Giving Thanks

I'm here in Tucson, which has finally cooled down (high in the 60's today), and am nursing a chest cold which has had me feeling a bit low.  I'm sipping hot tea and popping OTC drugs and still finding a lot to be grateful for:

1) My daughter called me -- that ALWAYS goes on the plus side.

2) We're looking forward to sharing Thanksgiving with friends at an Orphan Party for those of us who aren't with family this holiday -- it's a potluck with all of the feasting and little of the fuss...I'm taking a roasted squash dish and cranberry tart (which I've made before and is as beautiful as it is delicious).

3) Tomorrow is the much anticipated Desert Museum bird walk, part of my docent training, and I'll crawl if I have to.

Sun Wash for counter tops

4) I had a call from the counter top folks which was immediately dropped -- so I knew they were on their way to the cabin and were lost.  I can be happy about this because they did call me back and I was able to give them directions -- as in "you have at least ten more miles of dirt road...just follow the signs," -- and they said the contractor was expecting them and that yes, the counter tops came out great!  Maybe installation is complete, provided they found the place.

5) A hand embroidered piece I bought from Vintage Threads, an online Etsy shop came in the mail this afternoon.  It is absolutely charming and truly handmade and will make a great top for a pillow for our slightly too butch denim & plaid quilt bedroom.  I was always a sucker for Bambi -- this is clearly from a part before "Your mother can't be with you anymore."

In our bedroom Bambi's mother will ALWAYS be with her

6) A good friend, and fellow wildlife habitat gardener from the neighborhood, left a basket on my doorstep that included four adorably cheesy (and perfect for the cabin -- not Tucson) Let It Snow snowman mugs and an old, but very beautiful, family afghan that they were parting with for simplification and downsizing sake.  She's also a wonderful artist -- you can see her work here, at Fountain Studio.  This afghan will warm us in more ways than one.

7) We leave in a month for our first stay in our finished cabin, a dream in incubation for many years, that has consumed -- in a good way -- us for the past year, and one we'll live in for many, many more.

Gould's Turkey from the nearby southern Arizona mountains

There's so much to be thankful for -- Happy Thanksgiving.