rest

 

I am grateful for a kid with a smile on her face, one who says everything is great and all the nesting taking place.

table and floor

 

I am grateful for time with friends and family, biscuits as fluffy mama makes, muscle, music, a broom, a mop, and a day of prepping for the future.

incomplete

 

I am grateful for generous people and a long rain and a nice nap and the grand plan.

pop

 

Even with the proper amount of turkey hunting he was able to get this done.

Today I am grateful for a foreman and head laborer. 

preposition in the end

 

I am grateful for cooking, eating, the conversations we have around food, rest, a warm shower and one of those shows with characters I can fall asleep with.

here we are

 

I am grateful for a phone call, a plan and a purpose.

it's not about you, Rick Rubin

"Whatever the thing that makes the thing good is the thing that I'm drawn to - for me. For a long time lyrics meant very little..."

"Really? Fight for Your Right to Party - Beastie Boys?" 

"Yeah, it was fun. It was good lyrics but it wasn't what was important."

I am grateful for a podcast, a dialogue, a collection of ladders, a soreness and help.

didn't get done

 

I am grateful for a long day and more brick.

sorting bricks, buying flour and painting rabbits

 I am grateful for a smooth driveway, the town's grocery/hardware store, chisels, hammers, wheelbarrows, hoses, my spray nozzle, vinegar, good water pressure, a decent broom and little hands and large drama and the meal we will share.

remember

 I am grateful to clock out early, get a nap, visit, move some brick, say thank you again and again, reconnect and remember.

pay yourself first brick

 I am grateful for a hammer, a good coat and plenty of light.

place and food

 

I am grateful for clean bricks and home and stories and back porch and front porch and lemons and cucumbers and strawberries and celery and blueberries and skinless, boneless chicken thighs, salted, sous vide, patted dry, foiled, refrigerated and then seared in some bacon grease after a generous dusting of garlic and chili powder.

getting paid to learn

 I am grateful for a ladder, wood, a saw, a phone call, an email, a quote and teachers everywhere I go.

not or, but and

 I am grateful for a satellite dish, a headlamp and a good knife. 

Dear Heflin (part 2),

 

I am grateful for cell phones, second gear, kindness, good health and observation.

the planning

 I'm trying something new. I am airing my tent out after wiping it down with warm water and vinegar. 

Then Lysol.

I am grateful for the guides, the opportunity and the equipment to comfortably fall asleep on a mountain.

a near catastrophe

 

Power went out the morning after the evening I ruined a protein that I took pictures of, wrote about and obsessed over the best way to cook it and serve it and watch them eat it. I made inedible for human consumption the chorizo stuffed boneless two inches of straight protein that I massaged and promised to two people. I will not give up.

Today I am grateful for goals, those two, a pleasing enough tenderloin and whoever is out there helping my refrigerator hum again.

an electric sander

 The delivery will include two boneless chorizo stuffed pork chops. (Half of hers I hope she gives me, but I also hope she loves it so much that she tells me to go get my own.) I'll roast the asparagus with an olive oil, lemon and pepper on a preheated foil lined pan at 400 degrees (?) for ten to fifteen minutes maybe. The cauliflower will be similar but with garlic and cheese. Those baked beans will reintroduce that bacon, green peppers, sweet onion, brown sugar, Blackburn's syrup, black pepper, ketchup, mustard and Worcestershire sauce. Then those Sara Lee rolls brushed with a salted butter. A couple of halved green and black grapes on the side of the plate.  He'll have a fresh jalapeño, and I better be serving lemon pie for dessert. I wonder if they'll just let me watch them eat because that's not creepy.

I am grateful for loaners and an increase and home and spring and dinner for the both of them.

the guy

 He said, "I've never seen anyone wash a paintbrush out like that."

I am grateful for a roller and a paintbrush and a can of paint and if I'd only listen and how he said, "I reckon we'd done good working together if we'd done it about ten years." I am grateful for today.

tis the season

 I am grateful for a birthday and breakfast and stories and turkeys and prepping and planning for outdoor meals.