Tag Archives: iPhonography

Having a home means there will always be projects. Home ownership is a great privilege, but it comes with great responsibility. This weekend’s project is the master bathroom shower. It is looking kinda rough after five years of tenants’ questionable cleaning routines and haphazard caulking attempts. I am grateful that I have some mad DIY skills and Google in my corner, because it looks like the original plan of attacking the hard water stains with heavy duty grout cleaner and replacing the mildew-stained caulk are not going to suffice. Four hours of cutting and scraping today revealed that the sloppy caulk job was covering up great huge cracks and gaps in the grout. Since I could buy a car for less than it would cost to cover the existing tile with low-maintenance composite Sentrel panels, I’m off to Home Depot to purchase a reciprocating saw with a grout blade and some unsanded grout. By Tuesday, barring some disaster, it’ll be like standing in a whole new shower.

Ahhhh. Can you smell that? There is a very distinct smell that comes with autumn in my neck of the woods. Not the first few weeks of September, but late into the season, when the mornings are frosty and the days are noticeably short–right about now. I love the unique smell of piles and piles of fallen leaves, love it more when I can trample through the piles and release a burst of fall fragrance. I am grateful to be back in Virginia this autumn, for autumns in Japan and England just didn’t have quite the same aroma.

All genuine knowledge originates in direct experience.
~Mao Zedong

I am grateful for a life rich in experiences, and the knowledge that results. Why, just this morning, I witnessed that very process. While I was blow-drying my hair after my swim, I had the experience of watching in the mirror as traffic flowed into and out of the toilet area of the women’s locker room. My newfound knowledge? Women don’t wash their hands after using the toilet. How will I apply this knowledge? I will now wipe down every piece of gym equipment BEFORE I use it, not just after. Ick, ick, ick.

In the small blessings category: I am grateful for the website where I discovered how to use a coffee mug to change A into B in less than 90 seconds. Makes breakfast (or dinner) a much less harried undertaking! (And clean-up is SO much easier than using a skillet.)

This was a crazy weather moment we encountered a year ago in Ireland as we drove around the Ring of Kerry. The skies darkened, rain poured from the heavens, and a beautiful rainbow appeared right in front of us. We were able to pull over, but I couldn’t get out of the car for fear the wind would rip the door off its hinges. While I was snapping pictures through the windshield, sideways hail began pelting the car. I’m so grateful we weren’t out hiking when the squall blew through!

People are like stained – glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within.
~Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

I am grateful to be surrounded by people who sparkle in both darkness and light. I feel privileged to be able to immerse myself in their beauty, and hope that some of their shine rubs off on me.

A friendship can weather most things and thrive in thin soil; but it needs a little mulch of letters and phone calls and small, silly presents every so often – just to save it from drying out completely.
~Pam Brown

I am grateful for friends who understand and accept that I am not the world’s greatest gardener, and who are willing to sustain our friendship through long droughts of emails, phone calls, and visits. I do treasure each and every one of my friendships, and I need to be more attentive so they not only survive, but thrive.