Be Thankful

When you arise in the morning, give thanks for the morning light,
for your life and strength. Give thanks for your food and the joy
of living. If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies in yourself.

Tecumseh

This year at Mabon I had a lot to be thankful for as I harvested the fruit of many years of hard work.  I am so grateful to have welcomed so many wonderful people into my life as I begin this my Autumn stage.

The other day  one of the workers came into our group and gave each of us  $20 worth of coupons for the Farmer's Market.  It was a donation from the New York City Department of Aging.  It made me realize just how grateful I am to have found this little place to come to every day.  I'm grateful to all the nice people I have met and cherish each one of them for the friendship they offered me.  They have taught me that there is life after retirement and the importance of reaching out for it. And as I watched Betty, age 94,  do her thing on the dance floor at last week's party, I realized that one is never too old to have fun. What a beautiful woman she is!

I am grateful that they have offered me a chance to give back what they have freely given to me.  I've been offered a volunteer position with the opportunity to come up with some kind of group. I originally thought of  group devoted to talking about our ancestors and learning how to research their family tree, but then I realized that many of them may not have a computer.  The center does have several computers on which they give lessons Thursday afternoon.  I suppose I could ask if I could have use for them in an 11 am slot for our research.  There are plenty of free sites available to get them started, and I can always help with look up something with my Ancestry subscription.

I also thought of buying a couple of Trivia games.  Not only are they fun, but they also help to keep the mind sharp. There are also several online sites that offer trivia options as well.  Any suggestions from you gals and guys?  

I can't believe how excited I am, and it just made me realize.  I may have been dissatisfied with my job, but I felt productive, and that is something I still need in my life.  Hubby made me laugh when I told him.  Whenever I was sent to a training at work, he always said, "That is a good thing to put on your resume."  So, when I told him about the possibility of doing some volunteer work, he said, "That's great. Volunteer work always looks good on your resume."  "What resume?" I responded.  "Have you forgotten that I have retired?" It was just too funny, and both of us laughed.  How used to things we become and how hard it is to let them go.

Be thankful! 

Be thankful that you don't already have everything you desire.

If you did, what would there be to look forward to?

Be thankful when you don't know something,

for it gives you the opportunity to learn.

Be thankful for the difficult times.

During those times you grow.

Be thankful for your limitations,

because they give you opportunities for improvement.

Be thankful for each new challenge,

because it will build your strength and character.

Be thankful for your mistakes.

They will teach you valuable lessons.

Be thankful when you're tired and weary,

because it means you've made a difference.

It's easy to be thankful for the good things.

A life of rich fulfillment comes to those who

are also thankful for the setbacks.

Gratitude can turn a negative into a positive.

Find a way to be thankful for your troubles,

and they can become your blessings.

Author Unknown

Atlantic City

Be not afraid of life. Believe that
life is worth living and your
belief will help create the fact.

William James

 

Here we are as we approach Atlantic City.  By now I'd had enough of the bus and was aching to stretch my legs...and hoping I could still get up.  You know, when we reach a certain age, we really tend to stiffen up.

Although I had a great time on our trip last week, but am up in the air about heading back this month.  The weather is changing, and unlike the others, I don't go to spend the entire day in a casino.  I love getting out in the air, and spent over two hours outdoors last week. It was an odd sort of day on the boardwalk, and in-between time. not yet cold and no longer hot. Some people were dressed in heavy coats, others like myself were in a sweater, and still others were not yet ready to give up on summer and walked around in skimpy summer clothes, including a few with bathing suits. It made me cold just looking at them.

Here we are as we get closer to our destination...but this is not the casino where we were headed.

The Taj Mahal.  A gorgeous place, but be careful of the ladies' room.  What a shame!  Women can be so messy. But, you would also think that in a place like this, the bathrooms would be better kept.  Wouldn't you expect to find an attendant in the bathroom?

A sure sign of the changing seasons.  The amusement park is closed. Gone was the gaity of carnival music, the excited laughter of children, the rides, the lights, the arcade games.  All closed up and silent. A ghost town. Only a few stands selling food remained open on the boardwalk. In the background you can catch a glimpse of the ocean, but I could not get any closer. There was a locked fence blocking the path. 

Only the seagulls remained, eager to salvage the last of the tiny morsels and crumbs before the stands boarded up closed for the upcoming winter season. And scavengers they are....

Couldn't resist the above photo.  I only wish it had come out a little better.  It's hard shooting photos with the glare of the sun baring down on the phone. 

After flexing his muscle and very noisily chasing off all his buddies , this little guy, the bully of the group,  sat with me through my entire lunch. When I wasn't looking, I could see him out of the corner of my eye eagerly staring at my burger, and as soon as I turned his way, he would turn away as if he could care less about me. And speaking of lunch....

Not very healthy, I know, but boy, is that ever a cheeseburger. And finally...

As we made our way home, the Harvest Moon in the background. Life sure is good.

