this is my one true calling pic.twitter.com/YDOm8dE3kG
— Raccoons?? (@raccooons) October 4, 2018
What I’m grateful for this week is the pleasure of re-discovering books I first enjoyed many years ago… and also, the ease of internet shopping. Some time ago, I decided to start purging my fiction collection; so far I haven’t actually reduced the number of volumes significantly (donated all but my two favorite Catherine Airds, added the couple dozen Robert Barnards I didn’t already own) but at least I’ve shifted the content around a bit. It’s somehow very freeing to realize, given the internet, I no longer need to hang on to novels I won’t read again for another twenty years, because if I change my mind, I can hunt down a replacement from the comfort of my pajamas.
What one good thing are you grateful for, this week?
Major Major Major Major
I’m grateful that I have good friends willing to take my plants, which have significant sentimental value.
David Anderson
I am grateful that a paper got accepted and the final edits are done. It should go live by the end of the year.
trollhattan
That’s a lot of damn raccoons! Hope for his sake bears don’t decide they too lurve the recorder.
geg6
I am grateful that my friend Sharon’s husband survived a bad fall from their roof, breaking his pelvis in three places. He’s currently in ICU, but in no danger. As high as their roof is, I’m shocked he didn’t break his back or neck.
tobie
The snake occupying my compost left and I don’t have to worry about it any longer when dumping kitchen scraps.
Major Major Major Major
@David Anderson: congrats!
bookdragon
I’m grateful my old dog is back to being able to climb the stairs after several weeks of physical therapy. Also, grateful to be back home after a lot of travel for work.
Dorothy A. Winsor
I’m grateful I’m economically secure. There’s so much good fortune that went into that.
Jager
I guess I’m grateful I didn’t win the lottery and have contend with the the difficulties that plague a 1%er
Another Scott
@trollhattan: They’re hugely fat, also too!!
I’m sincerely grateful that the world and my neighborhood hasn’t fully blowd up, yet.
12 days to go!!
Cheers,
Scott.
Bishop Bag
I got to go see Willie Nelson perform for two nights in Las Vegas last weekend! Willie is 85 years old and his voice is not as strong as it once was but he and his family put on two wonderful, fun shows. Don’t know how long he will be around but I am so grateful that I was able to see him.
narya
I’ve been reading a local blogger for a very long time (mimi smartypants, if you want to hunt her down), and I follow her on twitter. Today she wrote a long, beautiful post about her teenage son–who is transitioning (we’ve all known the kid as a daughter until today), and the love and acceptance and embracing the kid for who he is has made my day infinitely better. I work with a lot of LGBTQ folks, and so many of them have NOT experienced that love & acceptance, so this spark of love makes me grateful even though i know none of these folks IRL.
Tom Levenson
I’m grateful for two by-chance dinner parties over the last week. Two couples whom we really like who are mostly based far away turned up in town and at the last minute asked if we could get together. Fed them both, spoke into the night, had smart talk to carry us along, just lovely.
These days, with the sense that so much of the idea of community is being deliberately shredded to have that happen Friday and Tuesday is just a gift.
Good eats too.
OzarkHillbilly
Autumn.
peej01
I’m grateful that college basketball season is starting this week so I have something to distract me from the political news.
delk
Three weeks down in an expected six week post-surgery recovery. Half way done and feeling good! Went to the doctor’s office this morning by myself and even took public transportation!
arrieve
I think I’m finally on the road to recovery after getting very sick in Africa last month. And that I am lucky enough to have health insurance as I start to see the bills come in. I want everyone in this country to be that lucky. If Rwanda can have universal health care, so can we.
Litlebritdifrnt
I know I sound like a broken record but I am eternally grateful that my family strong armed myself and my husband to move back to the UK. Despite the problems we are having with the damned immigration system, I wake up every morning grateful to be here, grateful to be back in the arms of my family and grateful to be living in this wonderful country.
Nelle
Gorgeous weather here in NE Kansas. Severe clear, wall to wall blue – two pilot terms for absolutely clear skies. Lovely sunsets, lovely sunrises. I’m recovering from hip surgery and walking more comfortably for the first time in a year and a half.
And my surgeon, young, handsome, charismatic, isn’t a pain to visit either.
Butch
That the two-week-old kitten that my dog found huddled in our wood pile (Woody, for how he came to us) is now five weeks old, pouncing and leaping and purring, loving his doggie friends and his older kitteh “cousins,” and learning to make a huge mess as we switch from the bottle to solid food. He’s asleep next to the wood stove right now.
