The 12 (er, 11) Days of Thanksgiving

I wish I'd thought of this yesterday when there were 12 days to go until Thanksgiving, but I didn't, so let's just pretend I did, okay?

I was thinking this morning about how glad I was that it's this year, and not last year. Exactly one year ago today, we were stressing out over whether or not we'd gotten this apartment. We were faced with the task of getting rid of half our belongings, scrubbing down every inch of everything that was left, and moving it all, in the midst of the holidays, over to Oakland. It was not a very fun time. It took me a good two months to recover any sort of good mood after that whole debacle. It was horrible.

So this morning, I'm sitting on the sunny porch, drinking coffee, lazily looking through a magazine, enjoying the sun (yes, although I wish it were actually winter here, it is nice to have warm sun in the mornings), and feeling profoundly grateful that it's this year and not last year. So I think in honor of our good fortune, I will present the 12 (11) Days of Thanksgiving.

Starting with today: I am thankful for our back porch. This photo was taken about 20 minutes ago. It's absolutely gorgeous out there this morning. The birds were chirping, the church bells were ringing... lovely.

One of the cool things about living in the Bay Area is that you can have flowers all year 'round. My mom and I planted these pansies in my hanging flower pots when she was here last week. They are so cheerful; I love pansies and haven't ever lived anywhere that had a sunny place for them. So I love coming out and seeing these guys on a nice morning.

And Cleo The Cat loves the porch too. She likes to take a nice bath in the sun, and eat the various leaves of things growing in pots (she has kitty grass too), and watch alertly for birds, spiders and any little bugs that might venture onto the porch.

I haven't had a porch the entire time I've lived in the Bay Area (over 11 years now) -- just a tiny patch of yard for about six months when I had my mouse house, which wasn't private and was kind of shady and cold -- so I really enjoy having a little bit of outdoor space, especially this one with such a pretty view of the city and treetops, and so sunny and cheerful and cat-friendly.

It beats a moldy, falling-down apartment any day, I can tell you that for sure.