Machka 

Happy Thanksgiving!


I'm thankful because ...

-- we were able to spend a few weeks in Canada just recently, and celebrated an early Thanksgiving with my family, including my 93-year-old grandmother who has been car-free for many years now. She still gets around to many places by walking.

-- while in Canada, we were able to cycle with my father, who is in his early 70s but still cycles good distances at a brisk pace ... I have to work to keep up with him sometimes.

-- we have found ourselves a lovely house in a beautiful area which is already providing us with more and varied cycling and walking opportunities ... and a little bit less driving.

-- it is spring, and I'm looking forward to a summer of a variety of outdoor activities. We should have the rest of our sports equipment out of storage soon!!

cooker

...because we had slightly too rare roast beef, cooked by one of my kids, and had 7 people at the table for an otherwise excellent meal.

Roody

I'll let you know about Thanksgiving in 45 days. As for spring, that's more like 180 days!

Machka 

Sounds good ... well maybe not the slightly too rare roast beef ... but good to have family and friends together.

Machka 

If you try, maybe you can think of something to be thankful for now ... maybe even every day from now till your Thanksgiving.


We don't have Thanksgiving in Australia ... so I'm not celebrating it this weekend either, but thinking about the Canadian celebration reminds me that there's lots to be thankful for.

Machka 

I'm thankful for the internet which allows me to keep in touch with my friends and family.

B. Carfree

I get to ride every day and can choose to either run errands around town, do a short loop of small hills and/or roll along in the various rivers in the coast range all day long. What's not to be thankful for? Wait, like the Ginsu knives, it gets better. My wife usually joins me and we roll along on our tandem. Sometimes we even see other people out for a ride.

Tomorrow begins the rainy season and I get to continue to work on my secret sauce chain lube (you can use anything in the dry season). Maybe I'll be satisfied by next June when the dry season returns, maybe not. Of course, with the rains comes the fall colors, which are nice but not actually spectacular hereabouts. Life would be perfect if only I didn't need to work on occasion and if I would get the desire back to re-drop the extra ten pounds so I could get back to my normal climbing speed (up from snail to tortoise).

Of course, as much as I love cycling, there are many much more important things in life to be thankful for. My immediate family has its health. Even my lifelong couch-potato oldest sister has beaten back her pre-diabetic condition by discovering the joys of movement. Everyone's doing well enough financially that things are secure if not altogether extravagant. There's joys aplenty watching the next generation get their post-college journeys under way and our sort-of grand-daughters come see us twice a week to remind us of the beauty of life's tender beginnings.

My neighbors and I recently stopped yet another camp for drug addicted bums from being placed in our neighborhood and we are even getting some low income housing done for young adults who are ageing out of foster care. That stuff involved politics, which always leaves a bad taste in one's mouth, but if we don't play then we can't very well complain (and I like complaining).

Roody

Your often expressed belief that people who disagree with you are less happy than you is very interesting...but not very insightful.

If you must know, for the past 30 years, I have composed a daily list of things that I'm thankful for. Actually, it's "things that make me happy," but I am thankful for things that make me happy. At first I wrote the list down in my journal every day, but now it's such an ingrained habit that I automatically compose it in my head each morning as I get ready to go to sleep. (I work nights, so I go to bed in the morning.) Sometimes it's hard to think of five things, but I believe I have gotten it just about every day.

One nice thing about a daily list is that it makes me aware of good things that happen when they happen. If something good happens, I have a fleeting thought that "this will go on my list today." Therefore, I'm more aware of things that make me happy when they actually happen, and again later in the day when I compose the list.

For me, the only difference that Thanksgiving makes is that I'm more likely to make my list public--at least to my family and friends.

(I got the idea to make a "list of five things that make me happy" from Gershen Kauffman, a psychology professor at Michigan State University.)