Alabama Blue Dot
I am grateful that my daughter is divorcing her turned-out-to-be-an-asshole husband, cleaning out a year’s worth of trash from her house (and 2 years of trash from her life).
trollhattan
@Nelle:
Often made the October pilgrimage to NW Iowa for gram’s birthday and was always treated to amazing weather and naturally, sweeping vistas from atop the little lumps they call “hills.” If only the winters and summers were as nice.
ArchTeryxArchTeryx
Just grateful to be still alive when it looked like Trump and the Republicans would repeal MY right to life, i.e. Obamacare.
My inspiration to write my novel came largely from that piece of really, really good luck.
Elizabelle
@arrieve: Good to hear. Look forward to some Rwanda pics!
@Butch: What a sweet story. Woody pics too!
JPL
@Butch: That is such good news.
Butch
@JPL: @Elizabelle: I tried to take a picture and got a “memory full” notice on the GoPro! He’s a little orange fluffball with blue eyes; today he learned how to climb up the side of the couch.
Emma
Last Sunday would have been my mother’s 85th birthday. I am grateful that my dad, my sister, my BIL and I got together to celebrate her life, eat her favorite birthday foods (pizza and cheesecake), and tell Mami stories. She’s left a big hole in our lives but she left us with so many wonderful memories. Mourning would have been so wrong.
Nelle
@trollhattan: Yes, we’re getting at least a week of autumn this year. Spring was about three hours. Snow the first three Sundays of April and hitting 100’s be early May.
Waynski
I’m grateful there are no racoons in my life. When I was a teenager, they were always knocking over our garbage cans and I was the one that had to run the rabid bastids off and clean up their mess. I HATE racoons.
scav
The pumpkins — actual proper pie pumpkins — our neighbor grows across the street had a very good year so we’re getting extras. So good roasted that probably no pies will be achieved, just add some butter and off you go. And then the pepitas.
cope
Grateful that the miracle(?) of the internet let me check to see that our mail-in ballots that I turned in Monday were checked in by our county elections board and that eventually, I will be able to see that they have been counted.
Cheryl from Maryland
Grateful for Project Gutenberg, Gutenberg.com, where I can download most 19th c books for free, thus clearing up important shelf space. Also that there is a Habitat for Humanity Home Store near me which will take the 19th c books I purge.
Mnemosyne
@Nelle:
We must have the same surgeon. ? It definitely makes follow-up visits less annoying even though I know I’m just a ligament to him. ?
One of my favorite essays was by a happily married woman who developed a harmless crush on her Scottish periodontist when she had to have some fairly extensive work done on her gums. The crush helped her keep all of her appointments and kept her mind occupied while she was in the chair, so it was actually a helpful coping mechanism for going through an annoying and sometimes painful process.
Mnemosyne
I’m grateful that I was able to get tickets to see Dear Evan Hanson at the Ahmanson tonight — I’m super excited! ?
I’m trying to stay away from spoilers, so don’t tell me anything about it if you’ve seen it.
kindness
What are those raccoons eating?
Major Major Major Major
@Butch: yay!
Lee
This week I’m grateful that the roofers are finally here to install a new roof. We’ve been having a lot of rain here in North Texas and each time the rain comes more damage to the interior (never a lot just a little here and there).
The roofers are just about done and the painters have arrived to start fixing the water damage.
Ladyraxterinok
Grateful for basically good health (78 with mildish rheumatoid arthritis) and good pension.
JustRuss
Grateful for my new (to me) home. Better location, more space, and a garage for the motorsickle, just as the rainy season kicks off.
ET
Heron Farms twitter feed. They are doing a daily puppy in homemade Halloween costumes. Oh and pictures of goats.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
Family is always an easy go-to for gratitude, my amazing beloved wife of nearly 40 years and my two awesome daughters. My siblings are all pretty cool too. Unfortunately we’re very scattered and don’t see each other often.
We usually see everyone at Thanksgiving but it looks like the sibs all have their own plans, so we won’t be hosting a crowd for the first time in years. On the bright side, we’ll see both kids which rarely happens, as the older daughter has decided she’s hosting (we of course didn’t get a vote).
Cowgirl in the Sandi
I’m so grateful that I live in California. For many years we lived in other, lesser states where we never felt really comfortable. Finally, about 20 years ago we moved to California and we just love it. The beautiful diversity of landscape and people amaze me every day. As my husband says, ‘we were always Californians. It just took us a while to get here.”
