Here we are, the day after Thanksgiving, and I can’t complain. I can be such a contrarian. It’s kooky for me to bristle at Thanksgiving because I’m generally so incredibly grateful for the wonderful life I have. I’m pretty much thankful everyday of the year. There’s just something about being told to be grateful that gets me.
But as I’m writing this, I realize that I express my appreciative heart more at this time of year. I told my husband that he was at the top of the list of things I’m grateful for. I’ve told several friends this week that they are why I have such a grateful heart, and in each case the sentiment was reciprocated. If it weren’t for the holiday, those statements would have been awkward. So I guess I should add Thanksgiving to the list of things I’m grateful for.
I have to say, Thanksgiving day started out on a stellar note. Early in the morning I received an e-mail from somebody I’ve never met telling me that she “LOVED” Pearls My Mother Wore. So cool! I’m still smiling. She also posted an Amazon book review and gave the book five stars! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Next, I got to spend a couple of hours in my garden tidying up, and that always makes me happy.
We had dinner at my father-in-law’s house. There were four young (mid-late twenties) couples, an infant and a toddle among our group of eighteen. We were a lively group and it was a lot of fun. One of the highlights of Thanksgiving at my father-in-law’s is that he has a gorgeous piece of property in the Napa Valley, and we all walk the perimeter with their nine goats and the llama, Raku.
2010 Thanksgiving day
A couple of posts ago I wrote how I thought Halloween should be New Years Eve. Well, while walking with the goats I had a conversation with Lutrell’s step-mother and discovered that the Celts of old did in fact celebrate New Years at the end of October. It’s called Samhain (pronounced ‘saiwin/’sau.in/ or ‘saun.) Having Scottish heritage myself, my inclination now doesn’t sound so off the mark. I Googled Samhain and discovered it’s celebrated in part by demonstrations of trickery, disruption, and contrariness! I also read that it was believed that Samhain was a time of year when the dead would come back to warm themselves at the hearth fires and that poets could visit the underworld at this time by passing through the doors of a sidhe, or burial mound. Poets, contrarians, Halloween/ New Years: I like it!
My contribution to the Thanksgiving feast was what I’m calling “Amber vegetable medley.” It was pearl onions (get it? pearl,) golden beets, carrots, butternut squash, cauliflower, and pine nuts all tossed in homemade pesto.
There were leftovers, so today will include a second Thanksgiving meal. Yum, yum. All things considered, I really can’t complain.
Have a great week. I’ll post again next Friday.
Terry – I think you are on the right (write?) track to forgo the MFA. I get the feeling that you have self-educated all along. If it is true that a writer is someone who writes, then a successful writer is someone who enjoys writing enough to write a lot. It’s true that some people are clever with words since birth, but I happen to believe that those people were learning their art in a recent past lifetime, so it is still about just doing it.
The Educational System is concerned with it’s own survival, and perpetuates the myth of it’s own importance, but there is much value in a good writing teacher, so I agree that workshops, seminars and books are the way to go, especially in today’s economy. However, I am sensitive to the fact that many fellow writers will be out of a job if everyone believes this.
The only people I see making a living from writing, are constantly publishing stuff.
The writing in your blog is good. I enjoy reading it, and I am curious about the untold stories of how you overcame. You are a good story teller and also have interesting friends, so maybe you could interview people and publish those stories in magazines or ezines.
Just write anything. It’ll lead to something. Probably.
Another Grateful Contrarian,
Rita