To my Blog Friends on Thanksgiving ~
In the rare hush over America
when Thanksgiving closes out November,
when Democrats and Republicans shelve their squeaky horns,
and early commercial Christmas crooners mute their carols,
in this silence when the sibilance of our familial
kissing and embracing,
back slapping and handshaking,
head bowing and glass raising
whispers sighs and murmurs of thanks,
I want to say thank you to You.
You shine your flashlight on aspects of life
and the world that no one else illuminates.
You help me think. You teach me your ways,
and you listen to mine.
I learn about music, art, biographies, history, culture, travel, films, books
all through your inimitable voices.
You write wild and wise stories and poems.
You show nature surrounding you through luminous photographs.
You let me see your grandchildren, and I pretend to hold them.
When I am afraid, you give me tips!
We play, you make me laugh!
You teach me to cook!
When you get sick, I pray.
When we’re happy, we’re happy together.
When we’re sad, ours is a chorus of weeping.
Thank you, my friends, for what you bring to this place,
which is not held captive in screeny web boxes,
but suffuses and inspires my heart-mind.
Yes, you're here, in my heart,
which is full and fat, and still hungry for more.
Soon it will have to lie on its side
like the 200-pound pumpkin Don grew!
I will be away for a few days.
Happy Thanksgiving!
-P
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90 comments:
We do not celebrate Thanksgiving in Australia, though strangely we see traces of Halloween.
Have a happy Thanksgiving, if that's how the salutation goes, and enjoy your break.
Hi Ruth hope you have a great break and good Thanksgiving.
Happy happy Thanksgiving, Ruth, may you enjoy it, 200-pound pumpkin and all! I will blow you kisses across the pond from the Thames. :)
Happy Thanksgiving, dear Ruth!
My blog friends are in my heart and encourage me in ways I never imagined! Thank you for your thank you. And I truly hope your holiday is wonderful.
And a very soulful, peaceful Thanksgiving to you, Ruth. Thank you for bringing us all to your table.
You are a weaver, dear Ruth, obrigado to you !
Happy Thanksgiving.
Thank you for being the great syn-chro-ni-zer.
The best Thanksgiving ever to you and yours, my sweet friend. Safe travels; and should the road diverge in a wood, take the one less traveled.
Much love.
XOXO
Happy Thanksgiving, Ruth
My goodness what a monster pumpkin! Love it!
And, really, we should be thanking you for the gift of your words. Mwah!
We're off to NC later this morning to celebrate with our families. I hope you have a wonderful day as well.
So, now I know what you do with a 200 lb. pumpkin! Happy Thanksgiving, Ruth. You have become important to me.
Such a beautiful note, Ruth. I give thanks for you and all of the joy that you provide weekly on your blog. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving with your family and friends.
Wishing you a beautiful, heart-full Thanks giving season. You are an inspiration to us all.
and to you.
Love this! Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!
Hi Ruth, Thank you for all the inspiration that you give to us and for sharing your family with us!
I've had tears in my eyes today, sister. A thin veil of sadness for not being in that home there. And yet, as I've said to Astrid, there's no other place I'd rather be. I, too, am 'fat' and full of the myriad blessings of this time of the year. Thnak you for sharing yours with us!
i am thankful that i happened into your world and "hear" your voice calling, crooning and giving me solace.
i hope you have a beautiful holiday - full of love and all things joyful.
Blog friends and a 200-pound pumpkin. Life is pretty good. Have a glorious thanksgiving!
Thank you, as well, Ruth, for everything you offer here.
Ruth--Have a wonderful Thanksgiving! Enjoy! c
Happy Turkey Day!
Enjoy my friend xoxox Cathy
Happy Thanksgiving Ruth!
what font is that on Don's pumpkin?
:)
And big thanks to you too, Ruth, for producing one of the most intelligent, creative, heartfelt blogs in cyberspace.
I am thankful for bloggy friends, too. I'm thrilled that a virtual community can become so real.
Have a lovely Thanksgiving weekend and enjoy the change of routine.
P.S. You aren't making pies from that pumpkin, are you? That would be a whole lotta pies.
Enjoy the day with family and friends Ruth. As you said we have too many things to thank for.
Today i feel like thanking and saluting WWW creator Tim Burners Lee for popularising the internet. Though it existed before by different names and had limited uses. Internet opened the world for me and i met many friends whom i have never met perhaps never will. And i found Synchronizing one lucky day.
Happy Thanksgiving Ruth.
Hope you, Don and the family have a great holiday.
A Thanksgiving filled with love and laughter is my wish for you, my friend. You can have no idea what your presence at my window means. I am so thankful for you.
