Here are three great quotes in honor of this holiday.
"The greatest thing is to give thanks for everything. He who has learned this knows what it means to live. He has penetrated the whole mystery of life: giving thanks for everything."
Albert Schweitzer
"Gratitude is one of the sweet shortcuts to finding peace of mind and happiness inside. No matter what's going on outside, there's always something we can be grateful for."
Barry Neil Kaufman
"To speak gratitude is courteous and pleasant, to enact gratitude is generous and noble, but to live gratitude is to touch Heaven."
Johannes A. Gaertner
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We are home, at last. And I'm out on my last pet-job. yea!
I promised a few more pictures of the trip, and I want to share a link to some pics of a great party!
First, more Florida. We spent one night in Ft. Walton Beach, but the weather (for the first time) cooperated with some wind-sailors rather than with us. The water and winds were wild, too cold for sitting around outside. But, we found a very cool group enjoying all this wildness to go kite-boarding and wind-surfing.
And they didn't mind talking to me and answering a few questions.
Click on these to see them larger (maybe too large).
There are two kinds of activities going on and the names for them are flexible, according to one of the riders: Kite surfing or Kite boarding are fairly obvious. The rider is harnessed to a huge kite whose front edge is inflated with air to help keep it open during maneuvers. It is easy to get 'air' as you can see in the last shot; the board is similar to a snowboard. The other is Wind surfing or Wind boarding, mostly. That's the one with a mast and sail attached to a board similar to a surfboard. At the rider's chest height is a rigid curved bar that allows the rider to 'walk' around the sail to change sides/directions.
The distance shots will give you an idea (I hope) of just how many riders were out in those winds.
It was really something to see.
Now, coming from New Orleans where we saw Joel's brother, Curt, we took I-20 to Lubbock. This would be our last night on the road - just 250 miles from HOME.
We didn't know that we were arriving just in time for my Aunt Ann's 75th birthday bash! Our invitation was in our mailbox back home, having arrived after we started this little trip. And we even had dress-up clothes with us!
Ann's b-day is the 6th, but the party was on Friday, the 5th - JOEL'S BIRTHDAY!! I call that extreme serendipity and great blessings. The party was wonderful and was in an terrifically interesting venue, that even show-cased our family. The American Wind Power Center & Museum.
Just way too cool.
I've posted pictures of that event on Facebook. You can see them thru this public link; no need to sign up for FB. : )
We also learned that miles of soft sand can wreak havoc on one's knees and achilles tendons.
And we learned - again - just how blessed our lives really are. May we never forget.
