Pie first

The proper order of leftovers:
Pie
Coffee.
Everything else.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

A little photo of the Thankful tree I put up at our little library for kids and their grown-ups to write what they were thankful for if they wanted to...so much to be grateful for and yet it is often hard to maintain a grateful heart.  Every year I like to reconsider this poem by George Herbert.  The last lines ring especially true for me.

GRATEFULNESS
by George Herbert (1593- 1633)

Thou that hast given so much to me,
Give one thing more, a grateful heart.
See how thy beggar works on thee
By art.

He makes thy gifts occasion more,
And says, If he in this be crossed,
All thou hast given him heretofore
Is lost.

But thou didst reckon, when at first
Thy word our hearts and hands did crave,
What it would come to at the worst
To save.

Perpetual knockings at thy door,
Tears sullying thy transparent rooms,
Gift upon gift, much would have more,
And comes.

This not withstanding, thou wenst on,
And didst allow us all our noise:
Nay thou hast made a sigh and groan
Thy joys.

Not that thou hast not still above
Much better tunes, than groans can make;
But that these country-airs thy love
Did take.

Wherefore I cry, and cry again;
And in no quiet canst thou be,
Till I a thankful heart obtain
Of thee:

Not thankful, when it pleaseth me;
As if thy blessings had spare days:
But such a heart, whose pulse may be
Thy praise.

Sunday Quote

What To Do When You Encounter Jell-O:
1. Never let it see you're afraid. Jell-O loves this.
2. Smile. Say you are a friend, you come in peace.
3. Reason with it.
4. Offer it a gift.
5. Find out what it wants.
6. Let it see you have no weapons.
7. If it continues to jiggle menacingly, Stab it to death with a kitchen knife and throw it in the sink. 3rd Rock from the Sun: The Official Report on Earth by High Commander Dick Solomon

Sunday Quote

I am the song that sings the bird.
I am the leaf that grows the land.
I am the tide that moves the moon.
I am the stream that halts the sand.
I am the cloud that drives the storm.
I am the earth that lights the sun.
I am the fire that strikes the stone.
I am the clay that shapes the hand.
I am the word that speaks the man.
- Charles Causeley, I am the Song.

Dia De Muertos

Sunday Quote

What was any art but a mold to imprison for a moment the shining elusive element which is life itself- life hurrying past us and running away, to strong to stop, too sweet to lose.
  ― Willa Cather

Anne and Grace