Safe travels and much joy on your holiday! (hug)
May you and your family be in the midst of a most joyful Thanksgiving as I write this Ruth! I am thankful for having met such a woman as you through my blogging adventure:)
thinking of you on this American holiday , Ruth.
noting the infectious gratitude in blog world and adding it too, to the every growing list of "why the web makes my life abundant and more meaningful"
thank you for the sweet and sincere wishes,
and sending love right back to you.
(and because I have a daughter who goes to school at UMASS , she gets this break and arrived home yesterday. so so wonderful )
Happy Thanksgiving, Ruth. Thanksgiving, obviously, is not celebrated in Spain and, after more than 25 years here, I find it is the holiday that I miss the most from the US. As I started blogging a year ago now, this is my first blog Thanksgiving. Blog friends like you are new on the list of blessings I am grateful for this year. And this post feels like the first time I have been actually sat down at a Thanksgiving thanks-giving banquet. And it feels nice.
You already know that we don't celebrate Thanksgiving, but I truly hope you had/have a fantastic time :)
Happy happy day of giving thanks back to you, Ruth! What a lovely description of the special friendships that our glowing boxes hold! xo
Thank you for this note. I am greatful too for each and every person like you , that shape the person I am today.
Enjoy your time away and i look forward to the blogs to come.
Sue
Thanks so much, Elisabeth, I hope your leg is still straight and gaining strength, something to be thankful for. I'm writing in a motel ...
Thank you, Gwei Mui, I hope your show is going great!
Terresa, am enjoying, thank you, still away, but not as far away as you ... how fun! Regards to the Queen!
Ah, dear Claudia, thank you very much.
Margaret, it is a tremendous thing, what we have here, more than I could have imagined. Thank you for your wishes.
Thank you, Deborah, for soulful and peaceful, which is sometimes a challenge in the hubbub. Ours is half done with Don's family, now on to an anniversary ball with mine tonight ...
Muito obrigada, João.
Friko ... :)
Susie, thank you, dear friend. We followed your advice. Yesterday when we left Don's parents' to head across the state to be with my family, we took old M-115 which runs through towns I remember from childhood coming to the cottage way up north. Ahhh, what a Memory Lane treat, and what a beautiful part of the world. I hope you're having fun with your family too. XOXO with big love.
Oh, Gwen, hello, and thank you. All my best to you, John and Max.
Mwah and thank you, Dana! NC sounds lovely, I hope your family time is beautiful.
Shari, thank you for your Thanksgiving greeting, and for the ways you bring love and encouragement to me here, always.
Well said, my friend, and I simply couldn't agree more. I hope your Thanksgiving was lovely, filled with good food, family and love -- and somehow, I know it was.
Starting to catch up on blogging. I've missed you!
Yay, Ruth! and Happy Holidays (which we can say now, with Thanksgiving opening the doors to all of us going inside for a long winter.)
Hope you're having a lovely time away and will be showing this glorious pumpking picture to family and friends this weekend!
And for all the beautiful things you write, and know just how to write, we are thankful in return.
Here in Canada, thanksgiving is a more casual event than your much celebrated festival in the US... and that's why I truly admire your special occasion. I'm a few days late arriving to your Thanksgiving post, but a hearty wish to you just the same, Happy, Happy Thanksgiving all year through, Ruth! And for the words you've written here, they should be my utterance... Thank you for your inspiration and for sharing of yourself, your openness and honesty. Thank you for providing me with such pleasure every time I visit. And what an incredible job Don has done... what did he feed it with?
Hi there, George! I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving with your loved ones and are enjoying a beautiful weekend. Thank you for being such a dear friend.
RD, oh thank you, what a kind word from you. Thank you for your holiday wishes.
Thank you, Ellen, for your thanks greeting.
Brenda, thanks for that!
Patricia, ohh, thanks so much for your encouragement and kindness.
Boots, sweet woman, in our tears we are together. I know you love your life with Astrid, and I wish we could be together always and have everything to share face to face. I miss you especially today. I just spent a few hours decorating the ball room for tonight's anniversary event. How I wish I would see you and Astrid dancing the night away ... Much, much love.
Char, your happening here blesses me too. Thank you for the beautiful holiday wishes, and I wish you all of the same joy and love with your loved ones.
Hi, Sophie, life is beautiful. Thank you for your Scottish wishes from one of my favorite cities.
Hi, Neighbor, thank you for the returned thanks. :)
C.M., thanks, and the same to you, well, it's done now, but i hope you're enjoying your weekend...
Cathy! Thank you, and enjoy your long weekend. We're in the holidays now ... LOVE.
Happy Thanksgiving, Dusti! The font on the pumpkin? That's called Chinese long bean. :)
Oh, Robert, how kind you are! Thank you, my friend.
