Each day filled with gratitude

Morning all!
Not certain how it was for you, but here, at least for me, the week flew by. This also meant drinking a bit more of Dunkin’s than normal, so soon I’ll be opening and grinding a new bag of coffee. This go around it’s Peets Coffee, ‘Major Dickason’s Blend’.

Next week looks to be a bit more on the usual side, primarily the twice weekly exercise regimen.

Last Sunday, as I wrote last weekend, I took Vili and Vai to hear some excellent music and from New York one of the nation’s master alto Saxophonists, Jim Snidero. Sitting closeup to the band I could see just how intent these two were by the whole experience. It was lovely.

Thursday morning — I participated in the 114th 10k/5k W&S Thanksgiving Day Race. I joined 12,000 others for this event which is both one of the oldest and largest Turkey Trots in the nation and receives a lot of local hype. What made it even better was the fact that the finish was at the new stadium for our MLS (soccer) team – FC Cincinnati. We all got to get on the pitch and coming through the tunnel each got a screenshot on the two large stadium screens. Question; Sandy, since my mug has now been on the big screen should I be hiring an agent?

I felt good and in the “Over 80” category came in first place with a 14.51 pace. Considering the race starts quickly with the Liberty Hill climb and 12,000 people trying to occupy 3-lanes of roadway without tripping over one another, I felt upbeat.

Turf Upkeep — Before the start of the race I walked a bit around the stadium. Getting the ‘Pitch’ ready for this evening’s game requires almost perfect grass. Aside from the grooming and watering they had these machines working away. I am not certain, but I suspect that this is a robotic system of special lights facilitating growth of the field. Pretty stunning.

A great quote – “Common sense is not so common.” – Voltaire

An early gift – for Marcia. There is a very special show series in town, the Longworth-Anderson Series, which combines various musical acts, with a reception featuring local craft beers and foods from a number of restaurants (including Marcia’s favorite, Dewey’s Pizza). I wanted to take her to see singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, Rhiannon Giddens. She’s on the program this coming March. Then came a shock, that event was sold out. Sold OUT! This was in October when I checked – who would’ve thought!

Plan ‘B’ was put into play, an evening with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band from New Orleans doing a “Creole Christmas”. However, since their performance is December 6th, it necessitated an early gifting for Madam. She happily got the tickets Thursday evening at our little Thanksgiving gathering. It’ll be a very good time!

P.S. Marcia, with her new hip, refuses to use a cane. So, I attached the tickets to a cane which she’ll find impossible to just park in a corner. Take a very close look at that very special ‘walking stick’ to see why.

The Health of Gratitude – Now that we’ve parked and packed our Thanksgivings for another year and begun to try and max out our stash of credit cards, I read up a bit more on ‘Gratitude’.

It’s the Royal Society Open Science May 23, 2018 which states; “the ability to experience gratitude to others is a fundamental feature of human cognition.”

In fact, expressing gratitude actually changes the brain. Noted neuroscientist Glenn Fox, Ph.D. in studies on gratitude states that practicing gratitude is not, “a magic bullet, Fox added, it’s the regular practice of being grateful that makes a difference: “You know, it’s like water cutting rock through a canyon, it’s not done all at once.”

But expressing gratitude and journaling the occurrences has amazing results, from people who experienced the Holocaust, to those with advanced cancers, heavy workloads and personal struggles. In fact, you just might say it establishes overall better health for everyone.

And the effects pour over into nearly all facets of life, even by grateful people being less materialistic. And, with the onslaught of Black Friday adds I was bombarded with yesterday, that is something we all could benefit from. Much of my reading can be attributed to Dr. Joseph Mercola and especially this article written by him: https://tinyurl.com/5cepnjur

September Song – Remembering that this past week was the 60th anniversary of the murder of President Kenedy. As a remembrance I decided on music. The song below was President Kennedy’s favorite; ‘September Song’. In fact, His close aide Dave Powers wrote; “that JFK sang “September Song” after dinner at his family’s Palm Beach mansion on Saturday before he went to Dallas. Powers noted that he sang it “better than usual” that night.”

With Marcia’s big-0 birthday fast approaching, so I think it is also appropriate to play it for her. As a bonus, this rendition is sung by one of her absolute ‘faves’, Willie Nelson!

“Masting” – of Oak trees is a once every while event. It’s when these trees fruit much more than normal. In these parts it’s definitely a ‘masting’ year and it’s the Oaks dropping so many Acorns that on my walk it’s a constant crunching underfoot.

The little acorns aren’t all that bad since they crunch easily. However, it’s the large Bur Oaks where some avoidance maneuvers are a necessity; either that or deal with the pain of the things getting underfoot. The Squirrels and local Deer are ecstatic. And no, we do not practice ‘balanophagy’ (the practice of eating cooked acorns) so we have little use for the things.

I forgot to mention — that Marcia and I escaped the whole Turkey hullabaloo. We ordered a Chicken / slab of Ribs meal for 2 to 4 people from Montgomery Ribs – so perfect! Enough so that we had chicken and salad for dinner Wednesday evening. Then the ribs and salad with Cathy and Jason and their vegetarian goodies for Thanksgiving – wonderful! This left a huge Apple pie for desert.

Make it a great week. As I wrote last week, remember, smiling is easier than snarling.

May Peace prevail! Shalom. Dirk

BONUS POINTS:
Last chance to choose the Minnesota 2023 Golden Turkey (money waste/grab) winner! Relay your guess to me. Then the real reason for posting this is this Question: What are the top ranking ‘2023 Golden Turkeys’ for your State?

Here are the current top 4 money grabbing boondoggles for Minnesota — one of them is the winner:

1) A palace for politicians (State Office Building)
2) Empty train to Duluth
3) Tim Walz’s crib
4) Flying squirrel research