It is a glorious privilege to live, to know, to act, to listen, to behold,to love. To look up at the blue summer sky; to see the sun sink slowly

beyond the line of the horizon; to watch the worlds come twinkling into
view, first one by one, and the myriads that no man can count, and lo!
the universe is white with them; and you and I are here.

Marco Morrow

Monday Morning This and That

Summer ends, and Autumn comes, and he who would have it otherwise would have high tide always and a full moon every night; and thus he would never know the rhythms that are at the heart of life. 

Hal Borland

Happy first full day of Autumn.  The day is cool and crisp with promises of blue skies and a gentle breeze.

I decided to stay in yesterday.  Didn't go to church.  I've not been feeling up to par.  I always get this way at the time of the year, that feeling that a cold is coming on, yet it never seems to come.  I know it is fall allergies, but this year, I have also felt especially chilled.  I am not dealing with the weather changes as well as I usually do.  I am guessing that in a way it is good news because it means my thyroid medication is working, and my Graves Disease has been stabilized.  When your thyroid is hyper, everything else is hyper as well, and I had a rough time dealing with the heat in summer, but adjusted well in the fall. Couldn't understand why everyone else was complaining about being chilled.  Now I do. 

Ran all my errands on Saturday.  I live in elastic waist pants.  Can't stand anything tight on my waist.  Elastic may be tight, but it does expand when one sits.  I'm not talking about those skinny stretchy pants that seem to exaggerate every curve and bulge.  I wouldn't dare go out in them.  No, these are a more conservative stretchy pant, and I have been searching for them for several years now. I keep mending mine and hoping to find them, but, no luck, until Saturday.  I FOUND THEM. Bought them in every color and plan on going back to buy more.  Never know when I will find them again.

Afterwards I headed to the fruit stand, and it sure is looking and smelling a lot like fall. Apples everywhere.

Although you can still find a few melons and a special kind of plum...

Some nice tomatoes and grapes.  Those little green grapes are so yummy I could sit and eat a pound in one sitting.

A few of the fresh vegetables.  You can actually find anything you want here.  It is a tremendous store.

It's funny how old habits die hard.  Last night as I was watching the final show of 'Dexter' I suddenly found myself saying, 'I don't want to go'. Before I retired, that was my regular Sunday night saying.  It had become so ingrained that sometimes I found myself just blurting it out.  In a comment yesterday Debra from She Who Seeks reminded me that this Mabon I was  reaping my own harvest after a lifetime of toil...and it was a lifetime.  My first job was working in a small diner in our neighborhood.  I was 15 years old.  I retired when I was 66.  That's a lot of years. And, yes, it is definitely a time to reap. 

Speaking of Mabon, we had a quiet Mabon, just hubby and I.  I made  some low sodium chicken parmesan and baked ziti, some real pig out food.   Not really a harvest meal, but, poor hubby had all of his top teeth removed on Friday, and I've been cooking soft foods since then.  It's quite a shame that it had to happen.  Hubby always had such beautiful teeth, but with age, he had contracted gum disease, and his old dentist had played it down. When he went to a new dentist, we found out it was too late, and the teeth had to come out. It's really a shame when you trust someone because they are SUPPOSED to be a professional, and they let you down. 

Wishing you all a fantastic first full day of Autumn.

Magnificent Autumn! He comes not like a pilgrim, clad in russet weeds. He comes not like a hermit, clad in gray. But he comes like a warrior, with the stain of blood upon his brazen mail. His crimson scarf is rent.... The wind.... wafts to us the odor of forest leaves, that hang wilted on the dripping branches, or drop into the stream. Their gorgeous tints are gone, as if the autumnal rains had washed them out. Orange, yellow, and scarlet, all are changed to one melancholy russet hue.... There is a melancholy and continual roar in the tops of the tall pines.... It is the funeral anthem of the dying year. 

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Mabon Blessings

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun; Conspiring with him how to load and bless With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run; To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees, And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core; To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells With a sweet kernel; to set budding more, And still more, later flowers for the bees, Until they think warm days will never cease, For summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells. Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store? Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find Thee sitting careless on a granary floor, Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind; Or on a half-reap'd furrow sound asleep, Drowsed with the fume of poppies, while thy hook Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers: And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep Steady thy laden head across a brook; Or by a cider-press, with patient look, Thou watchest the last oozings, hours by hours. Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they? Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,-- While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day, And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue; Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn Among the river sallows, borne aloft Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies; And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn; Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft The redbreast whistles from a garden-croft, And gathering swallows twitter in the skies. - See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15565#sthash.HDd15CRF.dpuf

To Autumn

1.
Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
        Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
    Conspiring with him how to load and bless
        With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
    To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees,
        And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
          To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
        With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
    And still more, later flowers for the bees,
  Until they think warm days will never cease,
          For Summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells.

2.
  Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?
      Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find
  Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,
      Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;
  Or on a half-reap'd furrow sound asleep,
      Drows'd with the fume of poppies, while thy hook
          Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers:
  And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep
      Steady thy laden head across a brook;
      Or by a cyder-press, with patient look,
          Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.

