One of my favourite bloggers ever sent me a Happy Thanksgiving card. I was so touched that she thought of me and excited because I’ve never received a Thanksgiving card before, so thank you Meleah Rebeccah over at Momma Mia, Mea Culpa for the wonderful wishes. (By the way, don’t you just love the title of her blog? It’s so witty, isn’t it?)
In Australia we don’t celebrate Thanksgiving. The closest we come is Australia Day in January. Yet I think having a national day of thanks would be very good for our nation’s psyche. It would also mean that I would get to try some delicious-sounding food. My sister lives in North Carolina and this year she is having bourbon-glazed turkey (make mine a double!) with corn-bread stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, honey-glazed ham, a mushroom-stuffed beef roast, pumpkin pie, white chocolate and cranberry pie; washed down with egg nog and mulled cider. Heaven!
There are so many things I’d like to give thanks for:
* my son – he is just one in a million, that kid. I see the better parts of myself and his father in him (thank God he didn’t get the bad parts!) He brings me joy every single day
* cardiologists – these men saved Alfie’s life. Their knowledge and experience was astounding but their most striking feature was the calm they exuded. I was immediately comfortable in their presence. I HEART CARDIOLOGISTS!
* my family – even though at times there is a lot of dredging up of issues from the past which often bleakly colours the present, I love you all and I am grateful you are in my life
* my friends – in the words of Sly Stone, ‘Thank You Falettinme Be Mice Elf.’
* my blogging friends – you have given me something I didn’t think was possible to find on the internet – wonderful friendships! Blogging has opened up a whole new world for me. I love it! But more than anything I love the friends I have met through this awesome community. I love reading your blogs, I love reading your comments, I love the emails you send; it makes me feel really fortunate, so MERCI !
* the people I don’t know who tell me their stories. I met a lady on the bus the other day. She was one of those elderly ladies who are very neatly dressed. ‘Well turned out,’ my grandmother used to say. She had on a beautifully pressed cream blouse, a camel skirt, stockings with a herringbone pattern and Mary Poppins shoes. She told me that as little as sixty years ago there was a forest in the area where we live that is now a racetrack. Back in those days many people had stables at the back of their properties and they used to take the horses with carts down to the forest where they cut down trees to fuel their stoves and fires. We had a really interesting discussion about the price of progress. Thank you, Ellen, for sharing your story!
* movies, books, songs which continue to inspire me and make me feel glad to be alive. Thanks to all you creative people out there!
* photographers who take common, everyday images and turn them into art; you make me appreciate there is beauty all around
* soy milk – I can still enjoy a dairy-like experience without any of the lactose intolerance side effects
* poets – I don’t think any of you – alive, dead, published, unpublished – can truly appreciate how much your work has meant to me. I read poetry every day. It rings my day in – a crystal bell pealing in an azure sky
* goldfish – I own goldfish (three tanks) and I love them. They are responsive, cute, funny and give my family much joy. They have their own personalities and characteristics. I lost five of them to a bad outbreak of fungus this year (imported from an unscrupulous pet shop) and wept as if I had lost a family member. Thank you, fishies – I wuv you!
* my Mac Powerbook. The only thing it doesn’t do is make me a cup of coffee in the morning but I’m sure someone could program it to do that for me
* daydreaming – the stuff of life!
* birdsong in the morning
* acts of kindness
* people who care about the world and aren’t pushing a political agenda. I put my faith in all those young activists like my neighbour, Lawrie, for a better future
* chocolate
* rain – I look to the skies every morning
I have many more things I am thankful for but I would like to end with a quote from the wonderful poet, e.e. cummings :
” I thank you god for most this amazing day.”
A friend has emailed me a recipe for pumpkin pie. I am now going to attempt to make it. I Can Has Pie ?
HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL!!!!!!
Selma In The City 
Happy Thanksgiving, Selma!
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as always you are a darling… thank you for the warm wishes,, and a happy holiday to you too selma!!!!!!
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Well here in Canada we do Thanksgiving in October…anyways Happy American Thanksgiving (LOL). I couldn’t help laugh that you are thankful for soy milk – don’t you guys have Lactaid Milk in Australia or lactose free milk? I drink that and my friends drink it too when they come over and they tell me it tastes like regular milk except abit sweeter. All I can say soy milk – yuck ( I tried it once and didn’t like how it tasted).
Me too I’m thankful for chocolate and daydreaming…
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desperatewriter – Happy Thanksgiving to you too!
Paisley – it is my pleasure. Hope you’re having a good time!
tball – you do get used to the soy, believe it or not. I’ve tried the lactose free milk but I do prefer the soy. Years ago before soy became really popular you had to mix it up from a powder. So gross!That was the period I now refer to as ‘the dark ages’ when I was forced to eat my breakfast cereal dry.
Good to hear from you!
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Awww! Selma! Your very welcome! Happy Thanksgiving!!
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We really need something in Britain at this time of year, if only to prevent Christmas starting too early! We use to have something called Empire Day, until Empire became a dirty word.
Australia Day, I liked! I was at the big parade in Adelaide in 2006, and it rocked! (40 years ago, you’d never have used ‘Adelaide’ and ‘rocked’ in the same sentence :D)
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Perhaps we should start up a campaign and petition to have an Aussie thanks giving day.. perhaps a thankssgiving/sorry day.
David
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“Birdsong in the morning.” – Birdsong all day long. I’ve just been in the garden at nearly 5pm doing some much needed weeding and the rosellas were singing to me. In fact, not just the song, those rosellas are a really good part of my life – I watch them come to our feeder each morning and they are such characters too. The cutest is when they hold a seed in one foot and nibble on it. And then they forget that they’re doing that and look around with the foot still in the air. And they chatter and chuckle at each other. Just gorgeous.
Chocolate, I agree. Definitely on my list.
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Quite a positive post!
How did the pie turn out?
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Meleah – hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Travelrat – I agree with you, Australia Day is fun. And it is so nice to be able to give thanks. I’m not sure if we do it enough.
David – what a fantastic idea. I would be all for it!
daoine – you are so lucky to have rosellas in your garden. They are the cutest little things, aren’t they? I saw a group of galahs (or is it a flock) in the park the other day, tame as anything. They are so cute and chubby they are almost like cartoon characters. I really love Australian birds and I am so glad to see them coming back to the city!
Depserate writer – my sister emailed me and said her Thanksgiving feast was divine. I was so jealous and dreamed of turkey all weekend.
tesco – thanks so much for stopping by. The pie was absolutely delicious. I was surprised it turned out so well because my crust is usually, well, a bit crusty. By the way, I have visited your blog before and am a bit of a fan. I am a huge Queens of the Stone Age nut. There is a show here called Later with Jools and Josh Homme was on it with PJ Harvey doing one of the Desert Sessions songs. It was brilliant!
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