Ten Things of Thankful

01 November: Ten Things of Thankful

humanist55

Ten things for which I give thanks this week…

1 – I am grateful to my daughter for coming round and doing some housework for Barbara and I, which, as she said, is also a chance to spend some time together…

2 – I am glad that once a month I have to take samples to a microbiology lab for testing and the drive back takes me “over the tops” and include this beautiful view…

3 – I am grateful that my work gives me a subscription to Adobe Suite, including PhotoShop, which, amongst other things, I use for resizing the pictures for this website; however, I promised t0 show you what I use the various textures I have shown each week and I thought to use the initials of Ten Things of Thankful…

The top version has had the inner area of the letters coloured in with an orange gradient.
The second version has four different textures, all of which you have seen – faded blue paint on wood, fallen Autumn leaves, a microfibre cloth and tree bark.
In numbers three and four, the orange layer has been placed over the textrures and different ways of blending the two layers have been applied.

That’s the magic of PhotoShop…

4 – I bought this bunch of flowers to cheer up my patrner and they have lasted really well…

5 – Following the disruption of moving the garden round to accomodate the roofers, I got everything back where it needs to be – all the bulb containers are to the fore, ready for Spring and indeed some of them are jumping the gun… The strange patches of colour are chilli powder to educate a cat that these pots are not it’s toilet…

6 – I have agreed to start a new collaborative poem with a friend to be published in another friend’s online journal – Collaborature…

7 – I finished inputting all the fabrics in my spreadsheet in preparation for the A to Z Challenge (blogging) 2026 – I found 139 different fabrics and if you include fibres and processes 254 items which need to be sorted and grouped into just 26 alphabetical items – hence the spreadsheet – I love a good spreadsheet!

8 – My salary (1/2 time as I am) and my pension will both come into my account on the same day – tomorrow – Yayyy! (Pension precesses as it is every 28 days exactly)

9. I spoke to my Sister in Nova Scotia and to my Critique Partner in Minneapolis which two meetings take place every other Sunday, and both of which I enjoy immensely…

10 – I got through my TToT…

Ten Things of Thankful draws people from all over the world to share the best of their week – why don’t you join us…

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

26 October: Ten Things of Thankful

humanist55

Ten things for which I give thanks this week…

1 – I have virtually finished the layout of all the new Gelato Production Unit at work (remember the mess of pipework I showed you last week?) which means I can now proceed to writing the SOP’s (Standard Operating Procedures) for the plant. This is vital as if you open the wrong valve or leave the wrong one open, a potential £6-7,00.00 could be lost – you don’t want cleaning acid in your gelato mix…

2 – I am grateful to live in such a beautiful (Go’s Own) county – Yorkshire and this is a view I had to stop and photograph with a view to a painting – Beamsley Beacon emphasised by strong shadows on a levely Autumn sunshiny day…

3 – On a smaller scale, no unused corner – in this case of a snicket (Passgeway) – fails to be colonised by nature – I think this is a Lavateria…

4 – The Olive tree in our yard continues to darken its tiny fruit though I fear there is not enough sun to develop them further before I have to wrap the tree in frost protection for the Winter – however – one fully formed Olive has made it and by the Spring, when I unwrap the tree again, will no doubt have attained black ripeness…

5 – The roofers returned to fix and relace a few slates on the extension roof and renew the render along the coping stones and they also painted (and cleaned) the small upstairs window, which is otherwise inaccessibe…

6 – More bounty from this year – some quinces in my daughter’s garden – not sure if they are edible or only ornamental? I love to make Membrillo!

7 – Across the road from the above, I encountered this tree spirit…

8 – More Autumn beauty – better on the ground than on my car…

9 – No Ten of Thankful complete without a little texture – so from the trunk of the tree that shed the leaves above – any graphic artists amongst you, feel free to use…

10 – Thankful to have found Ten Things of Thankful this week…

Ten Things of Thankful draws people from all over the world to share the best of their week – why don’t you join us…

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

11 October: Ten Things of Thankful

humanist55

Ten things for which I give thanks this week…

1 – I am profoundly glad that a ceasefire has begun in Gaza although a lot will depend on whether President Trump will continue to hold Netanyahu’s feet to the fire to carry on with the terms outlined – however, a ceasefire is a start…

2 – I am glad the second cold I have had in as many weeks is abating as we are supposed to be going to see my grandson and his girlfriend’s new flat tomorrow…

3 – I finally got around to finding someone to redo the fascias, soffits and gutters on the extension. The oood has been cut for two years…

The gutters have been up for about 45 years and had gone brittle and needed replacing…
There were some very tricky angles involved in cutting the wood and the guys did well working from the old wood as templates – job well done…

4 – The building work meaned moving half the garden away from the building but I am glad as it all needed rearranging with next year’s bulb containers coming to the fore…

5 – The Spider Orchid Lilies are still producing excuisite blooms when not much else is showing…

6 – My Rhubarb – started from a fragment attached to a pulled stem, is a good size now and I will put it in a bigger pot once it stops for the Winter and hopefully get “fruit” next year…

7 – Some plucky bulbs are jumping the gun for Spring – crocii, I think…

8 – the weather was good today allowing me to paint the new woodwork

9 – I have finished posting poetry/postcards for this year – even the bonus ones from the International list – here is my favourite painting of the challenge – it is “The Island” – Spinalonga, former leper colony made famous by Victoria Hislop’s book…

10 – glad to have thought of 9 lol…

Ten Things of Thankful draws people from all over the world to share the best of their week – why don’t you join us…

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

22 Aug: Ten Things of Thankful

humanist55

Ten things for which I give thanks this week…

1 – Glad we found the perfect spot for these carved Elephants in a corner of our winding stair – we bought it last year in the market in Dieppe whislt on holiday…

2 – This week’s harvest/scrumped apples and plums plus Blackberry and Apple jam and Apple sauce. – I say scrumped but the apples and plums were eithe wild or hanging over a wall into the public domain…

3 – Grateful that the fern I placed in this lovely Macramé plant holder, is finding sufficient light to thrive. The Macramé was a gift from our son’s crafty girlfriend – Yayyy the 70’s…

4 – Grateful for the cards I have received through the Postcard Poetry Festival – the ones on the left are from my list – List 4 and on the right are the bonus cards from the International list. Everyone wants to send to a person outside the USA so they publish an International List – there is no obligation on recipients to respond to these but most include their address so I gues they are hopeful of a return card and I will not disappoint…

5 – Glad that I finished and sent the last of my official PoPoFest cards – this one to a lady in Dublin, so I decided to paint Ben Bulben in Sligo where we lived for 10 years for which I am also grateful…

6 – After a week without rain and with watering by hand at 100litres a pop, I was glad to see a little drizzle today (manifested on my windscreen) – enough to moisten the leave though I had to do a proper watering testerday…

7 – Can you guess the texture I spotted this week (useful for backgrounds in graphic work)? It’s a towel drying on the washing line…

8 – Glad that my partner has managed to get up and see her best friend locally, followed by a haircut in advance of our holoday njext month

9 – Glad that my working week is over but grateful to still have a job 2.5 days a week…

10 – Glad to have found this list to do each week…

I am new to this – my second week but in these difficult times it seems an excellent thing to have to focus on Ten Things of Thankful each week…

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!
Click Here to Enter!