The Fall Mix ~ A Thanksgiving Post

So much to be thankful for on this beautiful Thanksgiving day! 

Here is just a small sampling of things, big and small, I have been grateful for this fall!

Here goes!

I'm grateful for the beautiful backroad to Ojai ...

For my wonderful Family ...

 and getting to paint my sister's face on Halloween! 

 

For the awesome party of a reception at our "Fall in To Pastels" show in Ojai!

And for a place to nap at the show ...

For winning my first blue ribbon (since high school cheerleading camp!)

On my pastel painting "Ojai Magic Hour"

For being featured in the Ventura Newspaper about the Pastel Show ...

My friend, Victoria, ending up with one of my favorite pastels!

(The one from the postcard and newspaper!)

And that my nephew got to meet Hunter the super sweet rescue dog!

I'm thankful for magnificent house-sitting sunsets ...

 

And my nephew's Taekwando belt ceremony ...

For cooking with friends ...

Hanging out in beautiful Ojai ...

And for just being at home in my silly town ...

 

As always, I am so grateful for the right to vote!

And the sweet kids I get to teach.

For inspiration and filling the well!

(Yoshio Nakamura's retrospective)

Sparkling Christmas lights! (Even when they're early!)

And my crazy, wonderful, loving, silly friends!

For my early birthday present from my sister (this beautiful book!)

and for getting to go back to a place that I always leave a piece of my heart ...

(I leave for Italy very soon!!! Rome, Assisi, Genova and Aqui Termi)

I am thankful for many more things, especially for my health and the health of my family and friends! I am, today and always, so very blessed and grateful for all the absolutely amazing people in my life! And I am grateful for you!!

I hope this is a beautiful Thanksgiving for you, filled with love and gratitude!

Gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.

~G.K. Chesterton

A prayer today by Marianne Williamson 

Dear God,
On this day we give thanks
for the miracles in our lives.
We atone for having ever forgotten them.
Please open our hearts that we might remember You more,
And bless others as you have so blessed us.
Thank you, God.
Amen

If you're having any trouble coming up with a gratitude list ... just look at our beautiful planet!

Oh! If you didn't get enough of the art show and want to know why Hunter the rescue dog was at the Pastel Show, I started a blog recently for the pastel society, so click HERE for that!

Blessings and light!!! :)

Giving Thanks

Without exception, I begin every day of my life

with an expression of gratitude.

As I look in the mirror to begin my daily ritual of shaving, I say,

"Thank you, God, for this life, for my body, for my family and loved ones,

for this day and for the opportunity to be of service.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

~Wayne Dyer

Gourd and Seed Pod

Texture Watercolor Study Oct 2011

Life has been a little crazy but I am feeling especially grateful today. Yesterday, my doctor called to tell me about results for an MRI I had last Friday and I AM FINE!

"Whatever was there before, is gone," she said.

Nothing like staring at the inside of big noisy plastic magnetic tube to put things immediately back in perspective! (Plus you really do feel like they are going to blast you into outer space!)

If you have ever been very ill, or had a big health scare, you know exactly what I am talking about. You become grateful for the "little things," that all of the sudden become big things. You get awfully grateful that you are able to sit down to dinner with your family, to call your best friend, or to take a hot shower on your own and get yourself to the bathroom at 2 am!

So today on the eve on Thanksgiving, here in the U.S., I would like to share this gratitude prayer for the body from Marianne Williamson's book Illuminata. I said this prayer every day (that I was lucid) when I was very sick in the hospital a couple of years ago and on many days since. I really believe that finding gratitude, especially in the most difficult times, heals us at the very deepest levels of our being.

Dear God,

As I rise up, I thank You for the opportunity

to be on this earth.

I thank You for my mind and body.

I thank you for my life.

Please bless my body and use it for Your purposes.

May I rise up strong today,

and may my body and soul radiate your love.

May all impurities be cast out

of my mind, my heart, my body.

May every cell of my being be filled with Your light.

May my body and mind both be illumined Your sake,

and the sake of all the world.

Amen

Prayer from Illuminata

by Marianne Williamson's

Thank you for visiting, for your friendship and for your inspiration.

Many, many blessings, love and light to you all!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving in Ojai ...

I am so grateful today! Of course we should be grateful every day, not just Thanksgiving,  but sometimes it's easy to get busy and focus and what we need, or think we need, instead of what we have right here, right now. We forget to really focus on all of the blessings in our lives and we need a reminder. Maybe I should just speak for myself but I think Thanksgiving is a great reminder day. It's a little like Valentine's day. People say, "Well, you should show love every day and be romantic all year..." but again, some of us can use a little reminder.

Gratitude List

I am grateful for...

My wonderful family

For my loving parents and sister

My hilarious nieces and sweet nephew

and for my 9 year old parrot Beatrice

I'm grateful that I still have a grandmother (and she's awesome)

That I have amazing, supportive friends

That I am not in the hospital

That I can get to the bathroom in the middle of the night without help!

That I am less than 13 miles from 6 museums

That I live in a city wear I can get every kind of food under the sun

and even have it delivered

That I have been blessed to travel in Europe and Asian and Africa ...

I am grateful for my cozy antique bed and down comforter

For the can of pink paint that will soon be on my bathroom walls

For art classes

My books, camera, art supplies and iMac

My cute apartment, farmers markets, dinner with friends, caller ID

and Netflix

For spicy tuna handrolls, avocados, Sante Fe Chicken burritos and dark chocolate

(but not at the same time!)

For Ella, Frank and Dean, Bob Marley and Elton John

For belly dance music and Mozart

I am grateful I live in California

In the United States

That I can vote and speak out and stomp my feet

I am grateful that Rhinos and Cheetahs and Snow Leopards are still on the planet

And we still have a chance to save them.

I am grateful to be on this earth, at this time

I am grateful be alive

I am grateful

Happy Thanksgiving!

Blessings and love and light

to you and your family!

What are you grateful for?