G is for...

Gratitude: the quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness

there's so much to be thankful for, and one of them - for me - is gardens and gardening.  I haven't had much success with fruits or veggies at my current residence, as there isn't enough sunlight that hits my porch for long enough periods of time to grow anything edible, but that doesn't mean I haven't tried, or that I don't continue to try, every spring.  posted below is an image of one of my porch gardens from several years back - it was my first try with cucumbers, and they did so well, we had wonderful homegrown cucumbers all season long.  that garden also yielded radishes, lettuce, broccoli, and one tiny green pepper.  there was tomato blight that year, so I didn't get any, though I do think I tried anyway.  that porch got great light, so it was a pretty successful garden, overall.

cucumbers growing in my porch garden

seed starts from another garden

I grew up with an appreciation for glassblowing because it was something my mother was into, and when I was in my 30's, I worked at several different glassblowing studios and galleries as a 'tour guide', sales person, and packer and shipper, though I did have opportunities to help out in the studio (stretching cane and mixing frit, mostly), and try my hand at blowing, which is much harder than it looks.

three different artists represented by some of my collection

I'm thankful for my dad - for having known someone with such a diverse and interesting history, and being related by blood to his experiences in this world.  I'm thankful for his love and guidance, his discipline and kindness, his largesse and generosity of spirit that are so much a part of who I am.  he could be a hard man, and terrifying at times, but understanding where those reactions came from helped temper his anger, and in the end, we had deep, meaningful conversations around his recognition of what he considered his failings as a parent, which came about as he watched those patterns begin to repeat in the lives of his grandchildren.  while he never met my son outside of my own dreams, or what one might consider to be psychic experiences, I use those later conversations as a way to inform my own parenting so as not to perpetuate cycles of violence in my own family.  sometimes I get it right - sometimes, I have to ask for forgiveness.  I always forgave my dad, and my teen always forgives me, too.  I'm extremely grateful for the opportunity to build on that legacy.

my father's gravestone, in the Lower Galilee of Israel

for good measure, I'm throwing in these grapes that are growing at the Israeli archeological site called Tzippori, in what had been the garden area of what is known as the Dionysus House, because they've been growing there for hundreds of years, and I have a special connection to the mythology of Dionysus, Ariadne, the Minotaur, and the Labyrinth.  I really wanted to eat one, but I was reluctant to violate the barriers of an archaeological site to satisfy my own greedy desire, so this image will have to do.  I'm simply grateful to know they are growing there, and that I not only got to see them, but share them.

grapes from a foregone era

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