10 on the 10th 11.2021: Photos of 10 Things I am Grateful For

 

Sweet friends,  in keeping with the spirit of the season, for 10 on the 10th 11.2021, I am sharing 10 photos of things I am grateful for.  It is my tendency to spend lots and lots of time searching through my photos for the perfect 10 to represent those things for which I am most thankful.  But I am going to try to temper myself, instead concentrating on what those photos represent rather than focusing on the most artistic captures.

We have only 1 more edition of 10 on the 10th before it’s a wrap for the year.  Next month we’ll be answering 10 questions about winter holidays.  I know this time of year can be crazy busy so will try to get the December questions and graphic out a little extra early.  Be on the look out for that.  FYI, I usually ‘advertise’ upcoming 10 on the 10th posts on my Instagram account.  And then share the actual questions here on the blog.

 

10 on the 10th 11.2021:  Photos of Things I am Grateful For

 

I think I could get in trouble or at the very least make a big spaghetti out of things if I try to rank my photos.  So I am going to just share them here in no particular order.

Nature…

This time of year, it is easy to find a bounty of natural beauty to be grateful for.  In the colors of the changing seasons.  But I am always grateful for our rugged Franklin Mountains.  And the oceans and beaches that I have visited in my lifetime.

Enjoyed a Friday morning walk with Brennyn and Cady along the Trinity Falls Trail in Ft. Worth.  Was reminded of how much I love being outside.  And that I need to take a few moments everyday to notice and appreciate and give thanks for the world around me.

Family

Remember, I am trying to share a favorite photo that represents the things I am thankful for.  So even though the picture below features only Cadence and Lucia, it does represent family.  Taken on the South Padre Island beach we visited this past summer.  The girls were looking for crabs.  I love the way the photo almost looks like a painting, blurry and soft.

I am thankful that in 2003, my PC saw something in my blurry Match.com photo that inspired him to send me a message.  He has changed my life in so many wonderful ways.  Thankful for Brennyn, Mustafa, (Cadence) and baby-to-be Declan, making his debut on 12.20.2021.  Grateful for Lauren, Francisco, (Lucia), and Camila, and their new puppy joining the family in 2 weeks…Pumpkin.  Blessed by the family I was born into and the family I married into.  And for my virtual and IRL friends.

Home

I was 33 years old when I bought my first home.  It was home to my daughters and me for 17 years.  The address was 4633 which reflected my birthday – April 6 and my age (and favorite number) at the time that I bought the house.  When Paul and I became engaged, we decided the best thing would be for us to sell our individual homes.  Which, in both cases, had their share of ghosts and sad memories.  Then buy a new house together.  This is my favorite – and coincidentally, also blurry – photo of our home.

I like to think of the sunlight shining down on our home as actually blessings being showered on us from heaven.  We are so blessed.

Animals

In addition to being blessed with a family I love and adore, I have always had the privilege to live with and love so many sweet animals.  Puppies (the name I use for dogs of all ages), kitties (ditto), rabbits.  When my Prince C. and I married, we blended our homes, our families and our pets.  He had a pup we called Pig Dog.  The girls and I had 2 dogs…Cheyenne and Cici.  By the time I retired in 2013, all 3 of our pups had crossed the Rainbow Bridge.  At that point in our lives, we decided to switch to kitties for a bit as they are more independent.  At least most kitties are.  These 2, not so much.

I took this photo on the day we brought Purrsnickitty, the calico, home to meet Purrsimmony.

These kitties are the children PC and I never had together.

Good Health

All in all, I am thankful for my good health and the health of those I love most.  Have had some health-related ups and downs.  Lyme disease years ago that still affects me.  Never have been entirely the same since.  A few other assorted health issues have come up, been addressed and haven’t kept me down for long.  The photo below is a selfie taken during a hike last Thanksgiving.  Hiking is one of my favorite forms of exercise and we are so fortunate to have many great trails here in the El Paso area.  Grateful to have a healthy body that allows me to do the things I love to do.

Opportunities

A few days before Thanksgiving in 1988, my then husband and 2 daughters drove into El Paso for the first time.  We came into the city from the east on I-10.  The Franklin Mountains that bisect El Paso were in view for a length of time, growing closer with each mile marker we passed.  It was unseasonably warm – at least by my standards – for a mid-November day.  And on Thanksgiving, a few days later, the temperature would be over 100*.

Our accommodations for those first few days were old wooden barracks that had been converted to billets.  We had one unairconditioned room and we had to share a bathroom with another family.  But from the first sight of those majestic mountains, I felt like I was home.  I remember telling the girls’ father that I was going to like being stationed in El Paso.

And El Paso has been home ever since.  I have been blessed by the many opportunities El Paso has offered to my family and me.  My first job. Our first (and second) home.  College educations for both of my daughters.  Friends.  Pets.  Thank you, Sun City, El Chuco, I am so grateful to you.

Hobbies

I am grateful for activities that allow me to create…crafting and writing.  Physical pastimes like hiking.  Swimming.  Walking.  Would like to start playing the piano again.  Maybe talk PC into trying camping together.  Scrapbooking with my sister.  Photography.  Travel. So thankful that we have a little extra money to afford to do these things that make life more pleasurable.

For the pumpkins in the photo above, I made the background from copies of old photographs, recipes and letters.  Then created the pumpkins from a combination of paper I painted and scrapbook paper.  Grateful for the satisfying feeling that comes from creating something.

Books

Thankful for the ways books provided me with a wonderful career for close to 30 years.  If it hadn’t been for books and babies (I call all children babies, kind of the way I call all dogs pups, all cat kitties), my own children might have gone hungry.  So grateful that all those years ago I was hired as the Jefferson High School assistant librarian even though I had zero school librarian experience and had majored in art education!!

The books pictured below are my fairy tale books on the middle shelf and my favorite children’s chapter books on the bottom shelf.

Books continue to give me a sense of purpose these days through my online book club.  What a blessing that group of girls has been to me.

Food

Grateful to always have more than enough to eat.  But to also have healthy food, tasty food.  The money to buy food.  The kitchen to prepare it in.  And the option to order in or go out to eat.  The photo below combines my love and gratitude for family with my love and gratitude for food.  In this case, my grandmother’s orange rolls and cinnamon rolls.

Physical Touch

When I first retired one of the things I missed most was the hugs from the children when they came to the library.  PC is not a big fan of PDAs although he will reach over to pat me in the car or while we are sitting on the couch watching TV.  I gave a hug to each of the little ones at school when they would line up in the library to go back to their classroom after our time together.  And I would kiss the tips of my fingers then place a kiss on each child’s head.  I miss those sweet babies.

This photo was taken in Paul’s parents’ living room a few years after we met.  Not sure we were married yet.  Maybe.  His mom had hung mistletoe underneath which each of the couples – PC’s parents, and both of his brothers and their wives -took a turn kissing.

 

So, there you have some of the many things for which I am grateful.  I could truly go on and on and on…

Your Turn

 

Come play along with me!!  Won’t you share photos for 10 things in your life for which you are most grateful?  You can add them to my blog Facebook page, here.  Or to the thread I’ve created on Instagram, here.  And if you have a 10 on the 10th 11.2021 blog post, please link it up below.

Along with all of the things above, I am grateful that YOU find something in this little blog that has you visit now and then.  I am thankful for your support and friendship.

Had my booster vaccine yesterday and feeling kind of funky today.  Going to take a quick nap before PC gets home.  He has a 4 day weekend and I am hopeful we will work on ticking off activities on my autumn bucket list. Whatever you have planned…ENJOY!!

Hugs and kisses,