It’s decorative gourd season, mother fuckers.

The little things I am thankful for:

• The excuse to use cinnamon in EVERYTHING!
• My cat who jumps into my lap within 30 seconds of me sitting down in my recliner.
• My cat who jumps into my lap, etc., and doesn’t bother my yarn or knitting. She is largely blind, which helps.
• Cinnamon raisin toast for breakfast. My dogs are grateful for this, too.
• The latte that I sip along with the toast. My dogs are indifferent to that.
• When Percy the Pit Bull gets the zoomies after coming in from outside.
• The sun that hits my eyes when I am at the kitchen sink. This can only happen after the leaves are down. The happiness comes from the fact that although November is the month with the least sunshine here in the Upper Midwest, we beat the odds today.
• My double-thick warm socks to keep my cold feet toasty-ish.
• The [mostly] clear space on the laundry room table that had been piled with 50-100 balls/skeins of random yarn for months. I spent Sunday afternoon putting it all away.
• Now I have a mental list of projects for those yarns.
• My glasses and various pairs of cheaters that enable my to see the world at 20-50. I still have to peer fixedly at the screen to know if I just typed a comma or a period.
• The seventh pair of underwear that some slave employee at Amazon slipped into my order for six pairs.
• The heated seats and steering wheel in my car.
• The mud and snow tires on said car that enable me to magically ascend our driveway hill no matter how much snow we receive. The AWD doesn’t hurt, either.
• The $3,000+ of VW parts and parts van that Smokey sold yesterday. He was going to sell all his VWs and parts, but realized he had too much emotional attachment to the 1958 VW convertible and the mid-60s VW camper van. I shall be grateful for the small things.
• No covid in our house since my extremely mild case in June and Elder Son’s similar case in August.
• My watch that tells me the outside temperature.
• My good knee (the one that was replaced).
• My bad knee that is still more-or-less functional.
• The camera on my phone that takes great pictures.
• The editing software on my computer that can improve them.
• The birthday cards from my knitting group that I found yesterday. One of them is the “dry flat” cartoon on Monday’s post.
• My knitting group
• My book group
• The little oven thermometer that allowed me to bake a delicious apple cake at the proper temp. I had to watch it like a hawk, but it worked.

And of course there are the big things I am thankful for:

• Smokey, who makes me laugh and can fix anything and who also does the grocery shopping and most of the cooking and cleaning
• Both sons, who are loving and generous and good citizens
• Elder Son’s wife, who is the same and who makes him happy
• Our dogs, who keep us entertained and loved
• Our cats, who do what cats do and who never relieve themselves anywhere but the litter box We have never before had cats that I could say this about
• Relatively good health
• Friends both near and far (the latter is you guys!)
• A good life.

Happy turkey day to you!