JAN 21, 2010

Yep I’ve made a Thankful Thursday Badge Copyrighted THE PONY EXPRESSION. Please be respectful and ask permission before using it.  The painting of a poppy and the photograph of the bird are both owned by me. I cropped them then pasted them together specifically for this badge.

Original Photograph “Frigid” by: Stacey Huston – A Focus In The Wild
Original Painting by: Tina Campbell

I have to tell you that I am overwhelmingly thankful for these two pieces of art. What joy they bring to my heart every time I gaze upon them.

I spent yesterday reorganizing my room. All my totes are now stacked up in the corner next to the door with Dragons habitat propped up on top of them. By doing this I have opened up more space in the room and Dragon is a wee bit warmer being up higher in the room. I believe he will feel a bit more secure also when people enter the room. Being up higher allows him to peer down upon them, in stead of the other way around. To make this adjustment I had to finish up the painting of that corner of the room.  Yay! Closer to being done!

This meant that the TV could be moved and the desks could be organized so that my plants could be more consolidated in front of the window. They now share a space with a 10 gallon fish tank that Heather gave to me. It will house Connor the betta fish and a live pond plant, most likely an unbrella plant…

…along with a handful of Fathead Minnows (Rosey Reds).

My fish tank wont be the most spectacular, but it will be a sustainable ecosystem driven off of natural bacterias with no extra lighting or pumps or heaters. In other-words it will be completely self contained.  Most folks use Rosey’s as bait fish or feeder fish, and if you havent kept them as pet hobby fish you are missing out. They are so personable compared to most schooling fish.  Just stick your hand in the water and they’ll be all over it nibbling away and they’ll come racing out to greet you at dinner time too. Sweet little fish that glow with an iridescent sheen on a light pinkish golden body.

I love fish and for this little ecosystem I am very grateful.  The serenity it will provide and hours of visual enjoyment and  let’s not forget the companionship it will provide means the world to me.

Ive had a great day today. Got a good nights rest and woke up easy. Went to Kettlebells class and received a good workout. Walked to the post office and found my large Bluebird photograph waiting for me to pickup. A while later I was off to receive a wonderful massage and now I’m sitting back with a beer in hand with nothing more to do than to say THANK YOU!

For more gratitude/thankfulness please visit these sites: Akal Ranch – Tired Dog Ranch – Enlightened Horsemanship Through Touch – From The Horses Back – Grateful For – Jonathan Lawson of mysnowpro.com and of course our guest blogger Zebrafinch,  and our newsest Heart of Gratitude Maryanne Garvin of the Silverton Movement Center… OUR CIRCLE IS GROWING

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THANKFUL THURSDAY

I’ve done some pondering  on this particular Thankful Thursday post. I come to find that my every day is blessed with gratitude and so come Thursday I feel like I’m just going back over things I’ve already acknowledged all week long.  Like living in this sweet little town, being close to my daughter, having the best friends anyone could have. etc etc.  Not to downplay those very important things but I come to struggle with isolating that one thing that just jumps out at me.  What could it be?

I know!

This wonderful Circle of Gratitude that is growing leaps and bounds.  The kindness that it creates in everyone who participates.  My life has been blessed because one day a year ago my friend, Simrat decided to try out the idea of dedicating one day each week to gratitude. I followed suit – sounded like a good idea…  …she wasn’t the first to create a Thankful Thursday circle, but there is something spiritual about this particular Gratitude Circle.  Something joyful and fresh that I have not found elsewhere. I think its because we take this seriously and truly care how our experiences affects those around us.  And, we care about our own Spirit and strive to become good stewards of gratitude.

Who would ever know where this exercise would take us.  I feel a certain warmth and joy because of the kind and grateful words that are appearing everywhere by folks as a result. Gratitude is drawn to us and us to it through friends and strangers from all over the world. All showing their thankfulness in their own unique ways.  This I am thankful for and highly appreciate.

Something else to be grateful – my work is taking off. Been so busy that I need body work to continue. How much more could I ask for in a time of struggle for so many, that I have all my bills paid for the month of Jan and Feb’s rent paid for already.  This in a remote little mining town of 450 winter occupants who  may or may not become massage clients.  I was told today that people were talking about me, that I was the best MT in town. Well I don’t know about that!  But I do care about my clients and do my best for them every time I see them. I am so grateful that they trust me and appreciate the work I do for them.

And!!  I get my XBOX tomorrow YAY!  Heather and I are going to Durango tomorrow to shop and I pick it up. This means I get to play online games with my friends  and family, watch whatever movies I want, have whatever music I want and all for a smitten  $50.00 a year. No big Cable or satellite bills for me!! Heather and Malcolm gave me  a large sum toward the purchase for my Christmas present. and for this I am very VERY thankful!  I can tell you I’m in utter Glee!  Anybody up for some online Magic?

Please read on  to the next post for another Thankful Thursday by guest blogger ZEBRAFINCH.

For more gratitude/thankfulness please visit these sites: Akal Ranch – Tired Dog Ranch – Enlightened Horsemanship Through Touch – From The Horses Back – Grateful For – Jonathan Lawson of mysnowpro.com and of course our guest blogger Zebrafinch, OUR CIRCLE IS GROWING

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WORD BY WORD…

Wow today is Thursday already!!  Time to stop, think, observe and witness all those things to be thankful for.  I like to ingest them feel them flowing throughout my body and mind. I have to say I always feel like I’ve been to a health retreat, all refreshed and ready for the next week. 