Walter S

I think being thankful for what you have is one of the most important parts of staying happy and promotes an attitude where you give back to the world. Thank you Matchka! (I'm thankful for your thread)

I'm thankful to have the support of my loving family.
I'm thankful that my mother is still living.
I'm thankful for a world where I can enjoy riding my bicycle.
I'm thankful for being healthy and fit.
I'm thankful for the sunrise!
I'm thankful to have gainful employment and food in my belly.
I'm thankful for a job with vacation time.
I'm thankful for the shade of the many trees in my area.
I'm thankful for the courage that inspires adventure.
I'm thankful for life and for being a conscious being.
I'm thankful I can pause at giving thanks and enjoy the world around me

enigmaT120

As B.Carfree mentioned, we have entered our 9 month rainy season. I hate rain, but: they ended fire season restrictions, so if I get a day free I can again wander up in the woods on my bike.

Machka 

Great responses! Thanks!!

Machka 

I'm thankful for modern technology in the form of a washing machine and dishwasher!


I've very recently discovered I've got a significant allergy to dust mites ... and earlier this week our stuff finally arrived. All the stuff we had in storage for the past 13 months. So nice to see it all again. But of course, everything is wrapped in towels and blankets ... homes for dust mites. I open a box ... and instantly have a dust mite reaction. Therefore, I'm washing everything. I'm also washing all the kitchenware too.

The convenience of these these machines is wonderful ... and even better that I don't have to drive anywhere to do all this.

B. Carfree

Ah, those are two of my favorite machines that don't go anywhere. I get to do all the laundry and a fair chunk of the dishes in my household and I love it. I play a game to see just how infrequently I can use the clothes dryer, but the washing machine does yeoman’s work.

Machka 

Clothes dryers are a rare occurrence in Australia ... most people hang dry their clothes. We don't have one, and sometimes I miss it, but we've got 3 large drying racks now + the drying line attached to the outside of the house ... so that should take care of things.

Roody

You should have Rowan open those boxes.

Machka 

We're both opening the boxes and unwrapping everything ... there are a lot of boxes.

And I haven't been able to breathe for a couple years ... so why start now. It'll all be unpacked, washed, and put away within a month or so. I can gasp for air like a fish out of water for a few more weeks.


But ... I'm really thankful that we're starting to find out why I've been having such trouble breathing. I finally got in to see an allergist, and had a big reaction to dust mites ... and now we're doing things to solve the problem.

Machka 

On American Thanksgiving Day ... what are you thankful for?

Smallwheels

Today I went to my storage unit. The task is to go through all of the boxes and pull out only the things I want or need to keep before turning it all over to an estate agent. Today I found the mementos that I really have wanted to find in that big unit.

Most of the photos I need to keep of family members have been found. The rest of the work will be organizing the items and saying goodbye to the things I loved but can let go. Each item has a memory attached to it. I'm willing to let go of all of them in order to be free to live in the present and to make new memories of new experiences.

enigmaT120

We had our traditional Thanksgiving picnic up in the woods. Grilled steak and burger, fried taters, applesauce, sweet corn. It rained most of the time but we got a tarp rigged up to keep most of it off.

Artkansas 

I'm thankful for here and now, which is all I'll ever have... Today life gave me time to meditate, humble but tasty food, a long warm shower, sleeping in, fun work, enough money for today.

Mark Stone

I had a great day on Thanksgiving in Texas. The whole family was together, me and Zha Zha, all of our children, and all of our grandchildren.

Roody

I worked 12 hour midnight shifts on Wednesday and Thursday nights, and slept through almost all of Thanksgiving day. So mostly I'm thankful that I have a steady job that's fairly interesting, only slightly dangerous, and pays the bills. I'm grateful to great co-workers and a family that left the holiday table to bring me food.

Walter S

For thanksgiving, last year I was most thankful for the Big Bang. This year I'm picking super novae (life needs heavy elements).

Ekdog

I'm as thankful as hell that I'm in a situation where I can live car-free.

Car-free at last! Car-free at last! Thank God almighty, I am car-free at last!

wipekitty

I'm thankful that I get to live in a small college town surrounded by natural beauty and plenty of safe places to walk and bike. I'm also thankful that the snow has finally arrived: it makes everything pretty, even on a gloomy day!

Seriously, though, I experienced a very difficult life event this November, and am ready for the month to be done. Biking and walking helped me get through this event without completely losing my mind.