express thankfulness, appreciation, gratitude

a good haircut (i think)
an interesting discussion at work
people who love books (other than me, of course!)
my brother, who is at heart a very good person, and who also loves to read

• dance classes
• friends like T who take time out of their busy day to have a meaning chat conversatio (ya, i know that to some “chat” and “meaningful” are antithetical to each other, but… there it is… Some things can be best expressed in chat.)
• Beautiful cool fall day with glorious sunshine
• landlord volunteering to help carry computer up to 4th floor
• parents who lend cars and E-Z passes
• cute professors

um wait.
did i say that?

no, i didn’t.
please, just disregard.

a beautiful girls’ day out on cape cod… tooling around the cape with my friend and her friend, listening to great music, buying freshfreshfresh apples at Crow Farm, driving to the beach, eating delicioso deli sandwiches from the Far Land deli near/in Provincetown, going up to Herring Cove Beach and watching the beautiful sunset the Sun SET, that was!!! and Seeing the Green FLASH!!!

and more music and friends talking/listening on the way back to her place!

all in all, thank you for this day.

great conversation with my mother today and yesterday… deep stuff… about life, the universe and everything

change

- my dad spontaneously agreed to go for a walk with me yesterday
- I woke up with my alarm
- Amitav Ghosh has written a new book – Sea of Poppies
- my sister has her heart in the right place
- got to see my cousin after about 20 years

amongst them, the children of my friends!

yesterday my friend N (from childhood) called to invite me to a small gathering at his place that he was having for two others of our mutual friends who are in town from far away states….

but then, by the time i got there this evening, it had balloon-blossomed into a much larger gathering…
There were:
1. P and M and their two daughters
2. N and A and their three kids
3. M and J and their two sons
4. A and A and their two kids
5. J and H and their two kids
6. my brother (who i didn’t know was invited till he got there!!!!!!)
7. me

wow!!!!!!!
It was amazing to get to spend time with all these people, old and young….

I wish we could do it more often, but time and physical constraints make it very, very difficult… Which makes this time even more precious.

list for today…

sorry for the blue smudges… i love felt tips, but they do tend to run when when one spills some water…

• all the various kids and parents that came to the gardening program yesterday, especially the lil imp who fell in love with the gardening hose and the dynamic duo who impressed me with their sunflower drawing super abiliies!

• the mom and daughter duo who made me feel good about helping them earlier today

• the elderly gentleman who, despite being too verbose in his deploring of the inanities of the medicare system, was pleased with the information I was able to find for him

• the sun coming in thru the window after the fabulous thunderstorm we had here earlier this eve

• having had the presence of mind to just say no to going to Jersey today, and determined not to feel guilty about it

• having finished writing the essays for scholarship application… hallelujah

• not having to take classes this summer

• the great conversation i had with the 3rd grade teacher at the library today (wherein i introduced her to Novelist as a reader’s advisory tool, as well as found her the Read-Aloud Handbook

in a pretty flowered journal (somewhat atypical of me, btw, to write in a pretty flowered journal, but hey it’s always nice to mix things up.

but today i didn’t do it on my commute to work, as i usually do, so am doing it here…

• finally getting my grades for Spring 2008. and, the fact that, umm….. _{they were great!}
• my foresight in bringing oatmeal to work last week, so that I actually have breakfast to eat today!
• the fact that I will get to see my friends J and L get married very, very soon! They are two of my favorite people. Besides the fact that they are lovely people in and of themselves, L is a librarian and J works with chocolate…
• more soon…

even though I was afraid that driving to work was a bad idea, that I got here so early that I’m being allowed to work an earlier shift, which in turn allows me to get home early, which will help a lot with some stuff I want to get done!!

the rain falling will water the plants

that I get to live so close to a beautiful community garden, even if it’s temporary. (In fact it’s this very transience that’s making me appreciate it so much more)

that I go the chance to read Jhumpa Lahiri’s new book because I found it in the Express Reads section at the library I worked at on Saturday

that I had two days off in a row this weekend

that I’ll be going on a small vacation soon, to attend the wedding of two friends who met through me!