Thanks for the bit of cheer to passersby: Here’s to the whimsical soul who added the telephone above a “fairy house” in a split tree-trunk. (Tinkerbell, phone home.) Emily Paine Carter, special to So Salem

“We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.” — Thornton Wilder

Giving Thanks for Blessings Great & Small, Personal & General, in No Particular Order, Continued (Edition 10):

You know the Big Stuff — words we repeated around our turkey-laden tables: Family. Friends. Food & Shelter.

Indeed! But after seeing the Northeast’s recent devastating weather … well, I’m newly grateful for those basics. Not to mention my creature comforts (space heaters! Perfect ice cubes! Medication!) and a comforting creature, my snuggling pet.

On our street “Sandy” is the name of a super neighbor, not the bad super-storm. (Our own June 29 windstorm did make folks grateful for electricity.)
So, sure, hooray for grand things – including my grand, hilarious grandkids. (Yes, hooray for your kids, too.)

And great gratitude for all family and friends closing in on another year of life. Some had an uncomfortably close call this year. I mourn folks we lost — especially the young ones — but am trying to be grateful for their time on the planet.
Thanks, too, for the Small Stuff — some of which I simply must repeat from past years: Say, that mighty leaf-sucker truck working its giant-straw magic is still an autumnal joy to behold.

For the bits of technology that I can work: Devices that let me skip EVERY political commercial (talk about putting the “ugh” in “ugly” this year)!… And here’s to texting!

“Common” delights, mind-and-soul stretchers: Music (especially live). Plays and films and talks. (Mercy me, I’ve even come to appreciate a good sermon.) Layered clothing; leg-warmers; shoes that fit; arch supports, etc. Intermittent windshield-wipers. Ziploc bags.

And cheerful sights and moments, the whimsical stuff: That obelisk on the Roanoke College campus — an amazing student prank, now a useful message board. And the truly tiny and unexpected: The painted fairy-houses planted by Anonymous still delightfully crop up (note the photo: a phone was added to the one stuck in a broken Langhorne Place tree-trunk).

Since I need to remind my own self, this George Santayana quote is worth a second helping: “The world is not respectable; it is mortal, tormented, confused, deluded forever; but it is shot through with beauty, with love, with glints of courage and laughter; and in these, the spirit blooms….”

A happy season of Thanksgiving! With gratitude for pie — and those perfect ice cubes!