SoCS: Taking the Easy Trail on Thanksgiving Day

Today’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “on your/my plate.” Use it any way you’d like. Have fun!

You don’t have to eat everything on your plate in one sitting. You can save some for later. Put it in the fridge. Maybe even the freezer. This has been a weight loss strategy for me. Sometimes it works. I tell myself I can still have the rest of the food or a second helping. I will just have it tomorrow. (Unless I go back and get it at 9pm as a bedtime snack.)

The exception may be Thanksgiving dinner which traditionally has been a time when a lot of us overeat. I certainly ate more sweets on Thursday than usual since I usually don’t eat sweets… much.

There have been plenty of times when I’ve had too much on my plate and not always food. Responsibilities taken on due to interest, a sense of obligation, or not saying no, may need to be put in the frig, the back burner, or prioritized. Delegated maybe.

We packed a lot into Thanksgiving Day in the Appalachian Mountains and drove back home to the coast on Friday. Thursday morning, we went to Linville Falls and took the short, easy trail since my knee has been bothering me. I got a stretchy sleeve to put on my knee which helped a lot, though it falls down after a while which is better than being too tight. I also wore my compression socks to help with my heel spurs. I’m very thankful I was able to hike the half mile or so to the falls and decided not to continue on to the uphill climb to get the view further along the falls. That will be next time. That hike will go in the freezer maybe for next year.

That afternoon, my son cooked practically the whole dinner of mostly vegan food, while I helped my granddaughter with a school project on temperate forests. We ate too much and then went for a walk along the nearby river trail. Then we went back to the house and had pumpkin pie, macaroons, and vegan ice cream sandwiches. Everything was delicious! My granddaughter and I set up the nativity stable made by my father many years ago and then decorated the Christmas tree. Whew! It was a busy day. But not too much. I’m thankful to have been with family in the mountains. Still, it’s good to be home!

Now, to see if I can find the photos….

In the fourth photo, do you see the profile in the rock on the right? It has bushy hair.

Linville River

David, Marley and my son

Linville Falls

See the Rock Head?

David, Marley and Me

Blue Ridge Mountains

Mostly Vegan Dinner

After Dinner Walk

My granddaughter arranged the figures in my dad’s stable.

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For more SoCS rules and posts, put Linda’s blog on your plate.

She’s our persevering host.

SoCS: Morning Has Broken, Names, and 30 Days of Thankfulness

Today’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “morning.”

 Use it any way you’d like. Enjoy!

Morning has broken, but it’s not broken. It still works just fine. I however do not often see the break of day as I am not a morning person unless absolutely necessary. Or meaningful. It takes a lot to get me up at the crack of dawn or to sleep before midnight.

“Morning has Broken” was first written as a hymn in the early 1900s. Then Cat Stevens made it a pop hit in the early 70s. The hymn doesn’t have the exact same notes, but pretty close. Cat added at least two extra notes in the second mention of morning, (mo-or-or-ning) compared to what I’ve seen in the hymnal. Most of us still sing it the Cat Stevens way.

I just stepped out of the stream of consciousness, having been pulled out by the stream of curiosity, to discover from Wikipedia, that Cat Stevens was born Steven Demetre Georgiou in London. He later took the stage name, of Cat Stevens and now goes by Yusuf Islam. I’m not going to research why, though I could guess, as I am back in the stream of consciousness.

Cat Stevens, as I will always think of him, is a pretty cool dude for someone who has had three names. But maybe that’s an okay thing. Wouldn’t it be interesting if we could change our names whenever something significant prompted us to do so? A few of you know that my government name is Joanne, but I choose to be JoAnna here on my blog, because I like it better with the a the end. JoAnna of the Forest. In real life, I have a mini forest in my backyard. The neighbors might say the front yard, too, though it’s very mini.

If you could choose your name, what would it be?

Glinda is a nice name. It floats like a bubble…. I have forgotten the prompt. Must’ve lost it in the stream. Curiosity made me peek. Morning! Morning Star was one of the first veggie burgers. Now, I like Gardein vegan burgers. The Morning Star “sausages” are pretty good.

Does anyone open presents or go to church on Christmas morning anymore? Maybe people with kids. Seems like most of the Christmas stuff goes on on Christmas Eve. That’s good for a night owl. Then you can sleep in on Christmas morning. But wait! One holiday at a time! We haven’t had Thanksgiving yet!

