Gratitude

To speak gratitude is courteous and pleasant, to enact gratitude is generous and noble, but to live gratitude is to touch Heaven. - Johannes A. Gaertner

Hi folks, I was able to get one in full bloom! So beautiful, unbelievable colors! I don't think the owner has ever seen it in bloom, but she should be home next week, hope she gets to see it. It only stays about a day and then the bloom closes.

Since we are embarking on Thanksgiving thought I would write some things of which I am thankful for the next few posts.

Yesterday I had a yard sale. whew what a work out! I did make over $200 and I got rid of some things out of the house.

Some men in the neighborhood have been so helpful in pricing things for me so I won't get robbed! What do I know of what tools cost? They even helped getting the heavier things out of the shed, and one of them is barely able to walk!

One neighbor housed the hubbies motorbike in his yard so I would have more room for the yard sale. A couple others 'made' me put a sign on it so I could sell it!

One guy brought me a banana split! I joked to him I needed one, and low and behold he went and got one! He even bought blizzards for my daughter and my friend. I can't eat a whole banana split, but it sure tasted good!

My daughter rode her motorized bike about a mile to a little sandwich shop and got us iced tea and also my favorite clam chowder they have on Fridays.

My friend did most of the selling, did I tell ya I hate yard sales! Especially when people start dickering!

Hey, I bartered about one thing and a guy who does painting and power washing gave me some money for a carpet cleaner and threw in a power washing for my gutters and trim! (I had already done the house)

My knee is killing me today, but I did have a fun time talking with neighbors and friends that have been away for awhile, I also got to meet new neighbors, so guess I'll do it all over next year!

just one little thing I am not particularly grateful for, is my toe hurting like the dickens! I ran over it with my daughters motorized wheelchair while putting it away!

LOST

A neighbors plant I sorta like & have been watering while she has been gone. Think its called a pony tail plant

I have been loosing things right and left! HELP!!! I need to tie things to my neck, but if I did that I wouldn't be able to walk around! or I'd be bent over! Teehee

should I list things just this past couple of days:

glasses, dog leash, keys(loose them whenever), credit card, debit card, books for my study,

doctor info I have to have tomorrow, calendar which has appointment times, my mind, cell phone. That's all I can think of right now.

I haven't lost weight, my sense of humor or my Kiddos!

Nothing is permanent in this wicked world - not even our troubles.
Charlie Chaplin (1889 - 1977)

We have to fight them daily, like fleas, those many small worries about the morrow, for they sap our energies.
Etty Hillesum, O Magazine, October 2002

EEK I just found out I lost papers I went to my daughters doctor to get today! Yikes I have to go find them!

Just a Thought or Two

Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.
Albert Camus (1913 - 1960)

the beginnings of a century plant-my granddaughters got a seedling this summer! I can't wait til it grows up. have ya ever seen a century plant? granddaughter#1 was so happy to see a real live century plant- she did a report on one last year. they only bloom every one hundred years. they grow about 11 feet tall.

next to the house-it really has pretty color, but I don' t like it too well, another one I keep cutting

I stand corrected. I also didn't think that star flower was from a jade, so I went back to the neighbors house and found the bloom attached to a kind of cactus! guess I will look closer the next time!

I have been thinking allot about helping others lately. I have always been that kind of person, but I seem to do it with more fervor now. It is just amazing how many folk are down and out now a days! People are suffering all over the place. It's sad to see some of the folk in my community be down and out. I know they weren't always this way, just by the way they talk & act. So dau #1 and I find ourselves sharing what the Lord gives us. ie a neighbor friend, who is taking care of her elderly dad. she was working as a counselor at the college two months ago, she got laid off and now cant find a job, she's only 50. so we share our leftovers with them. she is always saying 'I am gonna kill you guys', 'I will never be able to repay ya'. We always say one day we may need something and someone will pay it forward to us.

I am not writing this for kudos. but be aware of those around you. your leftovers could feed a family. you could take out someones trash. walk a neighbors dog. It's wonderful to see smiles on faces of those less fortunate than you!

Halloween 2009

Not much going on here. I live in a retirement community. SO no tricks or treats!

While all of you are enjoying cooler weather we are having the last hurrah of summer here in Florida. They keep saying it's gonna cool down next week. They been saying that every week since I have come back from NJ & MD.

You never saw anyone more into Halloween than my mother. She loved all of it. Costumes, parties, tricks, & treats. She made Halloween fun! We would never have a purchased costume. We would always make ours, and we had some humdingers.

I remember when I was real young we entered into the local town parade. My older brother had some good ideas. One year he painstakingly made a robot costume, and that was before robots were in vogue. Another year he was an Indian in full regalia-shamee for his loincloth. Not much else besides that, Indian war paint and a tomahawk(Don't know how he didn't freeze). Of course he won both those years!

