Thursday, October 4, 2007

Thursday Thirteen - 26 - 13 Things For Which I Am Grateful

This weekend is Thanksgiving here in the Great White North. This is a perfect time to reflect on everything I'm most thankful for:

1 - Brad, my magnificent husband













2 - Connie, my best friend for the past 34 years


















3 - Giggling with my sister, Michelle
















4 - Living at the Mini Walton's, with my Mom, Gram, Brad and Xena


















5 - Fiorinal, though my version is called Tecnal C, and is two tones of blue. It's my cavalry-over-the-hill when my migraines rage.














6 - My asthma puffers. I remember life before puffers. When I was a kid, the only thing I could take for wheezing was a syrup. It didn't work very quickly or very well. Life is much better now.













7 - Family dinners - this is a family dinner this past summer at my sister's boyfriend's place. That's me with my cousin Charlie and our visiting Uncle Warren in the background.











(Below) My sister's boyfriend, Newt, and my Uncle Charlie

At left, my cousin Julianne, her mom (my Aunt Noel) and our visiting Aunt Louise







Out on the deck, my cousin Charlie, Uncle Warren, Charlie & Heather's daughter Emily, Charlie's wife Heather and Aunt Louise












8 - My writers' group

Mary Louise, me, Kelly Boyce, Cathryn Fox
















Deborah Hale, Julianne MacLean, Lily Cain














Lorraine, Paula, Annie Mac, Kelly Boyce, Lori













9 - The writers' retreat

At Heather's cottage near Lunenburg, 2005

Ruth and me















Clockwise from left: Kelly Boyce, Nikki, Lori, Elaine, Heidi, me (back turned)














At the cottage next to White Point Beach, 2006














Nikki, Lori, Kelly Boyce and Heidi watching a movie














Clockwise from rocking chair: Deborah Hale giving a craft-of-writing session, Kelly Boyce, Lori, Nikki, Elaine, Heidi, Stella MacLean















Dinner at White Point Beach Lodge
L - R: Elaine, Heidi, me, Lori, Kelly Boyce, Stella MacLean, Nikki















Retreat, 2007

Renee Field and Christine d'Abo collage their story ideas















Annette















Heading to the Lodge for dinner: L - R, Elaine, Annette, Pam, Nikki, John, Heidi, Christine d'Abo, Renee Field, me














Brainstorming session with Elaine, Annette and me















10 - My new computer and internet service - my pathway to all of you.











11 - My roses

It seems that I may have run out of image file space within this blog post. At any rate, I'll leave the pictures up that I've done already, as I'm sure you can imagine the beauty of a rose. I have eight different rose varieties in the garden so far. I love them all!

12 - Starting up my blog this past February. It's made me reconnect with so much of my creative spirit.

13 - The peaceful, surrounded-by-family beauty in which my dad passed away this March. We were lucky to have an extra year together after his initial diagnosis. My grandmother (his mother) was able to drive here in time from Michigan, along with my aunt and two cousins. We spent a lot of wonderful hours together in the hospital, where the staff were beyond kind and who took spectacular care of Dad. My mom (his ex-wife) was included by my step-mom in Dad's last days, confusing the attending physician at first to find two Mrs. Phillips! My step-mom and I slept in his room for the final few nights, and my sister joined us for the last night. He was surrounded my his mother, sister, two daughters and his wife when he took that step into the next world. It really was a beautiful and awe-inspiring experience. I'm most thankful of all for that, and will be for always.

29 comments:

Dr. Bill Emener said...

Hi Julia,
You truly are blessed in many ways... including the fact that you appreciate the extent to which you are. I'm happy with and for you!
Bill

Rhian said...

ah, Julia-wench - what a fabulous TT darlin! Have I mentioned lately that you totally rock?

Darla said...

Those are all wonderful things to be thankful for. Happy Thanksgiving!

Unknown said...

And we are thankful for you too! I'm going to miss our monthly meetings in person. HUGS!!

