Category: Gratitude Sunday (Page 3 of 12)

~ I’m once again joining Taryn over at Wooly Moss Roots in her Gratitude Sunday tradition. ~

Gratitude Sunday is a time to slow down and remember those thankful moments that graced our week. One reason I love keeping a daily gratitude journal is because it helps keep things in perspective for me. Each Sunday, I open my journal and share some of those moments with you here. If you’d like to join in, just leave a comment!

Gratitude is powerful energy. I love hearing others’ gratitudes!

***

♥

– Hanging low, and making excellent use of the front and back porches. I’ve been feeling pretty worn out lately both from drug side effects and pushing my body too far, and it’s a relief to just rest.

–  This house and yard of ours!!!

– Cookies baked in the solar oven.

– My mom giving me a ride to a doctor appointment, so that I wouldn’t need to take a bus across town. I appreciated that so, so much, and it was so nice to have her company too. Thanks Mom.

– The promise of autumn. I’m gettin’ pretty sick of this record-breaking summer heat, and it’s a happy thought that autumn’s just around the corner!

– Datura flowers in a vase to scent the night air in the house.

– A moon bath on the back yard grass, under that incredible full moon!

– Making yogurt in the solar oven. Turned out great! (Boiled the milk in it, then brought it back up onto the porch and the jar incubated with the residual heat.)

– A new nighttime bug sound around our place. To me it’s the sound of muggy nights in Los Angeles, so it evokes the feeling of vacation!

– Sweet tenderness and affection from F. How he loves me and always makes sure I know that. ♥

– The gentle rain that’s falling as I write this out on the back porch. We haven’t had rain in so long!

– Sitting outside after dark with F, soaking in the evening.

– Playing the piano at 11pm. #1 because we have a piano (!) and #2 because we don’t have to be quiet since we no longer share walls or floors with anyone!!

– Setting glass bowls and vases of water outside to soak up the light and energy of the full moon. Drinking some of it the next day, and setting the rest around the house.

– A nice bike ride to the store with F yesterday; it righted my mood and it’s always fun going on errands together.

***

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How about you? What are some of the nice things that have happened to you this week?

*****

~ I’m once again joining Taryn over at Wooly Moss Roots in her Gratitude Sunday tradition. ~

Gratitude Sunday is a time to slow down and remember those thankful moments that graced our week. One reason I love keeping a daily gratitude journal is because it helps keep things in perspective for me. Each Sunday, I open my journal and share some of those moments with you here. If you’d like to join in, just leave a comment!

Gratitude is powerful energy. I love hearing others’ gratitudes!

***

♥

– Doing yard work together with F on a perfect summer evening. I’m glad we both got to be outdoors on that evening, and things looked so great when we were done; what a feeling of satisfaction!

– Brushing my cat, outside, while singing to her. These are three of her very favorite things and it was hilarious to watch how she adored it so much she could hardly stand it all!

– And while we’re on the subject, I’m so thankful for discovering raw food for her. Her diet is probably 80 or 90% raw, supplemented by favorite table scraps like grilled chicken, edamame, scraps of bread, corn on the cob, etc. Sometimes some high-quality kibbles to fill in the gaps or get some extra water into her (we mix kibbles with water to make “gravy” that she loves). But the difference in her energy level since switching to raw food a couple years ago has been really significant. She went back to having her kitten energy. She went back to flying through the house like a crazed wild-woman on Sunday mornings. (Why Sundays, we’ll never know, but she’s been doing that since she was just a wee kitten.) She is twelve years old but you’d never guess it and she’s very healthy. I’m just so glad to have found out about raw cat food.

– Getting two moneymaking projects done and off my shoulders! That feels much lighter!

– Taking leisurely solo walks at dusk every night this week; I absolutely love these. Dusk is my favorite time of day, and walking always clears my head.

– Feeling so happy in our new home, in this neighborhood.

– Blue jays calling in the distance. I love that sound. I love this time of the year, when there are hints of autumn in the air, and the weather is warm and perfect.

– Harvesting garden goodies!

– Annie’s mac-n-cheese. Under normal circumstances I’d regard it as a definite compromise food… something I wouldn’t buy or make, really. But when the antibiotic-induced nausea gets really bad and nothing sounds good and nothing will stay down, I cook up 1/4 of a box of Annie’s and it will often actually settle my stomach, and at least fills the hole and quells my hunger.

– Doing all my moneymaking work outside on the back porch. What a great work environment!

– Finding it easier to accept low-energy “convalescent” days because I now have the most wonderful places to hang out and rest. In our apartment (bless its heart, it was a lovely little space, but I did feel quite trapped inside it… apartment living is really not for me, especially if I’m sick!!), I would dip into depression very quickly when I was feeling not-so-hot. Which propelled me to get “out and about” if I could, to help combat that. But getting out and about used up precious energy and I’d often over-do it which probably worked against my body’s healing. I had to stay sane and mentally well (it’s essential, and maybe even more important than feeling physically well!), but it does come at a physical price. I do have trouble with over-doing it, hehe, but at least here at our new home, I can have a hang-low day and it doesn’t negatively affect my mental state! That is really pretty huge… and something I’m ever so thankful for. If you’re sick, my biggest wish for you is love and support from your family, and a healing environment where you don’t get depressed while your body tries to heal itself.

– Perfect temperatures and gorgeous weather lately!

– Garden food. Tomatoes with flavor!! Eating cucumbers two seconds off the vine! Harvesting potatoes which go straight into foil on the grill.

– My solar oven, which makes cooking really fun, saves heating up the kitchen, and saves electricity! F and I just love that thing.

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What’s on your gratitudes list this week?

