My Year of Thanksgiving ~

4 May through 10 May  ~  A heart full of thanksgiving this week for many things: seeing the wild beauty of Any's garden spot at the cottage in the country; meeting the octogenarian neighbor who took an immediate liking to my sister - and took pains for a show of affection to this sister, too; to be able to do a regular transfer of funds to a daughter's account - remembering the password at first try; for miles of safe travel on rainy roads; for the bright yellow of rapini fields in bloom over hills and dells; for the beauty of so many places of worship - somehow, in every culture, it seems that worship evokes beauty, the best of human effort; for protection from injury when the silly rescue-dog, Patches,  leapt from the terrace above the under-construction carport with only a little scrape to his nose; for the picture of conflict as wind and tide fought the flow of the Danube River to the sea - the force of the water may not be impeded by anything other than the hand of the Creator (Joshua 3:15 - 17); for the promise of sunny days as we travel to see more of the beauties of this part of the world; for forests of mixed evergreens and various broad-leafed trees covering the hillsides;for the grandeur of rocky crags and canyons; for the extra effort our host made to provide a suitable place when we discovered our initial reservation was a 4th floor walk-up (and the floors begin their count on the first floor above ground level!); for the healing properties of charcoal; for my son's matter-of-fact care of what I'm unable to manage; for the traffic officer who extended grace when the citation he wrote was only for passing in a place where "passing is forbidden" and not for traveling without insurance documentation (left behind in another bag); for contentment with a simple life; for the delight of a friendly little chaffinch singing loudly as he hopped round the tree nearby; for Sabbath-time; for life - and the health and strength that remain in my 75th year; and for this time with my far-away son.