Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
It’s Thanksgiving Day!
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! I know for most of you it’s not Thanksgiving Day today, but it is here in Canada, so I thought it’s time to sit back and be thankful for all the beauty and bounty that we enjoy. I truly do thank God for all the wondrous beauty he has given to me. Not everyone in this big world can enjoy the many things that we just take for granted every day, that’s why we need to stop and consider all that we have to enjoy. And not just once a year. It’s good to do this on a regular basis.
That way things don’t become commonplace and we tend to then take things for granted. As people we tend to complain a lot. I noticed that so much when this pandemic showed up. People will just sit and complain about it for hours on end. Complaining doesn’t do anyone any good. But it does do a lot of harm. It puts us in a bad mood. Raises blood pressure. Increases stress. I mean, how many of us really wants more stress in our lives? It’s time to look on the positive side of things and stop complaining. As I said, we have so much to be thankful for these days.
There are a lot of things in life that can be hard, but we can still be thankful. I have a lot of different health problems which basically started when I got polio at the age of 5. That gave me scoliosis, which is now very severe causing constant pain 24 hours a day for the last 30 years. Getting Covid this year has caused continuing problems for 5 months now. But why sit and complain? So much better to be thankful, after all, things could be worse.
Thankfulness will change our mood for the better. It will actually reduce stress and improve our overall health, mentally and physically. Here is a short list of things I am thankful for, I have already mentioned health. Muffin is one of the main things I am thankful for today. She brings so much joy into my life. Having a little chipmunk on my knee, and usually all over me, one even climbed on top of my head about 3 weeks ago. Jasper the squirrel is also so much fun to watch every day, all the crazy things he does!
Watching big puffy clouds against a vibrant blue sky certainly brings a calming effect and I am thankful for something so simple and so common we often don’t even notice them. Walking down to the river is a real pleasure, but coming up to a duck sleeping on the river is an added pleasure. Especially when he just lifts his head, looks at me and goes right back to sleep knowing that I’m no danger to him.
And there are so many other birds that I come in contact with on a daily basis that it always causes me to be thankful. From tiny birds like the little hummingbird up to the larger birds like eagles and pelicans, they are so beautiful and I am so thankful for them. Sitting by the river on a hot day, having a nice picnic, enjoying the beautiful natural surroundings, the trees, so many different wildflowers to enjoy.
I am thankful for the beauty of so many different garden flowers as well, they bring wonderful joy every time I see one. And while walking along the forest path coming across a beautiful butterfly sitting on a flower, and even on my knee! Also coming across delicious wild berries as they are starting to ripen. And don’t forget the beauty of the moon spreading it’s beams of light on a warm summer night.
Oh my, like I said, this is just a short list of things which make me so thankful, but I don’t want this post to get too long so I better stop here. I am also so very thankful for all of you who take the time to stop by and read these posts each day!! So, from Muffin (that me!😸), and I, thank you so very much for being here and Happy Thanksgiving Day to everyone and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2020 Steve McLeod.
Daily Pics #274. Muffin and Jasper.
Good morning everyone and Happy Thanksgiving Day! Yes, today is Thanksgiving Day here in Canada though it seems that most people have their Thanksgiving dinners on Sunday. I was going to do my Thanksgiving post yesterday, but due to technical difficulties, meaning I wasn’t feeling well, I decided to postpone that until today. So it will be coming out a little later, I hope. What was that Muffin? Oh. She said if I don’t get the post done today she will give me a Thanksgiving bite on each foot.😼 Muffin always knows how to give just the right inspiration!😹 It’s cloudy, cool and wet this morning. We had some rain overnight and one thunderstorm hit us last evening. Muffin wasn’t too happy about that. She was sleeping so peacefully on my lap, even with thunder in the distance. Until there was a big boom. That woke her up quickly. I tried to convince her she was safe with me. That worked. For about 5 seconds. Then another large boom and she disappeared right before my eyes. Amazing how fast she can move sometimes.
Speaking of fast. I was on the deck for awhile yesterday afternoon. It was quiet, except for the sparrows, juncos and evening grosbeaks. I put out some peanuts but no one came along. Finally Jasper came and looked all around the deck, in the boxes, around my feet. “Looking for the chipmunks?” He looked at me. “I haven’t seen Coffee today”. He kept looking at me. He actually looked sort of sad. “There’s peanuts over there”. He looked, but didn’t seem to be in a hurry. But he went over, sniffed around the peanuts, then he took one and ran off with it. I think he’s going to miss those chipmunks. How is he going to get his exercise? He doesn’t like the blue jays, they can fly, he can’t, though he has tried many times. But unfortunately the only flying he does is straight down. Jasper came back for one more peanut, then I didn’t see him anymore, even though there was lots of peanuts left. That’s just not like him. I think it will be a long winter for poor Jasper. I hope little Coffee has enough food.
Our featured image shows more of our fall colors, nice bright yellow. Not many leaves left on the trees now. Then in the two pics above we are back with the bald eagles that were at that deer carcass the other day. This time we have an adult, at the back, and an immature, at the front. The immature was likely the offspring of that adult since he kept going over to the adult. It takes 5 years before the young eagles get full adult plumage. The next pic shows a male and female evening grosbeak, the male is in front. I hope you all have a marvelous Monday (he mean meowvelous Monday!😸), and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2020 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 