Tazj
My husband just had a new security system installed in our house and it seems like it’s a new toy for him. A few nights ago he texted me at 12:45am(he works nights) to tell me that there was a raccoon in our backyard. Then, a few minutes later, “And it’s fat!”
@Emma: How wonderful! That’s the way I think of my mother now with joyful memories. She was such a fantastic person and I’m grateful we had her as long as we did.
Gator90
My wife and I are seeing Bob Dylan tonight. He is 77 but still kicks ass by most accounts. I’m grateful for the opportunity to spend a couple hours with a legend and forget about politics for a bit.
I’m even more grateful for my wife and the little rowdy reptiles.
Mrs. D. Ranged in AZ
Now those are some round raccoons!
I’m grateful for the garage sales that come with Fall in AZ and the sense of starting over. I’d been sleeping on an old creaky antique bed that was too short for me since the divorce in April. So I stumbled across a nice couple who were moving out of state and selling everything they owned. I got a queen sized log bed and like new box spring for a steal. I’ve a few more weekends of sanding and staining it before it is ready for assembly and usage, but in the meantime I’m perfectly content to sleep on a new mattress on the floor.
Mrs. D. Ranged in AZ
I’m stuck in moderation and I have no idea why.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
In other news, I have at least a theoretical chance of seeing Chadwick Boseman (of Black Panther fame) in person. They are filming at least some of 17 Bridges here in Philly at a street corner I spend a lot of time around, 20th and Sansom. I’m told that last week they dressed up all the store fronts and street signage to look like a corner in Brooklyn. Was walking around there last night and didn’t see anything but a bunch of film crew pulling cables and doing miscellaneous film crew stuff. That’s kind of been my experience in the past when running across film and TV locations on the street.
Yutsano
I’m grateful that in a few hours I’ll be on a plane to Minneapolis.I’ll be crashing there then on to Milwaukee Thursday morning. And I might not be on much. At least that’s the plan…
Middlelee
Children’s books. The Secret Garden which I’ve read at least 8 times and Elizabeth Enright’s books which I read for the first time this month thanks to Gretchen Rubin’s blog. For some reason we could not go unescorted to the children’s section in our library and I was a latch key kid so was alone in the afternoons. I missed so many books but it’s fun to discover them in my 70s. Especially now with the horror show in DC when I need an escape to good people in a good world.
BlueGirlFromWyo
I’m grateful to my late father-in-law for the inherited plot of land for which we received a substantial offer on Monday. The sale won’t be final for six months but if all holds, we’ll have a lot more flexibility in our lives because of this bequest.
BC in Illinois
Grateful for happy conversations among the family.
Daughter tells her nieces that she’s engaged to be married.
D: So you will have a new uncle.
N1: And new cousins!
N2: _________! They’re just getting married. They don’t have any kids.
N1: Not yet! NEW COUSINS!
Niece/G’daughter #1 is the younger of the two. The last time I drove them, strapped into their carseats in the back, she talked non-stop for 20 minutes, while her older sister quietly read a book. Good times.
Doug R
When eight raccoons got together in our old place, there was a gang fight.
C Stars
I’m grateful for my mom friend up the street who also has young children but has somehow managed to dedicate her every waking hour for the last two years to organizing for the resistance (while also parenting her kids). She’s running on fumes right now but has just purchased tickets to GOTV in a crucial Michigan election next weekend. Gotta make that lady a casserole!
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@BC in Illinois: I love driving kids, especially if they have friends in the car with them. When they reach middle school and high school age and no longer respond to direct questions from adults, they will chat uninhibitedly amongst themselves in the back seat as if the driver is an unhearing robot. You learn a LOT about their lives, their friends, their concerns, etc., that way.
Barbara
@Gator90: Along the same lines, I am grateful that my husband took the initiative to get us tickets to see Paul Simon recently. He played for two hours and 20 minutes, pretty much non-stop, doing material that was old, new and newish, backed up by superlative musicians.
JustRuss
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: Heh, I used to chauffeur my daughter and friends to activities, and my wife was always amazed how much I knew about what they were up to. I’d just keep my mouth shut and in two minutes they’d forget I was there and spill all kinds of juicy secrets.
Elizabelle
@Yutsano: Your wording, my jet setting friend.
But happy travels!
schrodingers_cat
Good friends of ours are coming to visit the weekend after the elections. So either we will be celebrating or commiserating. But either ways we will have great company.
Miss Bianca
I am grateful that I have my ballot and blue book in front of me, and still some time to figure out my votes.
