Gratitude List:
1. Kitchen work.  I don’t consider myself to be particularly cheffy, though I like to eat and occasional experimentation in the kitchen can get the creative juices flowing.  I have been getting meals ready to freeze for a family trip, and I have been loving puttering about in the kitchen, making this dough and that filling, and testing sauces.  Yesterday I started using the word bechamel. I just may become insufferable.
2. Sitting out on the front porch reading with snuggly kiddos.  This is overlaid on my memories of sitting on the front porch of the house on Ann Street in Philippi, West Virginia, snuggling up to my own mother as she read to us.  May these boys continue to layer such memories themselves in some distant future.
3. Water.  I just take it so much for granted.  Open a tap, and fresh, clean water pours out.  We drink spring water here in the hollow, and it is some of the best water I have ever tasted, almost wild. May the waters all run free.  May everyone have access to good, clean water.
4. There are sane and wise voices out there, even in the political realm.  You may have to listen carefully amid the clamor, but there are sane and wise perspectives here and there.  (I am struggling to hold on to this one, but I have to.)
5. You.  You’re steady.  You’re thoughtful.  You look at things with clear and wise eyes. As long as I know you’re out there, caring and tending and watching with me, I can keep up hope.  Here we go: we’ve got this day at least!

May we walk in Beauty!