Sharing Thanks

I can't bring a Martini on the nature trail? I love exploring new nature trails on Long Island. On Sunday my friends Liz and Tom took me to the Target Rock Nature Preserve. This week I will be featuring photos I took from this beautiful walk. I'm dedicating my thanks today for being thankful for being in nature. Here is what I was thankful for exploring this beautiful new trail. I was thankful to see this amusing sign at the beginning of the trail. I was wondering how many people brought martinis or cosmopolitans while walking on the trail that the need for this sign arose? The sign did provide me with a chuckle! I was thankful for the wonderful trees that provided me with shade and cool breezes on this hot and humid day. It was awesome how quiet the trail was, peppered with bird sounds and the rustling of leaves. I was grateful to see some adorable chipmunks scampering across the trails. We also were blessed to see a family of deer. Two adults with two fawn. The camou...

View from a friend's porch on Memorial Day Weekend My good friend has a wonderful shady porch. I wanted to post a picture from one of my favorite Memorial Day Weekend Moments. So thankful to all the serviceman who valiantly gave their lives for our freedom. Here are my thanks for some wonderful Memorial Day moments. I am thankful for sipping wine with good friends in the shade on their beautiful porch. Love the hanging flowering pots with the flag flying proudly in the background. Is there anything better getting together with old friends and sitting on a comfy wicker rocker on the porch with great conversation? So nice to see our friend Anne who was visiting from Washington DC. I am thankful for our town's Memorial Day Parade. It was nice to walk up to the end of our street and see an adorable family with kids patriotically dressed in red, white and blue waving small flags. I am thankful for meeting some neighbors on my block! Met a lovely family who was happy to fin...

Beautiful roses in the parking lot! I love finding beauty in unexpected places! My daughter Becky started working this week. We are a household with four drivers and two cars so I sometimes drive her to work. Saw these beautiful roses in the parking lot behind her office. Today I am sharing thanks for joyful moments in unexpected places. I am grateful to be able to drive my daughters places. Although it may seem like a chore, I enjoy the time it creates to have meaningful conversations. I am thankful for driving Liz to school today. It has been raining here a lot and I was telling her I hoped the sun would come out to make a beautiful day. Liz said, "Mom, everyday is beautiful." I did not know my daughter could be so profound! I am thankful for a nice lunch I had with my good friend Sejal. We had some deep parenting conversations today. She is a good friend and a good listener. I am thankful for my neighbor Rob, who helped Liz when she locked her self out of the hou...

    My cool cat Sasha sitting on the a/c I caught my cat Sasha sunning herself in an odd place outside our house! If you read yesterday's post I was thankful for all the love my pet Sasha gives me and finding her in the rain. I've been blogging since November and this week Sharing Thanks passed the 2000 page view milestone! I have learned so much in six months so I am dedicating this post to sharing thanks for what my blog has taught me. I am thankful for all my blog readers. What amazes me is how the blog has reached so many different countries. Yesterday I had 10 page views from South Africa! It reminds me of the show Touch on Fox TV network. It is amazing how a message encouraging gratitude can touch so many lives across the globe. I am thankful for all the blog readers who have shared what they are thankful for in the comments of my blog. I encourage anyone reading the blog to share what they are thankful for in the comments. I have had over 60 comments since I st...

Flowers in Central Park After a beautiful weekend we have been having a lot of rain here on Long Island. Sometimes we do not appreciate something until it is lost. It was pouring rain and I had not seen my cat Sasha in the morning. I was calling her name in the house and checking all her favorite cat spots. I was starting to worry about her. It was raining buckets outside! I was calling her name. Then I went to the side of the house, and Sasha was hiding in a basement window well. I was so happy to see her and brought her in the house! Here is what I was thankful for yesterday. I am thankful for my loving pet Sasha. She has been giving me the cold shoulder since we got Oreo. I was so happy to see her sleeping at the end of my bed yesterday! It made my day. She loves to visit me when I take a bath and sit by the tub. I was thankful that my daughter Liz made a good friend. She went over Christina's house yesterday and enjoyed hanging out! Thanks for a fun dinner with my daug...

Liz's Surprise Birthday Party at Johnny Rockets! Celebrations always bring people together. This weekend I helped plan a small surprise party for my daughter Liz's 18th birthday. On Saturday I was invited to a surprise party for my friend Liz and Tom's 25th Wedding Anniversary given by their 13-year old daughter Anna. Anna put an amazing pot-luck  party together! She asked each guest to bring a pot luck dish. It's love and friendship that make the party! Here are my thanks for the weekend! Thankful to my daughter's close friends, sister and cousin who helped surprise Liz for her 18th birthday! She loved all the thoughtful cards she got with pictures of her favorite actors! Thanks to the staff at Johnny Rockets, who did the birthday song backwards and provided great service to our little party. Thanks to Anna who surprised her parents with an awesome 25th Anniversary party. I had so much fun reconnecting with our good college friends and Liz and Tom's e...

Rhododendrom in full bloom Yesterday was day to celebrate friendship! I had an amazing moment of serendipity. I am lucky to have good friends that I met in 3rd grade when I moved to Rockville Centre. We grew up in the same neighborhood and have played kickball and spud together, as well as having teen tea parties. We may have been the only teens in the neighborhood who enjoyed sharing our days over a cup of tea and cookies. We all still live on Long Island and we help celebrate our birthdays together! Here are my thanks for yesterday. I was thankful for celebrating my friend Stella's birthday. Margaret and I treated her to a reflexology massage and dinner at Wild Ginger! We enjoyed the massages, relaxing together. We ended the evening over a cup of tea at Stella's house. We always get together and have lots of laughs! I took my daughters out to lunch at Bertucci's and we ran into my neighbors from Rockville Centre. So we decided to lunch together. My daughters got s...