I was always heavy as a child. One year I went as a baby-with diaper, t-shirt, bonnet, and pacifier. They thought that one up and I never lived it down-the kids called me baby Huey the rest of the year.

After we had our first dau who was in a wheelchair we dressed her as a jack-in-the box, she was so cute. Everyone thought we were clever. My youngest wanted to be a cowgirl (for many years).

One of the last costumes I wore was at work. I simply had my teeth darkened & had a witches nose on. It was one of my first days at this particular job and did I make an impression! One of my co-workers always said-"I knew you were ok as soon as I saw that nose on ya"

So I'm wishing you all treats and no tricks!

TIDBITS

This plant & I have been fighting. I keep cutting it back and it keeps getting taller!?

Unusual bloom of Jade Plant- I didn't know they had blooms, was much prettier earlier today-looked like a star fish.

These leaves seem to be getting greener?

My newest plant-bought today, hence not planted yet! It's a whirly butterfly!

Interesting tree in the back yard. Everyone has been posting their beautiful tree autumnal pics, so thought I should also. A bit different in Florida!

Talked with my sister-in-law awhile ago, it snowed. They called school off for snow.

It was about 90 here, but we had a downpour!

I have one grandchild with a punctured eardrum and another with strep throat. They had chicken soup for dinner.



Just some thoughts for ya today:

Any transition serious enough to alter your definition of self will require not just small adjustments in your way of living and thinking but a full-on metamorphosis.
Martha Beck, O Magazine, Growing Wings, January 2004

There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.
Nelson Mandela (1918 - ), 'A Long Walk to Freedom'

Change your thoughts and you change your world.
Norman Vincent Peale (1898 - 1993)

Turbulence is life force. It is opportunity. Let's love turbulence and use it for change.
Ramsay Clark

This isn't good or bad. It's just the way of things. Nothing stays the same.
Real Live Preacher, RealLivePreacher.com Weblog, January 03, 2004

More stuff

Faith and doubt both are needed, not as antagonists, but working side by side to take us around the unknown curve.
- Lillian Smith

So what have you been doing that you have been so busy with, you might ask!

Well, for almost 2 weeks I was in a real bad depression. So bad I didn't even want to go anywhere or do anything! Thankfully that has past and I am onto other things.

Of course we are still volunteering @ the clothes closet on Mondays.

I have also enrolled in a bible study on the book of Ruth. It is very time consuming to say the least. Study, study, study!

Our church also had a three day revival. I was at the church more than at home. However I truly enjoyed the speakers, music, and he was a real artist!

And I have been up late every night watching baseball! Ya know it's just something ya have to do!!! Baseball will only be on a few more weeks and the Phillie's are working it!

OO and I have been doing some fall cleaning. Closets etc. NO ONE do you hear me NO ONE is supposed to buy another outfit in this house for at least a year! We are only supposed to buy disposable stuff like groceries! see how long that stays in effect!

When I did one closet today I found 6 pump bottles of hand wash from 'Bed Bath & Beyond'. I actually have 3 large containers of dishwasher detergent! This is criminal I tell ya. Who needs 5 boxes of hair dye! and I am not even dying at present! I'm looking to see if it's too grey!

A lifetime is more than sufficiently long for people to get what there is of it wrong.
Piet Hein (1905 - ), "Grooks"

This & that

My daughter told me I should put up a new post. I told her to do likewise!
I have been so busy the past week or so. I have hardly had enough time to sleep.
But I think I am a bit back to normal, whatever that is!

The weather here in Florida last week was COLD, but it's back to wonderful Florida now. Temps around 85 and NO humidity!! YEAH that's what I like!

Can anyone tell me a site that buys books? I have found a site, but they don't want any of the books I have put up so far. I also did that swapbook site and haven't come up with anything yet. So give me some advice if ya have any!

Since Facebook it seems like hardly anyone posts, but I find it a good outlet for saying stuff in other than 'snippets'. So here I am and will be! Although FB is a good way to keep up with friends when ya don't want to call or write! I was chatting with
2 folk today one in Sweden and the other in England! Where else could you have that so easily done!
Hope all are well, and I will try and do better on this!




A while back I told you all that I was starting a new garden in my yard. Well here is the elephant ear plant. Isn't it great! Not too bad for planting in the HOT season and I have pruned it a couple of times. I always wanted one of these, but NJ summers were not good on them!

The newest addition to the garden.





This is Hubby's lemon tree, He always wanted one. It is finally growing so nicely! Can ya see the spikes it has on it!? I never knew they had spikes, but they sure hurt

Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.
Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)