*****

~ I’m once again joining Taryn over at Wooly Moss Roots in her Gratitude Sunday tradition. ~

Gratitude Sunday is a time to slow down and remember those thankful moments that graced our week. One reason I love keeping a daily gratitude journal is because it helps keep things in perspective for me. Each Sunday, I open my journal and share some of those moments with you here. If you’d like to join in, just leave a comment!

Gratitude is powerful energy. I love hearing others’ gratitudes!

***

♥

– Having Sunday nights not be anxiety-inducing and filled with dread, as they were when I was in school and then later working a 9-5 job. Sunday nights are now restful…peaceful…

– Having a hang-low weekend at home with my Honey, F, simply enjoying our new home together. It felt great. ♥ We love it.

– Doing my moneymaking work outside on the back porch in the shade of our pole beans, on the most gorgeous evenings of the year! This is something I’ve dreamed of doing, and I can’t believe I’m actually doing it!

– Practically living outside. Going inside only for food, water, and bathroom! This makes me so happy 🙂

– Cooler weather, and hints of autumn. It’ll get hot again but this break has been great.

– Solar cooking so much stuff! We haven’t turned on the oven or stove since we moved in, apart from heating water for tea and a couple other small things. All cooking has been done in the solar oven, with a few things on the grill. I completely love it!

– Crickets. I can’t imagine a summer night without crickets!

– My Honey. I love him so ♥

– Hanging out on our lush, private front porch together, reading. This is all such a contrast from the apartment we moved out of; what a gift.

–  A couple of rest days and a good night’s sleep to help me fight off a cold I was getting.

– Taking a little walk at dusk yesterday. And feeling safe while doing that. A huge and wonderful thing. This neighborhood is so much better!

– The smell of fabric after it’s been on the clothesline in the sunshine all day.

What’s on your gratitude list from this past week?

*****

~ I’m once again joining Taryn over at Wooly Moss Roots in her Gratitude Sunday tradition. ~

Gratitude Sunday is a time to slow down and remember those thankful moments that graced our week. One reason I love keeping a daily gratitude journal is because it helps keep things in perspective for me. Each Sunday, I open my journal and share some of those moments with you here. If you’d like to join in, just leave a comment!

Gratitude is powerful energy. I love hearing others’ gratitudes!

***

♥

– I’m so grateful to be at our new house! I just love it. Love it!!!

– For the internet connection that F has magically been able to cobble together for me. They don’t hook up our phone or internet for another couple days, so I’ve been really appreciating the internet when I have it, especially for the time-sensitive moneymaking work I needed to get out. Thank you honey!!!

– And also, for the time unplugged. It’s been peaceful without the phone ringing (though I’ll really appreciate it when we have it), and also a welcome break from the ‘net.

– Transforming terrible, tasteless fruit into something delicious, simply by cooking it. It always amazes me.

– Cooking everything in the solar oven since we’ve moved in! Cookies, quinoa, plums, peaches, lentils, an egg, more quinoa, tea, garlic rosemary potatoes, and a steak (which we’ll have to try again, since the clouds rolled in).

– Gardening at dusk with the crickets and cicadas. How peaceful.

– That F knew just what to do to troubleshoot the hot water heater when it stopped working! I love how we each have our own areas of expertise, and putting our brains together, we can pretty much tackle anything.

– Our beautiful new kitchen. It’s such a pleasure to work in.

– The Olympics!! I love watching the Olympics!!!

– Being moved in. It was a lot of effort and thought and energy output to move. I’m really glad it’s over and we’re getting settled now. Things are still feeling messy and chaotic (except the kitchen — that was the first priority), but soon it’ll be much better.

– Having our own private outdoor space. Ahhhhhh… it feels so so sooo good.

– Tea in the garden.

– Moonlight flooding in the big southside windows.

– Setting up our home! What fun!

– My sweet little kitty companion, who kindly supervises my moneymaking work.

***

How have you felt blessed this past week?

*****

~ I’m once again joining Taryn over at Wooly Moss Roots in her Gratitude Sunday tradition. ~

Gratitude Sunday is a time to slow down and remember those thankful moments that graced our week. One reason I love keeping a daily gratitude journal is because it helps keep things in perspective for me. Each Sunday, I open my journal and share some of those moments with you here. If you’d like to join in, just leave a comment!

Gratitude is powerful energy. I love hearing others’ gratitudes!

***

~

– Cool, fresh night air after a rain storm.

– Crickets close to the open window.

– A bath.

– Finding freshly fallen apricots on the sidewalk to satisfy my hunger during an outing.

– Slow mornings when I need them. Sometimes it takes a while to get my energy going. It’s so nice not to have to force it in order to show up at a job.

– Stumbling upon a fascinating documentary on PBS called “Summer Pasture” about a young, nomadic Tibetan family with an infant daughter. We were riveted.

– A nice week. Fairly chaotic with all the packing and details associated with moving, but still a nice week.

– Making good headway in packing up everything and cleaning this place. I’m especially thankful for the coincidental discovery of a bunch of good moving boxes and packing material in a nearby alley, and my mom for transporting it to our apartment. Thank you Mom! They have been invaluable.

– My garden and how it’s doing so well…

– Those incredible garden tomatoes! Sliced garden tomato, organic avocado, sea salt. OMG!

– Seeing, again, a family friend from New Zealand who my mom has known for 40 years. It was so nice to see him again, even for just a short time.

– Birds singing. It was eerily quiet this morning when I awoke, and I realized how much I cherish the constant background of birdsong, even if I’m not always consciously aware of it.

– My family’s great appreciation of my garden produce. It warms my heart that they all love it so much.

What about you? What has been on your gratitude list this week?

*****