Force-Fed Gratitude

Open your mouth and say "Ahhh." It's almost time to taste the goodness of life in big, savory thankful bites. The yearly gathering with family and friends to celebrate Thanksgiving is finally here and I can already smell the turkey! It gets busy with all the planning and preparation for this one momentous day. There's projects to complete, schedules to coordinate and endless shopping trips to the grocery store for that one last thing! But by the time Thanksgiving is here, we can finally sit down and enjoy the faces and heaps of side dishes around the dining table.

Every Thanksgiving my family drives across ginger-colored hillsides and up to the pines until we finally arrive at my mom's large mountain house. We are welcomed by glowing lamp light and hearty hugs given by those early-birds standing around waiting for the rest of us to show up.  Steaming gravy is being stirred at the stove-top, white clumps of potatoes are whirring in a noisy electric mixer, and bottles of bubbly cider are being popped open and drizzled into clear plastic cups. The kitchen has a true aroma of Thanksgiving. Everyone seems to be in there helping or getting in the way of another platter being set out.

Halloween Fright

Halloween is starting to creep forward like the darkening skies above our surrounding mountains. The autumn cool down has dried the summer sweat from our brows as we welcome the cooler days. Fall colors are popping out from rainy shadows, their edges gilded in shiny light streaming down from cracks in the sky. Pumpkins, nesting in their patches, will soon be plucked up for a perfect harvest carving.

Sadly, these are not the first signs of the changing season. Some retailers are all too happy to bring out Halloween merchandise right along with back-to-school supplies, and while they're at it, Christmas items as well. It can be downright frightening!

While some people really decorate their houses to the Halloween hilt, I would prefer seeing some of that stuff pop up when it's actually Halloween. And some of it, not at all to say the least. Especially not during the first few weeks of school.

"Room"inations

By Lisa

You know your sister loves you when she texts you from three states away and says, “I’m buying a mattress for your bed. What kind do you want?” I had to laugh! She is furnishing a room for me, with no idea as to when I will be able to come. Naturally, I realized it was for other guests as well, and yet, I loved how she pulled me into her heart with that one simple text.

She and her husband had sold their old house with furniture included, aside from one piece. A simple writing desk. It stood in the window of their old guest room overlooking the trees and now again, they have moved it into their new house and placed it under the tall window panes in what she is calling my room.

I’ve seen pictures online of “my room,” bathed in natural vanilla cream light. I can see myself sitting at the desk, the windows of my mind flung open, my thoughts floating in, gathering like soft clouds, my fingers flying across my keyboard, hardly able to keep up with inspiration. It is a place to get away, be creative, relax and gain new focus. A place to be me.

On really busy days when I’m driving all over and getting the usual things done, I picture myself in my room, lying on the big fluffy bed reading late into the night, listening to the stillness of quiet before shutting off the light. As much as I love my husband, sometimes my spirit longs for a moment of escape.

Elephants Never Forget

Memory is a funny thing. Sometimes even the most dear moments that you tell yourself you want to treasure always can disappear, buried somewhere underneath the oatmeal you ate for breakfast this morning the TV series you binge-watched on Netflix three weeks ago, and countless conversations that you've had since that moment occurred. There that memory lies for an immeasurable amount of time until it is inexplicably summoned forth by an often unidentifiable trigger, to dominate your thoughts for however long you will indulge it.

A Tale of Two Vomits

One of the little luxuries I have been enjoying lately is the fact that I don't have to take the dogs, Link and Yoshi, out on leashes in the morning. When R. and I lived at our apartment, it was my responsibility every morning at dark o'clock to get two wiggling furry bodies out of their crate, clipped into leashes, and out the door without too much fuss. The morning business routine went something like this: