thanksgiving

The unthankful heart discovers no mercies;

but the thankful heart will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings.

-- Henry Ward Beecher

There is a calmness to a life lived in Gratitude, a quiet joy.

-- Ralph H. Blum

there is much for which to be thankful this year. life is good. i am healthy. i have a good job or two, and work with good people. i have good friends who help me when i need it. my faith in god is growing every day. and i have a great family.

happy thanksgiving.

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be here

there is a stillness in the city tonight. people left the city in droves today, leaving behind the quiet feeling of less people and more space. i like holidays in the city.

today i am thankful to be here, right where i am.

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thanks for

cold medicine

hot lemon & honey tea

chicken noodle soup and toast

diet canada dry ginger ale

warm apple cider

my nice warm bed

and sleep.

yes, i will feel better in the morning.

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maestro

Every so often I meet an artist who is a maestro. Last night, my friend, SS, had her piano tuned and invited me over for dinner to meet her tuner. She knows my love of the piano because of my choice for book group last December.  Here are two of my recent favorites about pianos: The Piano Shop on the Left Bank and A Romance on Three Legs. SS knew I would have a good time watching and listening to a piano being tuned.

The piano tuner was bright, funny and talented. Not only could he play beautifully and tell funny stories, he could also tune a piano well. I love listening to all the tones and intervals come together in perfect harmony as a tuner works. I know I'm a little weird, mais c'est moi.

A German-made piano from the late 19th century

Pianos today aren't as fancy on the inside.

The Chilean business card on the inside of the piano,

which was put there by the piano man in Santiago who bought

and restored the piano before my friend bought it.

He used wool muting felt to mute the strings, so he could tune each one individually.

One of the beauties of a piano is how the strings interact with each other when struck.

But when tuning the piano, it's important to minimize the sounds other keys make while initially tuning individual keys. Then it's important to listen to how it all works together to create harmony.

Each of the 88 keys has three strings that must be tuned.

You do the math!

The tuning lever at the ready.

Okay, each pin manages all three strings, so it's not as daunting as it could be.

The expert at work.

By the way, he speaks four languages... Italian, Spanish, French and Portuguese

all the Romance languages; a true Renaissance man.

Now he's testing the final product. I wish I could have recorded him playing.

Once he had the piano tuned, the sound completely changed.

It was a rich, velvety, chocolate sound with so much depth, it made my heart yearn for an old piano.

They just don't make'em like they used to...

My friend, SS, always has him play the piano before he leaves.

Last night she had a special request. Her favorite hymn, Come, Thou Fount.

He played and I sang to her and her sister in Thailand on speaker phone.

It was a fun, educational evening spent in the best of company.

Thank you, SS!!!

'My idea of good company...

is the company of 

clever, well-informed people,

who have a great deal of conversation;

that is what I call good company.'

'You are mistaken,' said he gently,

'that is not good company, that is the best."

(Jane Austen, Persuasion)

p.s. today i am thankful for good friends who are the best of company

and particularly because i have so many of them.

thank you for babies

Today I help the yummiest little baby while his mommy, my friend KC, directed class at church. Baby F was absolutely the calmest, happiest little one I've held in a while, and only fussed when he got really tired. I took one look at his tired little face, stood up and cuddled him in the crook of my arm as I rocked him back and forth. He snuggled right in and looked up at me with his big brown eyes, smiled with relief and thanks, and then closed his eyes. Within moments he was fast asleep and didn't move for the next thirty minutes. He woke up totally happy and didn't even fuss at all when he realized I wasn't his mommy. He just smiled, played with my jewelry and made happy baby noises until class was over and I returned him to his mother. It was the best hour of church in a long time.

Today I am thankful for babies and how much love they give.

i am thankful for

waking up at 0500 this morning without an alarm and not feeling tired

leaving the house as the sun rose to meet new friends at BOMF

walking and talking and dancing with new friends on the mall this morning

homemade waffles in my freezer heated up in my toaster oven and covered in cream cheese, fresh raspberries and syrup - total decadence

saturday house cleaning

being caught up on laundry

a long pre-winter nap

watching HP7.1 & lovin' it yesterday

fresh flowers

whole foods white bean turkey chili - seriously, sooo good

homemade pumpkin cookies with chocolate chips & raisins & pecans & cream cheese frosting

pink fuzzy slippers + cotton-cashmere blend socks = happy feet

quiet time to read and listen to this

for a good day.

until everything is right

if you wait to do everything until you're sure it's right, you'll probably never do much of anything. ~~win borden

This is so true. The boundaries I put around myself are so ridiculous and stifling. And when I look back, in some instances, it's with a bit of regret and sadness for allowing myself to sit and do nothing because I was waiting for everything to be right.

Here's an example: I am working on singing again. There is a part of me that says that in order to sing I need a piano, that I can't sing seriously until I have a piano and that it wouldn't be right for me to work on singing without a piano. In reality, my voice doesn't sound any better or worse with a piano. A piano is a useful tool for when I can't quite hear the notes in my head and can't get them to come out right. However, a piano could be a distraction from the singing itself, because I love to play the piano and it's easier than singing.

Singing is scary for me at times. I'm trying to work through this. It's hard to open my heart up that much and put all that naked emotion out for the world to see. I makes me uncomfortable and just a little afraid. I feel like singing is the opening of Pandora's box, and I'm not quite sure what will come out. And now I'm thinking that I don't need to be worried about what comes out, because in the end what was left in the box was hope.

But in order to find the hope, the box had to opened.

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calm

today, i am thankful for the moment of calm when i crawl into bed and create a cocoon of perfect warmth for sleeping. that moment of calm in which i revel in the peace and quiet, and think for a moment about my hopes for the next day. the best part, is that today, the next day is saturday and i get to do anything i want.