Ten Days of Little Celebrations – October 2015

Noticing something worth celebration each day is an easy thing for me to do. The habit of writing it down reminds me to be grateful for these and a myriad of other things in my life. Here are my top 10 for October 2015.

Several celebrations involved the volunteering I do with the Howard County Conservancy:

A rainy day hike with 1st graders – It could have been a disaster…unhappy wet children…but instead we moved quickly from covered are and to covered area when it was only sprinkling and the children were very happy all during their field trip. I celebrated their resilience (and my own)!

The snake and second graders – The response of children to snakes is hard to predict. I had a group of eight second graders and three chaperones that simply enjoyed watching the small snake move through the grass and then moved away from the direction the snake wanted to go, allowing it to escape. Fascination rather than hysteria…something to celebrate.

The 25th birthday of the Howard Country Conservancy – I am celebrating that the non-profit I enjoy volunteering with has been around for 25 years!

There were a lot of things at home to celebrate in October too:

Bringing the glass bird bath indoors – We had a first frost and that triggered the retrieval of the glass bird bath. I cleaned it thoroughly and it now is in its winter role: holding potatoes and onions on the dining room table. Making this change is always a celebration of seasonal change.

Bountiful CSA shares – Wow – we are getting full bags each week at the CSA season comes to an end....celebrating a riot of fall veggies!

80 daffodil bulbs planted – I actually celebrated when the job was done. The bags did not seem that daunting when I purchased them but 80 bulbs requires some effort to get in the ground! I am already anticipating how pretty they will be at the edge of the forest next spring.

Zentangle® on a soft drink bottle – I saw an article about making the patterns on Christmas balls and decided to try it on soft drink bottles as a practice. The first one did not turn out so well; the curved surface is very different than a paper tile. With practice – I now have some that I like…and I still have a few more weeks before I’ll switch to ornaments. I’m celebrating my developing skill.

Blue jays in the maple – The small flock of blue jays that I’ve noticed the past few fall seasons is back and visiting the maple I see from my office window. I am celebrating their return.

Our October road trip had at least one celebration each day…but I chose 2 to not overwhelm the list for the month:

Staunton River Star Party – I did not know what to expect…but it was fun and comfortable. I am celebrating the beginning of a new tradition since I am sure we’ll go again next fall.

Fall foliage – I suppose I could have listed this in the ‘home’ category too. October is the month to celebrate the beauty of deciduous trees preparing for winter.