Here’s a little thing I found on Facebook that I’m doing as the month goes along:

Let me see if I can do this in a SoC way without thinking about it. These are things I’m thankful for:

Person: David, animal: dog (Marley, and all of them!), cozy place: by the fireplace with candles or a campfire. Favorite snack: Skinny popcorn. Place: home. Shoes: Oofos! Scent: honeysuckle, pine, clove. Restaurant: vegan. Blog: hard to pick, but I visit http://derrickjknight.com/ daily. (Before that it was: Natalie Scarberry) Time of day: late afternoon. Tradition: Christmas Eve music and It’s a Wonderful Life. Gadget: blender. Something old: my old body. Something new: My compression nano socks. Experience: scuba diving a long time ago. Recipe: lentil wellington. Store: whole foods for good stuff and dollar general for convenience. Quote: Jeremiah 29:11 (God has a good plan for you.) clothing: stretchy yoga pants. Keepsake: My parents’ photo albums. Disappointment/Fear: I’m now thankful for my divorce and time alone to love me again. Book: The Bible and The Language of Letting Go. and many more. Feeling: Joy. Photo: the polaroid Caroline took of me and David in ’72 which became my book cover. Luxury: TV/movies. Charity: The ones that help animals. Song: “Let it Be.” Gift: Mother Earth. Something at Home: Toilet Paper! Most thankful for: Life.

Whew! That too longer than I thought. Thanks for reading.

Here’s a whimsical video:

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For more streams and SoCS rules,

visit our host, Linda Hill by clicking HERE.

Connections

“This we know. The earth does not belong to us, we belong to earth.

This we know. All things are connected like the blood which unites one family,

All things are connected.

Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons and daughters of earth.

We did not weave the web of life, We are merely a strand in it.

Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves…”

This poem, attributed to Chief Seattle, has been on my mind lately. Maybe it’s because of the senseless deaths in Paris and in other parts of our world. Maybe it’s because the holiday of Thanksgiving always makes me think of the generosity and betrayal of the Native Americans. When I researched Chief Seattle, I discovered there is some suspicion as to whether these were his words. But some one wrote these words, and admired Chief Seattle enough to attribute them to him. It is an important message.

 

This spider web remained surprisingly intact in my yard after heavy rains and strong winds. Something about the connected structure of the web made it strong.

Did you know that spider silk is five times as strong as steel?

 

Planting Trees

Makes the web stronger

Reducing waste

Makes the web stronger

Kind words

Make the web stronger.

Spread your arms out

Open your hands wide

Feel the healing energy from your source

As it flows to your soul

Connect to Life and all that is good.

Send love out into the world.

 

 

(The top photo is from pixabay. The bottom one is my photo of my pet spider.)

 

Let the Gratitude Flow

Making a gratitude list is a simple, yet powerful thing. I highly recommend it, and not just on Thanksgiving, though my daughter and I have enjoyed an annual Thanksgiving tradition of taking turns naming things we are thankful for. A gratitude list can lift dreariness or ease boredom. A gratitude list can go on forever, and you can repeat things you are most thankful for as often as you want to.  Just let it flow. Here are just a few of the many things I’m thankful for in no particular order:

I’m thankful for juicy sweet crunchy pomegranate seeds which I only just discovered a few years ago.

I’m thankful for my husband who collects pomegranate seeds every morning  for our oatmeal.

I’m thankful for my family: my children and my dogs, my Dad, and my Mom who is an angel now along with my sisters.

I’m thankful for friends, both near and far.

I’m thankful for seasons…for changing colors, the refreshing coolness of autumn, the crispness of winter, the warmth of spring and the summer sunsets.

I’m thankful for toilet paper. Can you imagine life without toilet paper?  No, lets not.  Let’s just be thankful.

I’m thankful for trees that give shade in the summer. And some even drop their leaves and let the warm sunshine through in the winter!

I’m thankful for music and the ability to hear music in the rain and the crickets and the wind in the trees and the many melodies of water.

I’m thankful for water and it’s abundance on this beautiful planet. Water quenches our thirst and cleanses our bodies. Water reflects the trees and sky and moon and sun. Water is life.

I’m thankful for life and the faith that our needs will be provided for……..

What are you thankful for?