Thankful {things I love} Thursday ...

"Here is an amazement- 

once I was twenty years old and in every motion of my body there was a delicious ease,

 and in every motion of the green earth there was a hint of paradise,

 and now I am sixty years old, and it is the same"

~Mary Oliver~

Happy Thursday... well, just like last Thursday's post, the photos are uploading in the opposite direction.   I deleted the first attempt and tried it again uploading in a different order and still it came through like this, so  going with the *flow* we will start backwards with Reflecting on the week :-) 

I adore the words of Mary Oliver and came across the above quote a few days ago which I *loved* Mary Oliver's words/quotes/stories resonate with me and I find myself jotting them down in my quote books so I can reflect on them.

Archer and I are home from our  lovely, slow, morning walk. We actually took a different route this morning and were greeted by a tree filled with sparrows happily chirping away, something I would have missed had we not changed things up a bit.

Walked around the garden to take some photos for today's Thankful post. The weather is gorgeous. Puffy quilted vest, warm knitted hat and turtleneck kept me toasty warm.  

for my soul

this book... I have read and loved it for many, many years. It's a perpetual date book which I especially love as you can pick it up daily, read the days story and quote, and then when the last page - December 31st is read, start the New Year again. Written by Sister Stanislaus Kennedy, it tells of the beautiful order of the seasons through mindful thoughts and meditations which speaks to my soul.

I picked the last of the Cosmos in the garden as I walked and gathered up *almost* all the seed. I will fill little glass tubes with the seeds from our garden to give to my daughter and daughter in law to sprinkle in their own gardens {a little bit of home for their home}

"For a seed to achieve its greatest expression, it must come completely undone.

The shell cracks and everything changes.

To someone who doesn't understand growth,

it would look like complete destruction"

~Cynthia Occelli~ 

for my hands

one of my needle punch creations, a whimsical little pumpkin and the Scarecrow I painted years ago.

They make me smile when I walk up to the front door ;-)

for my feet

a walk around the garden fills me with thankfulness and gratitude.

My sanctuary. Cooper's Hawk was visiting earlier in the week sitting on the fence behind the cedars!

 The colours are so magnificent this time of the year when my garden is dressed in all my favourite hues.

The flowering pear in my meditation space. It's sweet branches hang over my head and it feels like a little cocoon. 

honeysuckle vine cover the arbours

and our pergola

for my mouth

bowls of fresh fruit on the kitchen counter

Bananas, red Gala apples & pears. Tonight's supper is roasted vegetable lasagna and I will use a few of the apples and pears in a cobbler with vanilla  custard for desert.

"The body is like a piano, and happiness is like music.

It is needful to have the instrument in good order"

~Henry Ward Beecher~

for my eyes

spotted this sweet tiny leaf atop of a very large honeysuckle leaf

for my ears

a sweet little grey squirrel was sitting on the edge of one of our birdbaths taking a drink of water.

He made me smile as he balanced the very large walnut in his mouth keeping his eyes on Archer and I as he drank just in case we may have wanted it! 

The trees have dropped their leaves into all the bird baths and while it looks very pretty, now that squirrel has moved on , I will tip it over  and refill with some nice fresh water.

 happy Thursday blessings

d x