Do you remember Out of Africa- the movie?  If not try watching it.  I may have brought this up in a past Thankful Thursday post, but its very relevant to my life today.  Meryl Streep – played the part of an English woman living on a plantation in Africa. Robert Redford played the dashing pilot, her best friend, part-time lover and heart-ache in the movie. 

Douglas Kirkland
Meryl Streep and Robert Redford, 1985
Out of Africa
Copyright Douglas Kirkland
Courtesy the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

There are two scenes in that movie that truly moved me. One is where she has the two most promenant men of her life sitting fireside in her living room. She began to read to them.  The way she read each word as if it were the entire story captivated me, reminding me of how I live my life. One breath, one word, one thought…  I have always seen myself in that woman.  Most would not agree by looking at me , or working with me, but in my most private space, that’s how I live.  The second scene was in the end when the love of her life had past and she had gone back home to England. Kinda like when Kinndlewood passed and I eventually moved to Silverton. She sat at her desk and she wrote  about her life and him…  Kinda like right now.  Sitting at my desk writing about my life in the same word by word, thought by thought manner honoring of the past and the future.  Making sure he, she, or it, or whatever (insert here), will never be forgotten.

Just  remember to be thankful for who you are, where you are, how you are, how you got here, and what you have to offer, and mostly for those who surround you.

Now for something that just fills my heart and makes me smile so wide it almost hurts.  Shel Silverstein – I have a poem to share from one of his books “The Light In The Attic”, but first you must go to his website.  Take the time to browse – it’s just one of the most fun trips you’ll ever take. One of my clients, well he’s my landlord too, builds violins – his passion, and he reads books like “The Light In The Attic”. After his massage each week he always plays me a piece on one of his violins or viola,  whos birth I have been witness too. Last time I saw him he read a poem to me. It was in honor of my best bud, Dragon. Here it is:

“THE DRAGON OF GRINDLY GRUN”

I’m the Dragon of Grindly Grun,

I breath fire as hot as the sun.

When a knight comes to fight,

I just toast him on sight.

Like a hot crispy cinnamon bun

 

When I see a fair damsel go by,

I just sigh a fiery sigh,

And she’s baked like a ‘tater–

I think of her later,

With a romantic tear in my eye.

 

I’m the Dragon of Grindly Grun,

But my lunches aren’t very much fun,

For I like my damsels medium rare,

And they always come out well done.

And now I want to acknowledge a huge thanks to the folks in town who hired me to help paint their house the last two days. It was fun and I needed the work.  They thought of me. For that I am thankful.  I am thankful for the moonlight walk I took with Heather  and Cindy. I’m disappointed that I left my camera at home. If I had not you would be seeing the romantic little town of Silverton lit up for Christmas in the moonlight from atop the Shrine road.  We plan to make another trek on the next full moon. I’ll be sure to have my camera!!  Afterward, we sat in Cindy’s (Heather’s mother-in-law) kitchen and enjoyed hot buttered rum and warm family banter.  It was wonderful. Heather said at one point that she had not smiled so much in awhile…

…for this I am deeply grateful.

For more Thankful Thursday posts try visiting these sites:

Akal Ranch, Tired Dog Ranch,  Enlightened Horsemanship Through Touch

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Short but not forgotten.

Check it here.  Then visit Akal Ranch, Tired Dog Ranch and Enlightened Horsemanship Through Touch blogs for more Gratitude.

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For all my friends and clients I feel a profound sense of Gratitude.  You all have shown me so much faith, love, commitment, and support.

This Thankful Thursday is dedicated to each of you.

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I love Thankful Thursday because I really focus on what I have to be thankful for. I love Thankful Thursday because it has me thinking all week long on what I have to be thankful for. When things happen, good things, I immediately acknowledge them as something to grateful for. When the bad things happen I look for something that will emerge from the struggle to be grateful for.  The bad things make the good things ,all of them, much grander.

As long as we understand that to be thankful is an attitude altering experience and thus life changing and beneficial, we will seek out things to be thankful for resulting a life filled with grace and joy.

For more thankfulness please visit these sites.

Akal Ranch

Tired Dog Ranch

Enlightened Horsemanship Through Touch

Please feel free to join us by adding your Thankful Thursday blog posts to our list by leaving a comment here.

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As always in today’s Thankful Thursday I look for the simplest of things and try to see even the adversity life has thrown at me as something to be thankful for. There is so much to be thankful for. It’s all in the perspective you adopt for yourself.  How you wish to see and live your life.

For more thankfulness try out Akal Ranch or Tired Dog Ranch or Enlightened Horsemanship Through Touch

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Thankful Thursday is here again, and again I find many things to be thankful for.  We tend to go through life missing the small things that surround us everyday that without our lives would be empty or less interesting.  I love Thankful Thursday because it causes me to pause and really consider what I have to be thankful for in this world.  The mountains of things however small or large never cease to amaze me.

For more thankfulness try out Akal Ranch or Tired Dog Ranch or Enlightened Horsemanship Through Touch

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It’s in here somewhere…

Take a peek

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Another late Thankful Thursday .

I had this ready to go this morning but my ISP  has been having trouble over the past couple weeks so if any of you are having trouble getting onto the blog that is why.  They assure me that they are working things out and if my current server is not fixed soon they will move my account to a new server.  In the meantime I struggle to post, yet I persevere!
For more Thankful Thursdays please check out these blogs

Akal Ranch

Tired Dog Ranch

Enlightened Horsemanship Through Touch

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