Loukoumades - Greek Honey Puffs
at the Panegryi Festival

We went to the Panegyri Festival yesterday, and in addition to Tiropita and Spanakopita and Gyros, we ate warm Honey Puffs - yum!

I am grateful for festival food in the summer - 

Ευχαριστώ (Efharistó ) - Greek

As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.

~ John F. Kennedy

I am grateful for a silly cat who likes to sleep in the laundry basket - 

Sometimes I'm grateful for television . . . 

I am grateful for beautiful  moments - 

I am grateful for our kitchen - 

I am grateful for my funny friend, Miss Zippy - 

I am grateful for my computer - 

I am grateful for my camera - 

I am grateful for a Twilight Tour at Spring Grove Cemetery - 

I am grateful for a Face Cone from Putz's Creamy Whip - 

I am grateful for the surprises and miracles of nature - 

I am grateful to see new places - 

I am grateful for the library - 

I am grateful for forgiveness - 

~~~~~~~~~~~~ from A Little Book of Forgiveness, by D. Patrick Miller

I’m attempting to help others become attuned to the frequency of forgiveness: a clear tone of sane guidance in a world filled with the harsh static of fear, confusion and vengeance.

. . . At different times in my life I've tried to change the way that others thought and behaved . . . Only forgiveness has substantially changed me for the better - by making me less angry and self-absorbed . . .

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Resentment is blinding. It limits our perception of what is real (or changing) in the present and shuts down our capacity to envision a happier future. . . . We all change together . . . Anyone can initiate the changes we all need by opening up new territories within his or her mind. . .

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Any person, group, change, accident, or phenomenon of nature that seems to have control over you is a momentary stand-in for God.

. . . The beginning of forgiveness is alertness to false ideas. . . . Only that which is false needs to be released. . . . Then a new life, less limited by habits and prejudices, can surface within you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

The change happens within you, but comes from beyond you. . . Forgiveness will never rob you of what you truly need.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

To accelerate forgiveness, practice gratefulness.

I am grateful for a wonderful weekend with beautiful weather, interesting people & experiences, and good food - 

I am grateful for opportunities - 

We should remember that good fortune often happens when opportunity meets with preparation.” 
~ Thomas A. Edison

I am grateful for clouds

When in doubt, look up. . . . Look up for guidance.

~ from Powers, by Ursula K. LeGuin

Let me say this before rain becomes a utility that they can plan and distribute for money. By "they" I mean the people who cannot understand that rain is a festival, who do not appreciate its gratuity, who think that what has no price has no value, that what cannot be sold is not real, so that the only way to make something actual is to place it on the market. The time will come when they will sell you even your rain. At the moment it is still free, and I am in it. I celebrate its gratuity and its meaninglessness.

. . . Nobody started it, nobody is going to stop it. It will talk as long as it wants, this rain. As long as it talks I am going to listen. . .

Of course the festival of rain cannot be stopped, even in the city. The woman from the delicatessen scampers along the sidewalk with a newspaper over her head. The streets, suddenly washed, became transparent and alive, and the noise of traffic becomes a plashing of fountains. One would think that urban man in a rainstorm would have to take account of nature in its wetness and freshness, its baptism and its renewal. But the rain brings no renewal to the city, on to tomorrow's weather, and the glint of windows in tall buildings will then have nothing to do with the new sky. All "reality" will remain somewhere inside those walls, counting itself and selling itself with fantastically complex determination. Meanwhile the obsessed citizens plunge through the rain bearing the load of their obsessions, slightly more vulnerable than before, but still only barely aware of external realities. They do not see that the streets shine beautifully, that they themselves are walking on stars and water, that they are running in skies to catch a bus or a taxi, to shelter somewhere in the press of irritated humans, the faces of advertisements and the dim, cretinous sound of unidentified music. But they must know that there is wetness abroad. Perhaps they even feel it. I cannot say. Their complaints are mechanical and without spirit.

Naturally no one can believe the things they say about the rain. It all implies one basic lie: only the city is real. That weather, not being planned, not being fabricated, is an impertinence, a wen on the visage of progress. (Just a simple little operation, and the whole mess may become relatively tolerable. Let business make the rain. This will give it meaning.)

~ from Rain and the Rhinoceros, by Thomas Merton

I am grateful for my friend, Cabooki - 

We are grateful for sunshine - 

The value of consistent prayer is not that God will hear us, but that we will hear God.

~ William McGill

I am grateful for electricity - an accident knocked out power to thousands of homes near us last night; I was at a friend's home and didn't realize what had happened until this morning when I turned on the TV on heard the news.  I'm grateful we didn't lose electricity.

I am grateful for fresh strawberries - picked yesterday morning and eaten a few hours later - 

No longer forward nor behind
I look in hope or fear;
But, grateful, take the good I find,
The best of now and here.

. . . And so the shadows fall apart,
And so the west-winds play;
And all the windows of my heart
I open to the day.

~ from My Pslam, John Greenleaf Whittier

"The difference between what we do
and what we are capable of doing
would suffice to
solve most of the world's problems.
~ Mohandas Gandhi

I am grateful for reminders - 

I am grateful for beauty 

whenever and wherever I find it - 

I found this pendant on Saturday and plan to put it on a necklace today; I am grateful for silly things that make me laugh - 

I am grateful for egg custard - 

I am grateful that Cabooki has healed up, and his fur is growing back - 

I am grateful for the opportunities to try new things and make new mistakes . . . 

In my kitchen

I am grateful for the food I have to eat - 

I am grateful for my kitchen - 

Yesterday morning was the pancake breakfast: pancakes with real maple syrup - fresh strawberries that had been picked the evening before - eaten outside in the morning sunshine with good company - 

I found this Lucky Cat - Maneki Neko - at the Goodwill Thrift Store on Saturday; and since they were having a half-price sale, it was only 50 cents -

I felt very lucky and blessed this weekend - things went better than I expected - there were surprises and good things: good people, good food, good experiences, good weather -

50% OFF!

We went to Hobby Lobby, and the things we wanted were on sale for 50% off!

I found some old gift cards for Michael's, so we went there on Saturday - and along with some coupons, I got over $30 of materials for only 17 cents!

I am grateful for free stuff - especially when it's materials that I can use to make and share with other people - 

Lucky

I am grateful to be so lucky . . . 

"Each morning we are born again. 

What we do today is what matters most."

~ Buddha

Might as well be grateful for rain, because here it comes . . .