Thanksgiving. What am I thankful for?

So much.   So many things to be thankful for in my life.

Life has at times been good, been bad, been indifferent.  Today I am thankful for all of it.

My husband. Our health. Our family. Our friends.  Our house. Our hard won possessions. Our LIFE.

Thankful that we can wake up in the morning in a warm house under cozy blankets to a hot pot of coffee (made the night before).  We can open a refrigerator full of food and choose what to eat.  We have nice warm clean clothes.  How many people in the world today don't have this comfort, this luxury of food and warmth?

Sitting in front of our separate computers....me in the office with the french doors open and cat on lap while the Dumbplumber sits on the couch with his feet on the coffee table and laptop on his knees, we have the information of the world at our fingertips.  We share this information and listen to music.  How magical is that?

Thankful for my wonderful husband who keeps me grounded.  We will have been married 18 years in the coming spring and it seems like just yesterday that we met.  Every day we enjoy each other's company and look forward to being together. Lovers and friends. Arguments are rare.  Probably the advantage of age, where we both have learned where to take a stand and which stands are even worth taking.  I'm so thankful for the lucky happenstance that brought us together.  

I'm thankful for the beautiful and scenic nature setting that we live amongst.  Today we took a drive in one of the five trucks(!) we own, while the steaks that we are cooking for Thanksgiving are marinating.  (The traditional Thanksgiving BBQed steaks lol  ...that's another story). This in itself is a luxury.  To be able to drive someplace on a whim.  Around the valley floor and up into the the piney woods.  Back to feed the quail, the finches and set out more suet for the woodpeckers and flickers.  The peace and beauty of being able to sit in a comfy chair by the window sipping a cocktail and watching their antics.

Thankful for our minds and senses of humor. Thankful that neither of us is (knock wood) is suffering from Alzheimer's.  Thankful for our health.  Do we have some health issues. Yep.  Dumbplumber has diabetes, which is controlled and other than the normal aches an pains that come with 60 years of living, we are healthy and active.

Thankful for our families and their health, success, well being and happiness.  We miss those who have gone ahead of us and treasure those who still remain.

We are aware that all of this could disappear in a heartbeat.  A literal heartbeat. One major medical event or accident from disaster.  This fortune that we have, can evaporate through no fault of our own. Through forces beyond our control.  Wars. Famine. Political unrest.

 But......

Today.....life is wonderful.   Thank you God.

Apples and Plums ...Oh My! Plus the spiritual side of life.

While still in the throes of dealing with nature's bountiful gifts this year of apples and plums, I decided to finish off the last 3 1/2 pounds of Italian Prune Plums with a batch of Chinese Plum Sauce.

Apples?  Oh YEAH we have apples this year.  Previously I made and froze apple pie filling for 12 pies.  Now neatly wrapped and stacked in the shop freezer.  A friend, who is also up to her eyeballs in apples and pears, gave me a super recipe for crockpot apple butter.  Fabulous!. Easy peasy!!  No standing and stirring and stirring over a hot pot.  Just put the peeled cored and chopped apples in the crockpot with the sugar and spices and go about your merry way.

Recipes for both are posted at my recipe blog RecipeJunkie   in this post.

So....What did I do today?

Finished up canning the apple butter which had been cooking in the crock pot since yesterday.  Canned the plum sauce.  All the while, listening to Cole Train, Ella Fitzgerald and Delbert McClinton.   While waiting for the product to cool enough to handle, decided all that was left for the early afternoon was to get some crackers, brie cheese, apple slices (did I mention we have a LOT of apples) and some wine so that I could sit on the deck in the magnificent Indian Summer sunshine and read a book for a while.

Apple Butter and Chinese Plum Sauce

On another blog a commenter made reference to how blessed and fortunate we, in the United States, actually are.  His comment was in reference to the Occupy [insert your city] movement that seems to be stressing how disadvantage the 99% (whatever) is and how oppressed we must be by the 1% who control all the wealth.  First of all.....none of that is true but I won't get into the political part of that.

It is the spiritual part that is of interest to me. We have freedoms that are unheard of in other countries.  Freedom of movement. Freedom of thought.  Freedom to chose all sorts of life paths that we might take.  Do we always make the right choices?  Probably not.  But, we have the ability to chose.

With that freedom also comes responsibility.  When you choose badly, as I have often done in my younger years, you either learn from those bad choices and make better choices in the future....or you just keep repeating the same mistakes.

We also live in a society that is caring. Some will say that isn't so because every problem, every person isn't taken care of from cradle to grave.  Caring also means sometimes saying "NO".  Charities and personal help for those in need are abundant.  No matter how bad things get, there IS someone somewhere who is willing to give you a hand up. To help those willing to better themselves and who want to be helped,  lift themselves out of the darkness.  Hand up is not the same as a hand out.  Entitlements and demands to take from others is a perversion of charity.

Looking at my life now, I am grateful for every moment.  Even these moments of what others would think of as drudgery (canning, cleaning, harvesting) are to me a blessing and a joy. I have the ability, the skill and the drive to create. Apple butter from raw apples.  Knitted hats for friends from balls of yarn.  Clothing from cloth.   Those moments of leisure following the drudgery: sitting on the deck with a glass of wine are also a blessing.  The drudgery and the leisure....they go hand in hand.  You can't appreciate one without the other.

Those in the Occupy everywhere contingent who are focusing on the negatives, on money, on possessions and ignoring the blessed life and the opportunties that they have been given, compared to much of the rest of the world, are ignoring the spiritual side of life.  They are starving their souls and screaming into the void.

House Cleaning Music

Today when I was rocking around the house, dancing......cleaning, dusting and messing around in the kitchen, it struck me that there are just some songs and music that make the work go faster and make it FUN.

Tell me you can't work faster when you listen to this.




Rock on!!

I think I'll make a clean the house CD....turn up the bass and crank up the volume.

Anything Robert Palmer.

Ace of Base.


Nothing like that pulsing beat to keep you motivated.



Hot CHA!!

What's on your "working it out" CD?

Just When You Think All Is Lost

Just when you think all is lost. That people are so jaded with life. That people have turned inward to avoid interacting with others. Something beautiful breaks out and brings wonderment and joy to the faces of the unsuspecting bystanders.



On Saturday, April 24th, the Opera Company of Philadelphia teamed up with the Reading Terminal Market Italian Festival for a large-scale "Flash Opera" event! Over 30 members of the Opera Company of Philadelphia Chorus and principal cast members of LA TRAVIATA performed the famed "Brindisi" in the aisles of Reading Terminal Market, entertaining hundreds of Philadelphians, and proving that the perfect accompaniment for all things Italian is a little Verdi!