Sounds, Thoughts & Things

Sounds ~

I am in the mood for some, well, mood music. You know, the beautiful music that you imagine playing during a charming movie scene that takes place during Fall. No lyrics, just music, and today specifically, Vivaldi's Allegro from The Four Seasons ~ Autumn... just listen and feel. Also nice is Tchaikovsky's piano suite The Seasons. Listen.  Oh, and I'm sure I am not the only one who cannot wait to enjoy the sounds of Peanuts Thanksgiving Special, right? Listen.  Good stuff, Charlie Brown.  What music fills you with warm memories of the season?

Thoughts & Sounds ~

After yesterday's blog post, I haven't been able to get thought out of my head the fact that I can't remember when I last heard that rustling sound of fallen leaves tumbling along the ground as if dancing in celebration of Autumn.  The season makes my heart dance, or at least it did at one time.  Desert temps here hit 100f again, so no dancing today, but I did sweat a lot.  Appears same daytime highs will continue into next week, as will my crummy mood.  Are you a warm weather lover or a do you prefer a reason to bundle up a few months out of the year?

Things, Thoughts & Sounds ~

Today came with reminders of good things... people doing good things.  People making a difference.  People reminding others that they matter.  What stands out for me during this time of year - when importance of expressing gratitude comes into focus - is the contributions of many purposely living their lives with the intent to make things better.

A few years back, strangers and long lost - and found again - friends came to my family's aid.  It was early Fall, and my husband had just lost his job.  When I mentioned this to my daughter's friend's mom, without question, she arranged through her church, food rations and utility assistance.  When I tell you her church women's group assembled a complete Thanksgiving dinner, I mean right down to whipped cream, candles & a centerpiece for the table.  Gift cards sent from friends and family provided additional relief.

Grace.

Christmas that year was the last time we decorated the exterior of our house. That year a bus load of strangers, on a home holiday lights tour, took up a collection and brought it to our door. We were told that house brought everyone so much joy that they wanted to help with our electricity bill. It would be two years until my husband found work; by then we had lost our home and were forced to ask family to take us in.  Recalling this time still leaves me breathless.

Grace begets Gratitude.

So, maybe, when you hear those special sounds of the season, be it music, singing, mealtime banter and laughter, or those rustling leaves, know how grateful my heart was for these gifts when I needed them most.  It is with gratitude that I share some of my favorite causes and organizations doing good works for the good of all.

Grace begets Gratitude begets Generosity. 

Give A Goat!

Celebrate Socktober
with
Kid President!

Near and Dear...
The Boardman Family
& Matt's Mates

Sources: 

• wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Vivaldi
• wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Four_Seasons_(Vivaldi)
• wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyotr_Ilyich_Tchaikovsky
• wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Seasons_(Tchaikovsky)
• wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tchaikovsky_the_Seasons_October.ogg
• VinceGuaraldiVEVO  youtu.be/4KJeS1MdYWc
• www.heifer.org
• Matt's Mates at www2.jdrf.org/site/TR/Walk/Chapter-HoustonGulfCoast4644?team_id=150489&pg=team&fr_id=3887

Ah, Sweet November...

It's going to be a good day.  The weather is perfect this morning... gray skies, temps dropping, snow in the forecast... I love November.

*****

I woke up with a twitchy face yesterday and today.  Sorta freaked out about that.  Mostly it's the left side of my nose, but I think it's starting to balance out.  Hope it's nothing.  If somebody in the house notices, they'll say something... I think.  What might have caused this is that I slept facing the window the other night and my face froze.  (Can that happen with a few inches in between?  Yikes!)

Last night ended on an up note and it carried over to this morning.  Also proved it doesn't take a lot to make me happy.  But, actually, what happened was a big deal.  They say good things come in threes.  My three good things were great in my opinion.  First of all, I got a Twitter follower who in my book is a pretty big deal; a writer for some of my favorite comedies - stuff I used to watch and silently fall over laughing, because I was usually watching at some ungodly hours of the night... Following me?  And we had a bit of back and forth via the Twitter.  Cool, right?  Next thing was, Halloween was saved by R.J. buying a couple of bags of candy after work to hand out to kids who came by trick-or-treating.  But the best thing was getting in touch with an old friend who I haven't seen in years; a former neighbor who I met during those happier times, in Texas.  That made my day.

As for today... I blame four power outages  for making it a not-completely-great day.  I had been hoping to be quite a bit more productive... do a good deed or two... have a nice tea... watch a favorite movie!  Did none of these things.  My A.M goal was to do four loads of laundry, but I had to go out a few times and by noon I had only done two loads; also, two outages - one long, one short - put a wrench in that plan.  My P.M. plan was to shower, go to grocery store, and take some coats and jackets to the homeless vets drop off site, then stop by Salvation Army with a few bags of clothes that didn't sell at our Summer yard sales.  Had to put plans off until another day this week; after tonight's snow storm clears up.  At least I did eventually do those four loads of laundry by the end of the day despite there having been a couple more power outages.  Hope we are done with those for now.  It's late and I don't really feel like tea right now, however I would love a nice hot shower.  Don't want to disturb the household though.

I do love November, to me it has a romantic feel.  I'm going to honor that and try to watch favorite movies with romance themes.  I had planned on first movie to be Little Manhattan, but outages didn't allow time for that, so hopefully tomorrow.

November also reminds me of the importance of gratitude.  So, today, I am grateful for new acquaintances and old friends; Quick and easy and cheap meals that turn out delicious; Electricity and good t.v. shows and news reporting; My family; and a quiet, snowy sleep time.

One more good thing about today:  I actually shared a dream; thought I felt a twinge of hope.

Welcome, November.