Hi, J.G., thanks so much. We're on a couple of adventures, which is a lot in one weekend, since we don't get out much ... :)
I don't know if Don is going to get out the chainsaw and go after that pumpkin for the meat, but he does plan on harvesting the seeds to season and roast. YUM. I don't think our freezer would hold all that pumpkin ...
Dear rauf, see what you teach me? I didn't know about Tim Burners Lee. I do remember the first time I saw a WWW address, it was Diane Wakoski writing it on the blackboard.
Believe me, my dear friend, my life was never the same after you stumbled upon synch once when you clicked "Next Blog" or something. I hope Don and I can manage to travel India with you one day in the not too distant future. It just wouldn't be right if we never meet in person.
Dear DS, thank you, my dear friend. Your wish has already come to pass, for there has been MUCH laughter and love, and also safe travels so far, and more joy to come tonight at my nephew's anniversary ball with his wife of one year after she survived breast cancer and a mastectomy ... much, much to celebrate this evening. I'll dance a dance for you, OK?
Oliag, my dear sailing buddy! (Me in my dreams.) I picture a beautiful New England Thanksgiving for you and your family, and I hope you are enjoying. We are on to our second layer with my family and a big happy party this evening.
Dear Deb, maybe the Holiday of Thanks will keep growing the way Halloween has spread to other countries. Thanks is contagious, I think. You are a beautiful, tender friend, and I just love that we have connected here through our blogs.
Yay for American Thanksgiving and your daughter's break!
Lorenzo, welcome to my table, my dear friend. If there is a heaven, maybe we can all sit together at a table of thanks forever. I do sometimes wonder if Americans who live abroad celebrate this as we did in Istanbul. In Turkey, a turkey is called a "hindi" which must be some kind of misnaming twist starting with American Indians and transposed to East Indians. Strange, no?
Sandy! I'm sorry to jump you in queue. Thank you so much for your holiday greeting. I hope California is warm and lovely.
Babs, thanks a bunch. Thing is, you and Mo celebrate thanks giving every day. You bless me so much.
Hello, Caroldiane, blessed returns! Love and hugs to you.
Hello, Sue! You and I have been blog friends a long time in blog years, and so much has opened for me. I hope northern California is beautiful this weekend.
Hi there, Jeanie, I know that you make the most of family love and have much to be thankful for too. We have half our family time done with Don's, and tonight is a special anniversary celebration at Portage Point Inn. It is decorated like a fairy land, and I believe you would love it.
I've missed you too, and I hope this means you are all done with your terrible bronchitis is over.
Oh, my friend, thank you for your holiday greeting. Yes, we are on our way into the special candle time when magic seems to hover and sing. I'm pretty sure many have seen this pumpkin picture since Don made it his Facebook profile pic. :)
Thank you for your kind encouragement, it means a lot to me.
Dear Arti, you are such a kind friend. I love your perspective on the world of books and film, and your writing is a pleasure. I am grateful for our friendship here. Yes, we give thanks every day, it's never too late for it. A year of thanks to you, Arti.
giving thanks for our meeting here in the webby box, deer ruth...i saw a pair of whooping cranes on the way home from our thanksgiving travels...a good sign, don't you think?
And thanks to you for the same!
And I hope you had a wonderful one, for all the many blessings you give to this world...
A belated Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours, Ruth. Your blog is a gift.
Naturally you have the most eloquent Thanksgiving post, where I am my usual verklempt self. I would like to thank you for your wonderful presence in the blogosphere. I am proud as can be to have a place in that generous heart of yours.
Please extend my congratulations to master farmer Don - that is one impressive pumpkin!
I hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving celebration.
Happy Thanksgiving to you too!! Hope your holiday was warm and wonderful..and full!!!
You are truly a "good thing", Ruth. My philosophy is to try to find "one good thing" every day. I'm thankful that I happened upon your blog because when I read what you write from your heart - my one good thing is apparent.
Jean, yes, cranes are a blessing. Their presence bodes awareness and laughter for me. Always a surprise of joy. I'm thankful for you.
So nice, Pauline, thank you.
Ah, Loring, you're so good! Thank you, my dear friend.
Bella, why thank you.
I adore you, Dutchbaby, just so grateful to have met you and your delicious heart and talents. How I would love to make a Thanksgiving table with you in San Francisco one day.
We had a beautiful weekend, with two adventures. Home safe and sound. Thanks so much. I hope yours was lovely too.
Thank you, Marcie! All good things to you as well. Ours was beautiful.
Barb, that is a wonderful outlooking philosophy. If you find an answer to that quest here some days, I am thrilled. Thank you for that, so very much.
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