Manyakitty
Still most thankful for my three furry little physicists, whose purring, antics, and unabashed love keep me going. Also, I have a great job, with coworkers and bosses who accept my rather odd self.
BC in Illinois
@Ceci n est pas mon nym:
@JustRuss:
On driving Grandkids: What was amazing to me was that after driving three g’kids (from two households), I could tell my daughter and daughter-in-law stories about how things were going at their children’s school that they didn’t know.
You just have to keep your mouth shut.
Kay (not the front-pager)
@kindness: Pretty sure the recorderist (is that a word?) spread dog kibble before he started to play.
Haroldo
I am grateful for a healthy, reasonably happy daughter.
chopper
i am grateful that the music i play doesn’t attract raccoons.
JGabriel
Anne Laurie @ Top:
I’m grateful that there were no injuries, maimings, casualties, or fatalities so far (knock on wood) from the Conservative/Right-Wing/Republican BOMBS that were sent to the Clintons, the Obamas, George Soros, CNN, Debbie Wassserman Schultz, Andrew Cuomo, and the no doubt forthcoming targets who haven’t been reported on yet.
Mnemosyne
@Middlelee:
The “Anne of Green Gables” series still holds up very well, IMO. She’s my favorite of LM Montgomery’s heroines because she clearly has ADHD, just like me. ?
Avalune
Pretty obvious what I’d be thankful for – that I’m in a smelly hospital instead of a bleak funeral home. I’m also super happy my kid is home.
J R in WV
I too am grateful for Music of all sorts. Just lately we’ve seen Buddy Guy, who is 82 or 83 and touring, still. He was just back from Japan, and with some help walked up the aisle of the hall playing and singing right beside me, then across the back of the hall and back up to the stage. A great show.
Then we saw the local orchestra perform Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto, the first show of the season, a wonderful evening.
Then we saw Melissa Etheridge just last week, and the crowd was so wildly varied. From plain old country folks to blue and pink haired folks, all deliriously happy to be there to see and hear an icon for their lives. She still rocks, obviously. We old folks, we sure have seen some big changes so far. I hope and expect we will be able to continue those changes for the better.
Grateful for the music. All the good music. [Well, not Nugent, but that isn’t very good music at all.] One of the good things about seeing a great musician is that they attract other great musicians to perform with them. Lots of great musicians aren’t yet that well known, but when another great gathers them together for a tour, just wow.
JeanneT
I am grateful that the tree trimming I had done last week came in UNDER the estimate, even though the crew identified some extra branches that need to be taken down. It’s nice to have a job done well AND under budget!
BroD
I’m grateful I don’t have raccoons in my attic any more–thanks, I guess, to the guy with the flute.
BTW, those are the fattest raccoons I’ve ever seen!
donnah
@Middlelee:
Elizabeth Enright is my favorite children’s book author, (and Beverly Cleary). Enright’s series about the Melendy family: The Saturdays, The Four Story Mistake, Then There were Five, Spiderweb for Two…these were beautifully written, amazing stories that are still entertaining and thoughtful today.
I actually bought the series in paperback years ago and reread them from time to time because they are a comfort for me. Her other books are also great, but those are my favorites.
Kathleen
@Mnemosyne: I found autographed copy of Ann of Green Gables book in used bookstore in Long Beach years ago. Also got to see Hamilton on Chicago last Friday.
Kay (not the front-pager)
I’m grateful that the sunk cost fallacy demo bomber jacket I was working on last week ($13 worth of quilted fake leather, $3 of knit ribbing, $7 for lining, and under $2 for 1 front and 2 pocket zippers so I didn’t “waste” $.50-worth of remnant doubleknit) turned out really well. It wasn’t zero-waste, but there were remarkably few scraps left over.
Also, went to brunch and to see First Man with my husband, sister, and brother-in-law yesterday to celebrate BIL’s birthday. I’m grateful that 1) we have the free time and means to get together, and 2) that my sister had gift certificates for free theater tickets.
catclub
@Kay (not the front-pager): true, but it is scary how many very fat raccoons were within hearing distance.
Mnemosyne
@Kathleen:
Nice! That’s probably worth a pretty penny by now, if you care about such things. Make sure your family knows not to just send it off to Goodwill.
There is a very tiny possibility that I might get to meet LMM at some point in the next year. (In the “hi, can I get your autograph?” sense, not anything more.) We shall see.
