZ WHOOOOSH…that wind tunnel you hear is the years flying by) and which has been instrumental in my growth–and in connecting me with like-minded souls. And to the internet and my blog–I have come to know many of you who read this page, and am so grateful you take time from your lives to visit with me. I’ve loved meeting many of you and hope to meet even more!
So let us give thanks, for each other, for our families, for art, for sharing, for learning, for the internet, and for being able to share!
November 24th, 2011 at 7:24 pm
Great post Sarah! I hope you and your family are having a great Thanksgiving!
D~~~~
November 24th, 2011 at 9:08 pm
Sarah. I did enjoy reading your Thanksgiving letter. We don’t celebrate Thanksgiving, but your letter made me feel part of it. Thank you.
Dorothy.
November 24th, 2011 at 10:18 pm
Wonderful view and I remember all the turmoil of moving or not moving that you were going through this time last year! You do indeed have much to be thankful for and especially that wonderful view! (But still glad that we were outside in shortsleeves today and would have taken a boat ride if we’d had time. But your view even though it includes snow that would have shut down everything around here, is wonderful! Enjoy it!
November 25th, 2011 at 9:28 am
The views across your lawn to the meadow beyond look like inspiration for a four (or more) seasons series but it is particularly serene with the snow. Glad for you that this Thanksgiving lacks the stresses of last year’s!
November 26th, 2011 at 8:09 am
Wow! A reminder of what is to come here in upstate New York – but not for a few more days. I was able to do a 12 mile run outside yesterday in 50 degree weather.
A very happy belated Thanksgiving. Love your blog.
Judy
November 26th, 2011 at 6:21 pm
and from a virtual friend -happy thanksgiving, I hope the snow does not cause too many problems, I love the silence and the clean whiteness but it is always better if it doesn’t last too long ( and doesn’t stop the children from getting home for Christmas!) It’s mild here, funny weather with spring flowers at completely the wrong time of year -strange to think that winter is just around the corner, your post reminded me!!