YARD ART along with my February Gratitude List transferred from the sidebar at Small Reflections

Mary the teach at Work of the Poet
has asked bloggers to share Yard Art on Thursdays …
Lots of people who live near the beach
in Southern California ‘decorate’ their yards
(often in unique ways) so I’ll have a steady supply!
Here’s MY first contribution …
(NOT from my yard)

Click to embiggen and for others sharing Yard Art

South Breeze Farm hosted the Giving Thanks Challenge and I participated at Small Reflections in November of 2008 and decided to continue indefinitely … generating the following list one day at a time throughout the month of August. I’ve decided to transfer the lists at the end of each month from Small Reflections to Happily Retired Gal … just because. Click to see previous lists already published here.

1. the transfer of my sidebar gratitude list to Happily Retired Gal went a bit smoother this month.

2. my computer cooperated and allowed me to do some catching up on blog visits today … I really appreciate folks who make the entire post available in the feed (rather than just a few lines) because I actually get to SEE everything and can click over to comment periodically 😉

3. to Hootin’ Anni and Lori E (of Family Trees May Contain Nuts) for sharing Valentines with their visitors … reminding me to do likewise! I’ve added mine to the top of my sidebar (here too) .  I invite you to ‘snag’ a copy to enjoy if you wish … just right click on the image to save it to your computer.

4. for a pleasant outing with my sister today … and a ‘fix’ for my Blogger photo upload problem.

5. to stay home most of this rainy day … leaving only briefly to assist a friend’s sister resolve some camera and computer problems.

6. that the two small leaks in my living room ceiling (from the deck off my upstairs bedroom) seem minor … especially as I watch the devastation caused by mudslides in the La Canada-Flintridge area and problems created by the record snowfall in the Mid-Atlantic east-coast states.

7. Molly & I went for a LONG walk today … enjoying the dry weather 😉

8. for another day of clear weather and the opportunity to connect with friends for lunch to catch up with one another.

9. today’s rain has been the gentle steady drizzily kind.

10. my pansies have survived the rain and some of my bulb shoots have already started to bloom … earlier than ever. I’m still trying to identify the pretty white blossoms shared previous.

11. for memories of my mom on the anniversary of her birth.

12. I’ve cleared off space on my DVR to record the Olympic broadcasts so I can watch them as time permits.

13. I’ll be spending the day with my sister (and possibly a good friend if she’s feeling up to it) starting with a camera class on ‘lighting’ at the sole remaining
Ritz Camera store in the Orange County area this morning then letting the rest of the day unfold spontaneously.

14. I had canned food for Ms Kitty when I ran out of dry food w/o time to get to the store. Methinks SHE was happy too 😉

15. Shen & Zhao have returned to participate in the Winter Olympics one last time … they skated beautifully Sunday night.

16. that (although they made some mistakes in their long program Monday night) Shen & Zhao had enough of a lead from their short program to win the Gold Medal finally on their 4th trip to the Olympics (at the age of 31 & 36) with Pang & Tong taking the silver after they’d just missed the podium (in 4th place) four years ago in Torino. What a night for China!

17. for a good night’s sleep after several ‘restless’ ones.

18. that Evan Lysacek skated two ‘complete programs’ beautifully in Vancouver, won the Gold medal and has handled all the petty ‘controversy’ over the ‘quad’ in men’s skating (stirred up by questions posed by the press to Evgeni Plushenko who seems upset that ignoring changes in scoring didn’t win him a second Gold medal on the strength of his jumps and intimidating bravado) magnificently. As Scott Hamilton & Dick Buttons eloquently point out, the event IS called Figure SKATING for a reason!

19. although things didn’t go exactly as planned … my sister & I spent a delightful afternoon together and I got a $49 refund from REI because the kewl Keen boots I bought there less than two weeks ago at full price were on sale yesterday. Lucky me 😉

20. for sunshine today after last night’s rain … especially since more rain is predicted for Sunday night and possibly throughout the entire week ahead.

21. for morning coffee with half & half 😉

22. that I finally managed to connect to the Internet after my ‘wireless router’ died overnight

23. it’s my 65th birthday and I’ll be celebrating with my sister!

24. that Channel 4 makes actual ‘video replays’ available on its website because for some reason my DVR didn’t record last night’s events so I missed the women’s short programs in Figure Skating (along with whatever else was broadcast). I’m looking forward to catching up as time permits.

25. I managed to fix my DVR so it recorded the Olympic broadcasts to view as time permits.

26. my sister & I celebrated my birthday again … this time at Duke’s as we planned to do (but didn’t) on Tuesday.

27. my neighbor gave me a lovely Veteran’s Honor rose bush for my yard on Friday … a gift from her father who has raised roses for a long time.

28. that even though more ‘wet stuph’ is predicted, yesterday’s rain has stopped for the time being making for lovely Southern California weather all day long.

FYI – My previous Gratitude Lists can be found at Happily Retired Gal, my new WordPress site. It is my intention to keep this ‘Daily Gratitude List’ in my sidebar indefinitely because I believe it makes sense to focus on what’s right in our lives regularly. Click for:
2010 Lists – January
2009 Lists – December, November, October, September, August, July, June, May, April, March, February, January
2008 Lists – December, November

Thought for Today
“God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say ‘thank you?’” William A. Ward

Click for comments at the TOP of the post under the title, rather than at the bottom ;–)

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