WaterGirl
Since this is a happy thread, and TaMara is out of town, I thought this would be a good place to re-post TaMara’s request. (You are allowed to vote once a day, and voting ends on Monday, 10/29.)
http://oxbowanimalhealth.com/hay-giveback/
Brachiator
@Jager:
I wouldn’t mind putting up with the burden. :)
Mnemosyne
@Avalune:
Phew! I hope Leto continues to recover. It will be a long road, but they really can do so much more these days than they used to. We are all pulling for you guys!
Tata
My grandchildren are finally signed up for swimming lessons, and because of the part-time job in which I bake cakes and cookies for a family restaurant, I had enough dosh to pay for those lessons! New friends and life skills, coming right up!
Seriously, I am super happy.
Ken Shabby
My family. Each day is a gift. Everything else always has been and is, secondary.
That’s any week.
MoCaAce
Thankful for a fantastic wife and children. Saw the youngest last week and he has been “looking into” medical school. He spent hours excitedly telling us all about it. The wife and I could tell he was all in. The cost terrifies me but I’m so proud.
Sister Golden Bear
I’m grateful for the support I’ve received from cisgender folks both here and elsewhere. Not only by speaking out against the administration’s “erase transgender” proposal, but things like:
– Getting Book of Face messages saying, “I know that I don’t know you that well, but I wanted to check in on how you’re doing…”
– An ex-pat in NZ offering help if I wanted to move there.
– A Canadian who offered to sponsor me if I try to move there.
– Those who’ve donated to the ACLU (which is promising to sue to block the proposal), or the National Center for Transgender Equality and other trans advocacy organizations.
– Even those who just posted memes of support. No, FB meme activism isn’t the same as actually rolling up one’s sleeves and doing the hard work. But *not* seeing anything — especially from people are politically active about other things, don’t exactly inspire confidence that they’ll have your back. (The deafen silence from straight people after the Pulse massacre was at least as hurtful as the news of the massacre itself.)
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Brachiator: I heard the winner was George Tierney of Greenville South Carolina.
rikyrah
@David Anderson:
yeah!!
narya
@Sister Golden Bear: go hunt down mimi smartypants on the intertubes. her post today may make you happy.
geg6
@Gator90:
I love much of Dylan’s work, but his was the absolute worst concert I’ve ever been to, bar none (and that includes the Backstreet Boys concert I took my older niece to years ago for her first concert experience). It could have been great and we had paid top dollar for the tickets. He was touring with Mark Knopfler as his lead guitarist and we were pumped for it. But Dylan spent the whole concert, literally, with his back to the audience and mumbled his lyrics vaguely in the direction of his mic. It was so bad, Knopfler kinda sorta apologized at the end. I’ll never go to see him again, even if it was free. Thought it was a total asshole move.
BlueGirlFromWyo
@Avalune: We’re grateful that he will heal, that you keep us updated, and that your son is with you.
Gin & Tonic
@geg6: I once went to see Miles Davis. He showed up on stage at least an hour and a half late, and played without ever, as far as I can recall, facing the audience.
Gin & Tonic
And on to the topic of the thread. Don’t want to give away too much IRL info, but I am grateful that in recent days my son was finally able to achieve a goal that he has been pursuing for nearly a decade. As he will not be in a position to have another opportunity, this was great.
geg6
@Gin & Tonic:
Sorry, but I just can’t with that. The audience are the people who put them on that stage, pulling in the big touring and record buying bucks. You don’t have to get kissy or touchy feely withe audience, but you can eat least show them the respect of facing them. I have no use for that primadonna crap. I know enough artists, actors and musicians to know that is not how you should act, no matter how great you are in your own mind.
Kathleen
@Mnemosyne: Jealous!!! I found out my boss went to school with the choreographer at St. Xavier high school in Cincy. And alas the book was disposed of in one of my family’s many moves after I left home.
MoxieM
Got most of the yard put to bed for the winter. I hope I put stuff in a good location–no garage or shed, so it’s hard to know, and then, what kind of winter we’ll have. With luck, a Democratic one!
Ben Cisco
I’m grateful to have gotten two calls for two phone interviews for two jobs, both applied to last night.
Karensky
My friend, Jeanne, a retired public defender, who makes me laugh and snort.
Karensky
@Karensky: My friend, Jeanne, a retired public defender, who makes me laugh and snort.
StringOnAStick
Grateful that the new roof will be done tomorrow and that I have the day off so I can be here to comfort our 1 year old kitties during all the pounding. It will be done just in time for a nice stretch of warm days to melt the tar strips too.