It’s not often I take time out to actually make a list. I don’t do it often enough. So here (in no particular order) are some of the things I’m thankful for this November 23.

-For being sick … it’s given me a chance to sit still and reflect more deeply on some things that I needed to. Even though my brain is fairly clogged I’ve managed to do that.

– For coffee … I’m always thankful for coffee. I love coffee. Regular, with cream, no sugar. Iced in the summer. I especially love Fair Trade coffee from Green Mountain Coffee Roasters made in a french press. I’m grateful to the Incans or the Mayans who first looked at the beans hundreds of years ago and saw potential there.

-For my parents … they both grounded me and gave me wings. Most importantly they taught me how to learn and what was important to learn. How to ask questions. How to be curious about the world around me and within me.

-For my children … they continue to ground me and give me wings. They help me to continue to be curious and love to learn.

-For my quilting sisters in my quilt guild … they consistently build and encourage the spirits of all who are there.

-For my faith community who allow me to explore rabbit holes of theology with them and they come along happily.  Sometimes they find new rabbit holes of their own.  Who pour out grace and mercy in abundant supply and remind me that Jesus isn’t just one person anymore and that’s a good thing.

-For Smaug (the dragonification of my panic disorder and depression) he’s helping me to learn new and healthier manners of living in the world.

-For Fair Trade and other shopping opportunities that allow me to use my money in a way that benefits real people who really need it.  It feels like a two for one deal.

-For my friends who share their lives with me and I get to share with them.  Who share their Thanksgiving dinners at the last minute when we’re sick and we’ve shared with them under similar circumstances.

-For all of our siblings … and their spouses … they make us laugh and help stabilize our keel.  There is something about being with your siblings that cannot compare to anything else.

-For good beer … need I say more?

-For beautiful fabric and friends to oogle it and plan for it’s consumption with.

Yea … my cup runneth over ….

Today has been somewhat unexpected.  Earlier in the week I had been reminded by BiologyTeacher that there was a fieldtrip planned for the zoo today.  I really wanted to go.  But I was travelling uphill in waist-high water to get us ready for a much-anticipated trip to Raleigh for some hockey games.  This trip also involves seeing some family in Greensboro and taking some friends with us.  It’s complicated.  Yesterday I cried, “Uncle!” and declared that the LightChildren would go in the company of FlamingEwe and BiologyTeacher, but I would stay home and attend to details.
This morning even those plans went somewhat awry when (how shall I put this delicately?) a combination of potroast and cider that I ate for dinner last night revealed that it was a chemistry experiment gone bad in my digestive system.  I’ll leave the rest to your imagination.  Suffice it to say that I was not as productive this morning as I had anticipated.  Now I was also a bit frustrated.  If I wasn’t going to get to see the zoo, I’d like to have something to show for the day.

Do you have a hero?  Someone that you’d like to be like when you grow up?  I have a couple of heros.  One of my heros is a guy named Kaffe Fassett.  He’s a quilter.  But he’s more than that.  He has a way of looking at and using color that is musical, lyrical.  It’s like setting color to music.  He designs fabrics and makes quilts.  He uses traditional patterns in new, fabulous ways.   If there were any quilt teacher in the world that I would pick to study under, it would be him.

Several months ago my favorite quilt store announced that he would be coming and they offered 3 workshops and a lecture by Kaffe.  By the time FlamingEwe and I found out about it, the workshops were full and the waiting lists were yards long.  But we put ourselves on the waiting lists anyway.

The phone rang at about 2 this afternoon.  It was the store calling to say that there had been cancellations, would I be interested in one of the workshops?  “Um, what date again?”  Monday, Nov. 6 and Tuesday, Nov. 7  “How many spaces are in the Monday workshop?”  Three.  So …. in between reminding myself to breath because I kind of forgot, I signed up to take a class …. with OMIGOSH!!! Kaffe Fassett.  I can’t believe it.

I signed FlamingEwe up as well.  We’ll figure childcare out another time.  But right now I can’t believe my good fortune and I’m grinning from ear to ear.

It’s that season of the year when lawn signs are sprouting as surely as flowers in the spring; elections are just around the corner. And so today we bring you a Civic Duty Friday Five.

1) How old were you when you voted for the first time?

I was 19 … and it was 1980.  I had to vote using an absentee ballot because I was away at college.  It felt very important.

2) What was the contest at the top of the ballot?
It was the presidential election between Jimmy Carter and Ronald Regan with John Anderson running as an independent.  I voted for Anderson because Carter wasn’t cut out for the presidency (or so I thought at the time) and I thought Regan was going to bring doom upon us.  I wish I’d voted for Carter.

3) Can you walk to your polling place?

Yes, I can and I do.  It’s fun.  The only thing I don’t like is the gauntlet of “volunteers” who try to influence my vote as I walk in.  That bothers me.

4) Have you ever run for public office?

Nope.  Probably never will.  My father did, tho.  He was chairman of the schoolboard for my highschool when I was in it.  That sure left a sour taste in my mouth.  Recently my mother ran for the town selectboard of my hometown.  We moved there when I was 6 (in 1967).  It’s a small town in Vermont.  She ran against a man who’s family has been there for several generations.  This is not an exaggeration … one of his slogans was that my mother was a newcomer to town … this after she’s lived there for 38 years!!!

5) Have you run for office in a club or school or on a board?

Yes.  I’ve run for vice president of my quilt guild and won.  That meant that I served as vice president for a year, then as president the following year.  I think I also ran for a position on the board of directors in a fife and drum corps that LightHusband and I used to belong to.  That was fun.

1. Tell us about any group(s) you currently belong to. (e.g. book club, knitting circle, walking buddies, etc.)

I belong to a quilt guild, and within that to a quilting bee. We meet two evenings a month. I love both, for different reasons. The guild is large (about 75), the bee is small (about 6). I also belong to an ongoing block exchange group (about 12 ladies). I love that group too.

2. Do you feel energized or drained by being in a group situation? If the answer is “it depends,” on what does it depend?
After large guild meetings and the block exchange meetings I feel drained. After bee, sometimes energized sometimes drained. But that’s hard to evaluate, because it’s in the evening and I’m tired anyway. I’m a morning person and an introvert … so evening events and large groups are hard. Evening events and small groups are easier, but still …

3. Is there a role you naturally find yourself playing in group situations? That is, do you naturally fall into the leader role, or the one who always makes sure the new person feels welcome, or the quiet one who sits back and lets others shine, or the host?

I’m usually a leader because I’m a naturally bossy older sister type. It’s one of the more unsightly aspects of my personality.

4. Handshakes vs. hugs: discuss.

Handshakes because I’m from New England … but down here in the south everyone hugs all the time and it gives me the willys.

5. Ice breakers: a playful way to build community in a lighthearted manner, or a complete and utter hell of forced fun and awkwardness?

Utter hell of forced fun and awkwardness … unless I’m in charge and don’t have to play ;-).

Bonus: If you answered “playful and lighthearted,” share your favorite ice breaker.