This is a periodic blog feature I call “grace notes.” It occasionally captures my jottings of incidental gratitude. My hope is that this practice will make me and you more aware of the constant flow of amazing good we are perpetually steeped in, which we are surrounded by all the time. It is here only asking to be noticed and amplified.

So now I am furthering my ongoing goal of appreciating such a continuous, overflowing abundance of random good. I’ve taken photographs of some of them with my iPhone, which you can see in this post.

So let’s start this gratitude list with:

• 35 years of marriage to a very dear man.  The photo above and the fancy dinner out below show us celebrating our anniversary recently, but I am so grateful we celebrate our marriage every day.
• That our older daughter invited me to go with her to Morocco in December and we had a great time! Photo recaps of our amazing trip will begin tomorrow and run for about ten days. I was so grateful to spend this special, memorable time with her, and it was an amazing opportunity beyond what I ever imagined having.
• For all the guests who’ve graced our home since the last edition of Grace Notes. Below you can see a visit from a friend from Maine, and a cousin who is in grad school near here at Yale. I am especially grateful for my sister and niece’s visit over the holidays. They came up from North Carolina on the train and we had fun talking, playing cards and cribbage, making 3-D snowflakes, walking in Huntington State Park, having them visit our church for the first time, teaching my niece a bit about cooking, eating of course, going out with us on our anniversary, and having an art day where I showed them how to print on a gelli plate. I’m so grateful they made the long trek and that it was so joyous and all around supportive.
• I’m grateful for our fireplace and all the ambiance it gives us. We really enjoy cozy time together in the winter near the fire.
• I’m grateful for light, and sunsets, and rainbows, and shooting stars, and check out the refracted light in my bathroom in the photo below, put off by the beveled edge on the mirror.
• I am grateful for safety and health and energy and purpose. I’m grateful I’ve learned how to guard my thought from negativity and discouragement, and to reframe and redirect as necessary. I’m grateful I have learned to expand my thought to include more good. I’ve been doing this consciously for a long time and lately it feels like it is really starting to add up, for which I am very grateful. I’m grateful too that this gratitude thing can be learned and that I’ve made the effort to do so. It has been a huge boon for my whole outlook and experience.
• I’m grateful to have sold several paintings in the last part of the year. I’m grateful my work resonates and can bless the lives of others. I’m grateful too for each one that calls me for spiritual help, which also gives me a way to bless. Being in a position to bless others is the truest grace note, it seems to me.
• I’m grateful that my husband bakes! His popovers, biscuits, turnovers, and apple galette are especially appreciated. The sipping chocolate (almost like mousse) he makes and serves in his grandmother’s cups is wonderful too.
• I’m grateful for my local clergy association; you can see some of us photographed together over the holidays.
• I’m grateful for a creative streak in our younger daughter, and that making things brings her so much joy. Pictured below are two complicated shawls she knit two of her friends, and also her working on a whole set of handmade stamps over the holidays to use in her new reading journal for 2025. I’m grateful too that her first term teaching closed out well and that she was able to be with us for two weeks over the holidays.
• I’m grateful for my office/studio and all my books and art materials. I’m grateful for this new computer too.
• I continue to be grateful for our cold press juicer; we are particularly loving the green juice we’ve been making.
• I’m grateful my “no buy year” is over. So what is the first thing I’ve bought in the New Year? 100% wool long underwear from REI and I couldn’t be more thrilled with them. So grateful for the warmth of natural fibers.
• I’m grateful for a whole New Year expanding in front of us and that I have so many wonderful plans, from spiritual work, to art work, to travel, and time with family and friends. It all sounds great to me and I don’t take any of it for granted. I’m so very grateful to love my life!
• I’m grateful this blog is entering its 17th year of every day, and that it is such a healthy habit for me to continue to do. I’m grateful for every one of you blog readers out there, whether daily or sporadic; you make this blog possible. I am grateful you are interested and get something out of it. I’m grateful for every time you’ve shared the blog with someone, for every response and comment, for your financial support which keeps it running, and for how each of you got here to begin with. Thank you !

Tell us your grace notes in the comments!