THANKSGIVING GRATITUDE 2026

I am grateful for home, sweet solitude, memories, pets, food three times a day (a bit

more during the holidays AND my birthday) my town, a car that starts, clothes on my

back, hair on my head, what is left of my family and friends in various stages of coming

and going. Exercise, what I still have of my health, laughter, books, insight, notebooks,

shoes, shampoo, kindness, dark chocolate, just enough money, watches, soft socks,

smooth-writing pens, brakes, air conditioning in the summer, heat in the winter.

Potential.

Hope.

An Ipad, buttercream, the sharp scent of ozone before a storm, smiles, geese calling

from their “V”, friends who tell you the truth.

Electricity, otters, automatic coffee pots, lace tablecloths, airplanes, rain, Xanax, trees,

raccoons, bears and flying squirrels. Coming home, paper newspapers, pancakes with

real Vermont fancy maple syrup.

Mauvy-morning skies, quiet nights, heated birdbaths, warblers, intuition, prayer, shoes

to walk miles in. Telephones. Dirt. Suet you can buy in the store for chilly chickadees.

The flashing wings of Blue Jays picking peanuts out of the snow, deck chairs, music, the

warm clove aroma of mulled wine.

Earthworms, quiet afternoons, scented candles, hard boiled eggs, pizza with extra

cheese, solitude, naps, friends who understand pain, birds, the Grand Canyon, wild

horses, bubble baths, sparkly rings, blank pages, poetry, Mary Oliver. Dishwashers,

growing up a girl, roses, periwinkle. Kind veterinarians, quiet walks in the woods,

recipes, corduroy, fingernails, medicine, cat food, chants, indoor plumbing, Sara

Bareilles, clothes dryers, watercolor paint, green, restaurant dinners, lemons,

hummingbirds, Elk lake in the fall.

Loons.

Water, duct tape, wireless routers, flushing toilets, soap, icicles, forsythia. Swingline

staplers, batteries, fingers, calendars, keyboards, love, switches, picture frames,

flashlights, bookends, E. B. White. Gas stations, orange juice, chocolate chips, apricots.

Angels.

Stories with happy endings, Belize, my good doctor, green beans, flour, antivirus

software, highlighters, harmony. Calligraphy, combs, toothpaste, wild bunnies in the

grass. The back yard. Wolves. Sourdough toast, stairs with banisters on both sides,

oranges, a heated birdbath in winter, cat fur on the sofa, erasers, sunflowers, Sunday

mornings.

Pencils, bees, pansies, polka dots, pillows, zebras, salad, well-behaved children,

convertibles, magazines. Sleeping kittens, fireflies, peanut butter, email, drumming

woodpeckers in March, blue, dragons, acorns, lightbulbs, soap, jewelry boxes, ponies,

walking sticks, Elizabeth, dragonflies, guitars, tomorrow, cat litter, mirrors, blueberries,

blinking Christmas reindeer, sequins, dictionaries, windy days, fleece blankets, the smell

of wet tree bark, Fridays.

Purple, unicorns, rakes, beginnings, grace, bats, stars, computers, bookends, hosta,

garbage cans, skin, new tires, sunglasses, computer glasses, binoculars, Suzanne’s

birding scope, Baltimore Orioles, birding days, screech owl nights, duplicate car keys,

paved roads, caller ID, friends who don’t let you go.

The list never ends. AMEN.