last Friday's fill-ins, an award, and gratitude

1. It's cold and I love it, because summer is my least-favorite season, so the longer it stays cool, the less heat I'll have to endure.

2. I love tomatoes, but they don't love me.

3. My favorite health and beauty product is sleep.

4. I love a nice long ride when I am stressed. Driving has always been a pleasure.

5. Well, first of all I know it's Thursday, but time is relative.

6. People in an elementary school: those were the cast of characters in a recent dream and it was really scary because I didn't know anyone, I couldn't find my classroom, and for heaven's sake, can't I have a sense of direction in my dreams, even? Bad enough I don't have one when I'm awake. Sheesh.


Leah at The Octagon gave me the Lemonade Award for great attitude and gratitude. Thank you, Leah! I don't feel like a particularly grateful person lately, partly because I haven't thanked anyone for all of the books I've won. Here's a start:


Shattered Reality by Kimberly Cheryl, from Rebecca, Lost in Books.
The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams, AND Things I Want My Daughter to Know by Elizabeth Noble - both from Julie, the Booking Mama.
Thanks for the Memories by Cecelia Ahern from Jennifer, a/k/a Book Club Girl.
Made in the USA by Billie Letts from Kristi, Books and Needlepoint.
My Little Red Book from Avianschild, She Reads and Reads.

Please go over and visit these excellent and generous bloggers - tell them that teabird sent you!

I know I've left some out... please forgive.

Booking through Thanksgiving

Today is Thanksgiving here in the U.S.
Now, you may have noticed that the global economy isn’t exactly doing well. There’s war. Starvation. All sorts of bad, scary things going on.
So–just for today–how about sharing 7 things that you’re thankful for?
This can be about books, sure–authors you appreciate, books you love, an ode to your public library–but also, how about other things, too? Because in times like these, with bills piling up and disaster seemingly lurking around every corner, it’s more important than ever to stop and take stock of the things we’re grateful for. Family. Friends. Good health (I hope). Coffee and tea. Turkey. Sunshine. Wagging tails. Curling up with a good book.
So, how about it? Spread a little positive thinking and tell the world what there is to be thankful for.

Yes!
I am grateful for -

• my husband's love, wit, intelligence, and tolerance of his odd wife
• all of my friends, wherever they are and however I met them
• Jane Austen, Virginia Woolf, Katherine Mansfield, Vita Sackville-West, Barbara Pym, Joan Didion, Joyce Carol Oates, Elizabeth Gaskell, Lucy Maud Montgomery, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Sara Teasdale, Lousia May Alcott, and all of the women whose writing has inspired, comforted, and taught me
• knitting and tea and letters and fountain pens and toy rabbits (and real, hopping rabbits)
• the First Amendment
• the beauty and inspiration of the eternal moon
• music

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

gifts and gratitude

I've been absent because of a family illness and personal mishigoss.
Today, I want to thank some of the bloggers whose contests I won in the last few weeks:

Carol, of Black Bunny Fibers, for a skein of her Unity sock yarn in "tonal shades of Democratic blue" (and another goodie) in the Ravelry fundraising raffle for Barak Obama. (There's another fundraiser in progress - Ravellers can click here to check it out!)



Serena, at Savvy Verse and Wit, for Allen Ginsberg's Howl and other poems.

Jennifer, Book Club Girl, for Hannah's Dream by Diane Hammond AND The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski.

Jill, from Rhapsody in Books for Stalin's Children by Owen Matthews.

Dawn, at She is too fond of books, for Kathleen McCleary's House and Home package. (It's amazing! Click the photo for the details.)

Thank you, thank you all, for sweetening a difficult time.