Lisa Andel said...

Touching TT. (I use the yellow/blue ones for my migraines and yeah, thank God for Fiorinal).

Miss Frou Frou said...

lovely TT - particularly number 1 and 13!

Carrie Lofty said...

Aw, that was darn sweet. I like seeing pictures of people I don't know being surrounded by other smiling people. Makes me think everyone's out there taking care of each other.

MsSnarkyPants said...

Wow that retreat looks like lots of fun. Kinda like girl scout camp! Happy Thanksgiving to you!

Karina said...

This was a beautiful TT!! Number 13 brought tears to my eyes, in a good way though. How wonderful for your father to have an exit such as this.

Also, thanks for clearing up the confusion I've been feeling hearing people talk about Thanksgiving. I had not realized it was this weekendin Canada and was all sorts of confused!

Kelly Boyce said...

Great idea for a Thursday 13, Julia - and great choices!!

Anonymous said...

What a great TT -- great things to be thankful for, great family and friends. :)

About Dean Koontz -- I've read a number of his older books which I enjoyed; I was quite into his stuff as a teenager -- loved Whispers and Watchers particularly. :)

Happy T13, and thanks for visiting mine!

Akelamalu said...

You have so many things to be thankful for. xx

MichelleWriter said...

Hey Jul.. You're one of my favorite thirteen things, too, for too many reasons to count!

Ann Aguirre said...

Sounds like you have a lot to appreciate in your life. Thanks for sharing it!

Anonymous said...

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving. It's my first surrounded by The Man's family, but he'll be away. I'm thankful he'll be back before Halloween.

And I love your RWA group. There isn't one in my province and I just don't have the wherewithal to start one.

Susan Helene Gottfried said...

Those are wonderful things to be grateful for -- especially those inhalers!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Unknown said...

I'm grateful to you for sharing those wonderful pictures with us!

La Espia T. said...

Great post as always. I love the "grateful" idea. I may need to steal it from you for a post. (no worries, I'll give credit of course!)

Thank you for sharing these parts of your life

Jenny McB said...

Julia- I love thankful lists and pictures. Have a good holiday weekend.

But gee, I think I would like to see a picture of those batman collectibles.

Special K ~Toni said...

What a fabulous T13! Thanks for visiting me!

Anonymous said...

Wonderful pictures, Julia! Fun seeing the retreat ones again. Can't wait for this year's!!

Amy Ruttan said...

Aww Christine and Renee in PJ's!!! LOL!!!

And you, I look forward to meeting you in a week!!!

Malcolm said...

I really enjoyed your TT. I liked what you said about your father's last days. Also, what you said about starting your blog. Mine has been an excellent creative outlet for me.

By the way, thanks for stopping by my blog and commenting on the retro commercial I posted. It's cool when child actors like Peter Billingsley make a smooth transition into adulthood. Last Christmas, we were watching the movie "Elf" at my ex-girlfriend's sister's house. When I told them that one of the elves was played by Peter, none of them believed me (including her sister's husband). I almost won some money off of that, but he wouldn't bet me.

Addicted to crafting said...

I love grateful TT!!!! :) What a fabulous TT!!!

Julia, I wanted to let you know that I've tagged you on telling a dance story.

If you vist my blog, you'll see the tag!!!! Happy thanksgiving, it's mine too. :)

Joyismygoal said...

You are truly blessed that is a huge list .

Julie S said...

You always do the best TTs. This was fun to read :-)

Gattina said...

That's wonderful to have a big family, mine is a little restricted, lol !
Thanks for all your comments !

Joy Renee said...

a lovely gratitude list.
that writer's group and retreat look like lots of fun too.
and what a lovely, loving family you have!
happy thanksgiving!

Wylie Kinson said...

I know I'm late in posting, but ...

Thanks for sharing your beautiful family and friends with us! A wonderful TT for Thanksgiving :)