Day 2189: I’m a ______, not a __________.

I’m a Star Trek fan, not a collector, and I recognized Dr. Leonard McCoy’s trademark phrase on a glass at a Thanksgiving celebration yesterday.

I’m a psychotherapist, not a doctor, and I recognize that it’s important how we define ourselves by what we are and what we are not.

I’m a blogger, not a bricklayer, and here are the other photos I took yesterday:

 

I’m an amateur photographer, not a graphic designer, so click on any of the above photos if you want to see them better.

I’m a questioner, not an answerer (for now), so can you identify what people were and weren’t at that Thanksgiving celebration yesterday, just by looking at those pictures?

I’m a music fan, not a professional musician and I’m sharing Elvis Presley singing two things he is (here and here) and one thing he is not (here).

I’m a curious person, not a pushy one, so might you please share something you are and something you are not in a comment, below?

I’m a grateful human being, not an ungrateful one, so thanks to Michael’s siblings who hosted Thanksgiving celebrations, Elvis Presley, Star Trek, everyone else who helped me create today’s blog post and — of course! —  YOU.

 

 

Day 2188: Today is …

Today is …

• the anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination,
• the anniversary of my first heart surgery and my first pacemaker, at age 10,
• the birthday of a wonderful woman named Jean who reads this blog (Happy Birthday, Jean!), and
• Thanksgiving in the USA!

Today is a great day to give thanks and to share these photos, taken yesterday.

Today is a day to share this: we may rant and rave at the passage of time, but it’s good to be in the moment — today and every day!

Today is the day I discovered Today is master-class:  how to paint a cat.

 

Today is a day for giving thanks to all who help me create these blog posts and to you — of course! — for reading them.

Day 2128: When children are present

When children are present,

and even when they’re not, share your best.

Share your best, especially when the world seems dark and scary.

 

Find the beauty within and around you.

Look more closely for the small details that give you joy.

Say “hello,” tell people your name, and the magic will be totally real.

This is what comes up on YouTube when I search for “When children are present.”

Thanks to all who helped me create today’s blog post and to you — of course! — for being present.

Day 1060: Thanksgiving Limericks

A blogging survivor named Ann

Gives sweet thanks every day that she can.

If you’re reading this now

Take a breath and a bow

She is thankful for you — she’s your fan!

.

Ann gives thanks every day that she blogs,

What she sees, thinks, and feels here she logs,

Those connections she makes

And those photos she takes

Of streets, peeps, arts, plays, cars, cats, and dogs.

 

Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!   ❤

Day 696: Thanksgiving Connections

An hour or two (but who’s counting?) before we on the east coast of the USA connected to Thanksgiving 2014, I connected to Mark Bialczak‘s comment on my post yesterday:

Ann, you’re on a two-year run of blog superiority, going strong, going proud, going to all measures to stay in tune with life. And we run to it every day to read your wisdom, see your pictures, listen to your songs. What a connection. Thank you, and bless you and your special heart. Happy Thanksgiving to you and Aaron and Michael. 🙂

Yes, Mark. What a connection! I give thanks for that, for you, and for all others who read this blog.

Yesterday, after I wrote my post and before I read any comments (including Mark’s) about it, I heard this song on my walk to work:

(I give thanks for this live version of Sting’s “The Soul Cages,” found here on YouTube.)

Throughout the day, I connected “The Soul Cages” to almost everything I saw, and I was thankful.

Before I connect you to the photos I took, I had hoped to connect you to a definition of “The Soul Cages.” The only definitions I can find, however, through my internet connections, relate to Sting’s album and song.

So I guess I’ll connect you to my own personal definition (for which I thank all my neurons, synapses and other mind and body connections):

The Soul Cages: Bodies and other things that hold souls, during life on earth.

Here are the images I connected to and captured with connections to “The Soul Cages” (for which I am thankful):

         

(image thanks to Jen Soska via Maureen Herman)

   

  

What connections are you making, right now?

Many thanks, on this 2014 Thanksgiving, to all the connections I’ve ever made in any way (which would include you, if you get the connection).

 

Day 333: Leaving room

Much to my surprise, I haven’t used this title for a post before.

Why am I surprised?  Because “leaving room” is something very important to me.

I think it’s important to leave room for:

• People’s thoughts, feelings, and experiences.
• The possibility of change.
• The messiness of life.
• Our wishes to control all of the above (even when we can’t).

I think it’s important to leave room for all of it.*

In this post, I’m trying to leave room for my experience and for yours, too.

Question: I wonder how I am doing?

Answer: I think I’m doing well enough, so far.

Before I end, I would like to include an image.  Or perhaps a sound bite.

It’s wonderful to engage different senses, isn’t it?

Checking my iPhone for photos that might fit the bill ….

Aha!

On our way to a family get-together yesterday, we saw these, crossing the road (to get to the other side):

Can you see what those are? Maybe not. Especially since my introduction to the photo was misleading.**

If you couldn’t tell, here’s a closer shot:

Yes, indeed.

It was wonderful to make room for turkeys, especially on Thanksgiving Day in the USA, 2013.

Thanks for making room for all of it, today.

_________________________________

* Including many things that didn’t make the list today.

** In case you don’t know the joke, here it is:

Question: Why did the chicken cross the road?

Answer: To get to the other side.