3.
  Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?
      Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,—
  While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,
      And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;
  Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn
      Among the river sallows, borne aloft
          Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;
  And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;
      Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft
      The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft;
          And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.

John Keats

Wishing you all the blessings of Mabon. 

Friday Morn

Wow, it's Friday of what turned out to be a very busy week, and it is definitely a hooky day.  I need some rest.  I've been running about like a mad woman this week, and a little recuperation is in order.  Yesterday, the center was so busy that they serve two tiers of  lunches. Many were there for the Harvest Festival, and those that were not were there for the Chinese Mid-Autumn or Moon Festival--Moon Cake Day. And I finally had an opportunity to try one.  Actually it was very good, although a bit too sweet for my taste.

After lunch we were treated to a show of traditional Chinese dancers and some of the Asian members of the center produced a little play that educated on the meaning of this festival which dates back over 3,000 years.  The ancient Chinese were very observant of the movement of the moon, and this festival celebrates the Harvest moon when the crops have been gathered and the heavy work of the summer harvest has been completed as a celebration of thankfulness for heaven's bounty. This is a time of gathering for family and friends, and moon cakes filled with ground lotus and sesame seeds are given as gifts. 

Afterward, it was home for a quiet evening.  Did not get out to see the Harvest Moon, sadly. Wasn't really feeling so well.  Autumn allergies have been kicking my butt.   My stew was delicious, and I chose to serve it over some rice with my  favorite little sandwich thins.  I've grown to love these little Arnold rounds.  This time I chose whole wheat, but I love them all, and I can have a sandwich without an exorbitant amount of sodium.

One day I will learn how to make food photos look more appetizing. I promise.

And, now I am off to dig out some of my flannel jammies. It's actually been quite chilly at night, not that I am complaining.  This is my favorite time of the year.  Wishing you all a wonderful joy filled weekend.  

"I know the year is dying,
Soon the summer will be dead.
I can trace it in the flying
Of the black crows overhead;
I can hear it in the rustle
Of the dead leaves as I pass,
And the south wind's plaintive sighing
Through the dry and withered grass.

Ah, 'tis then I love to wander,
Wander idly and alone,
Listening to the solemn music
Of sweet nature's undertone;
Wrapt in thoughts I cannot utter,
Dreams my tongue cannot express,
Dreams that match the autumn's sadness
In their longing tenderness."

Mortimer Crane Brown

Harvest Moon

 It is the Harvest Moon!  On gilded vanes
  And roofs of villages, on woodland crests
  And their aerial neighborhoods of nests
  Deserted, on the curtained window-panes
Of rooms where children sleep, on country lanes
  And harvest-fields, its mystic splendor rests!
  Gone are the birds that were our summer guests,
  With the last sheaves return the laboring wains!
All things are symbols: the external shows
  Of Nature have their image in the mind,
  As flowers and fruits and falling of the leaves;
The song-birds leave us at the summer's close,
  Only the empty nests are left behind,
  And pipings of the quail among the sheaves.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I had a great time yesterday. I didn't come home rich, but one can't expect to make much when they are only playing the quarter slots. Actually, I spent most of my time on the penny credits, bit spender that I am.  The weather was fantastic this time, and I spent a lot of time walking along the boardwalk. There is nothing like that  smell of that salt air. I have some pictures to share, but probably not until next week.  I have to transfer them from phone to email to blog.  Takes time. 

This afternoon we are having a Harvest Moon Festival at the center. It should be fun, and it will definitely set the stage for my own Harvest Moon celebration.Actually, the Harvest Moon arrived at 7:13 am, but heck, that wasn't a good time for viewing.  The menu I have planned for tonight includes a hearty Autumn beef stew with  carrots, onions and potatoes, turnip greens, wild rice, and a slice of apple pie.  I am hoping I can find some cider. 

Afterwards, it will be time to dig into my new harvest candles (it has been hard to wait) and hopefully get a view of the moon, maybe even a picture...that's if I feel like going back outdoors.  That would mean I had to stay dressed, and, oh how I love coming home and changing into my lounging clothes.

I found the following little ritual for letting go that I wanted to share with you.  It has appeared on a few sites, and I have no idea of it's origin.  It calls for some Autumn leaves, but that doesn't seem too promising here. 
Leaves are still green and clinging to the trees.

Find some autumn leaves, and mark on each one a symbol to represent what has been weighing on you.(for example a dollar sign for money issues). Meditate and focus on the issue, then burn or bury the leave to symbolize the release of all it represents. This ritual can be very liberating!"

Off to Atlantic City

Well, I  am off to Atlantic City again today. This time around it is about 20 degrees cooler so I should be able to spend more time on the boardwalk. Most of the others spend their entire day in the casino, but I look for more out of my day.The slots are fun, but there is so much more to see, and I am totally aware that I could easily fall victim to spending more than I planned. Last time as we waited for our bus to arrive I heard so many tales of woe.  I am not going to be one of them.

Wishing you all a great day.  Talk to you tomorrow.