Mostly Harmless Drivel: Is That Thankfulness Thing Still A Thing?

And so we've reached the eve of another Thanksgiving. I've been away from the ol' bloggy drivel-y place for so long, it seemed reluctant to even let me log on. Anyway, I'm guessing people stopped doing that thing on social media where they post something for which they're thankful each and every freaking day throughout the month of November. I hope so - because after a couple of years, we've pretty much covered it, have we not? I know I certainly have - although in delightful clumps of 10 to 30 thankfulnesses at a time, rather than that every day nonsense.

To wit: Here they are, for review and time-killing...

2012

2013

2014 (A) 2014 (B) 2014 (C)

2015

2021 (A) 2021 (B) 2021 (C)

There. All caught-up? I can give you another minute, if you like. Easy now - don't be like that. My point is, I could have just posted the same list each year, but NO - I wouldn't want either of you dear readers to get bored. So I dug deeper and deeper, trying to find every little thing that wasn't the same old thing, for which I am thankful.

Well, no more!

Okay, here are a few more. Some are repeats and I don't care. In addition to the requisite stuff like [Maris] and health and family and home and hoboes (especially THESE TWO) and blah blah blah, this year, I find myself especially grateful for, in no particular order:

No filter. Photo by Joe - Germantown, MD 2022

1. This sky. I just like it.

2. Dining out. Post-pandemic, still feels a little more like a privilege than it used to, and that's okay with us.

...very cold.

3. Speaking of dining out, this year I'm thankful for this one waitress from our Outer Banks "restaurant week" vacation. Every year, there are more exceptional restaurants between Nags Head and Carolla, and most of them feature good, professional service. But only one has the spectacular young waitress who flirted with me *AND* [Maris] - and yes, we know exactly what she was doing (unless she was trying to lure us into some horrible Hollywood-style robbery and/or murder scenario, which would have been not nearly as cool as it sounds) - and we don't care. Thanks for being nice to us, [name withheld because it's uniquely-spelled and I KNOW somebody out there will Google her and totally find her on social media like I did, and sorry but no]. You're very good at your job.

4. Speaking of dining out in the OBX, here's to tourist drinks in tourist traps (or even in really good restaurants full of locals, but with a touristy drink menu)...

Bonus points for crazy creepy Halloween décor.

5. And speaking of drinks... I'm thankful that a decade or so ago, I finally acquired the acquired taste for martinis. Yes, I know martinis have made the list before, and I don't care - they're great and I love 'em.

Bonus points for spiderweb table runner and bent-stem glass!

Bonus points for fire! And bent-stem glass.

6. Finding teeny tiny snakes in the middle of the hallway at my (thankfully) empty office. I've heard that on more than one occasion, snakes have literally dropped from the ceiling onto people's desks, downstairs. I know, right!

He's so teeny! Shoulda seen the little dude try to bite me when I picked him up - adorable.

Because we at the Humane Society are nothing if not humane...

7. Speaking of work, I'm thankful that almost no one has come back to the office, so there's room for me to park my ol' ragtop waaaayyy far away, where the infernal autumn leaf storm can't get her and clog up her little convertible top drain thingies. Actually, while I do love having the place mostly to myself (I'm an essential personnel... hahahaha just kidding NO ONE is essential), I'm NOT thankful that no one came back. Now we're selling this perfectly-located suburban building, and I'm going to have to commute to nowhere-near-a-Metro-stop, DC. Thanks a lot, dicks.

Bonus points for being able to scoff at the I-270 traffic all day.

8. Speaking of parking lots of perfectly-located suburban offices - I'm super-thankful that our parking lot cat has found a good home. Still a little annoyed that his owners DUMPED HIM on our property, but after a few days of cat-whispering, we were able to determine that he was a lovey-dovey puppy of a cat, and long story short, he's gonna have a great life. But people, please don't dump pets outside the Humane Society of the United States. We have no shelter facilities, no vets - hell, right now we hardly even have PEOPLE. This is just an office. The fact that it's an office occupied by animal lovers does not make it okay to dump unwanted pets there.

"You're my person now and I love you and I'm coming home with you."

"You have betrayed me and I will never trust again."

9. HALLOWEEN! Every available bit of space in our little abode is dedicated to it for close to two full months a year, now. Sue us - we love it and are thankful for it.

"Don't bother us. We're... we're conjuring."

10. A really good chair. Am I right? Yeah, I'm right.

Yeah, I'm right.

11. I'm grateful to still be able to remember when Funland in Rehoboth Beach looked like this:

Summer of 1985. Yeah! I'm OLD!

12. I'm grateful for the fact that we don't sleepwalk, so there's very little chance we'll put the turkey in the toilet. Or fall down the stairs (asleep, that is). This one courtesy of [Maris].

13. "The Walking Dead." To a point. Okay, so that point was probably several seasons ago, but yeah. For 12 years, a nice creepy escape. It had moments when it transcended the genre and TV in general. And a LOT of moments that were just bad. But I stuck with it until the bitter end, which-- What? HOW many spinoffs? Oh, HELL no...

14. Speaking of the walking dead. We did a cruel and ill-conceived little department re-org at work, this year (hey - we're just like every other large organization out there), so here's to my SURVIVING that particular dumpster fire (so far, at least)...

Cute, no?

15. Vaccines. Yes, still. Shut up. They help.

16. Mom's recipes from Judy Ireland. Yes, I know I need to copy the ones I want and give these back, like months ago.

So much rich tasty goodness in there...

17. Waking with the sun - but ONLY AT THE BEACH!

Got it? Okay. Back to bed...

18. BALLOONS!!

19. I'm thankful for my friend Tony, who had his pilot's license when we were nineteen, so that I got to photograph my childhood home from the SKY. From a part of the sky that he said we weren't allowed to be in, which got him yelled at by an air traffic controller or some such. Still, what a cool day.