Hi all,

Read through this, and then click on the link. It’s an odd thing to be posting, but it is well worth the watch.

Another lifetime or two ago, I was Majoring in Art at the University of Wyoming. (My father was the Department Chair of Modern Languages for the first time then, so there was a bit of a self imposed obligation…) My particular area of interest was in Sculpture. As a subset of that, on performance art installations, and kinetic art. Andrew Goldsworthy has always fascinated me. This last bit kinda sets the background as to why I find this piece so impactful.

I’m quite sure I’m not the only one this will speak to. It is incredibly impactful on SO many levels. But, let it sink in, and then flip it into thinking of how many GOOD things we all have.

As it pertains to these forums, one of the things I am thankful for, is how these forums have changed, and how much fun we are mostly having. This place has become more of a refuge, than a battlefield, because of all of you. (Despite my occasional best imitation of a cranky old &$+11@) We’ve hit just under 2000 viewers that we’ve clocked, and that is REALLY cool!

On a personal level,I’m thankful for having made it through the last two years with my family intact. My Grandmother passed last year, having SURVIVED Covid. She was 104 1/2 years old, and survived the Spanish Flu Pandemic as well. She was well into dementia, and had ceased to remember me about a year before she passed. So, that too is something to be thankful for, in another level of meaning that you might see in the piece.

Thanks for making me feel less like what you see in the piece, and more like what keeps all all going;

HOPE.

I would really enjoy seeing what makes you thankful for!

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CWEdy59hgHB/

Crikey - where to begin?

I was sitting at my mums side, holding her hand when she passed away 11 years ago. I watched her go.
Probably the biggest 'thankful' I have.

About 6 years later, my dad - 92 at the time - had a nose bleed in the night.
Ok, a nose bleed.
However, it turned out he lost about 2 pints of blood and it wouldn't stop.
Paramedics, then hospital.
It took them nearly another 24 hours to stop it.

Then while in hospital he got a urine infection.
He also had a stroke.
He lost around 1/3 of his body weight and we (me, my brother and sister) were called to the hospital.
They gave him around 24 hours.
Obviously, his driving licence - yes, he still had one - was revoked.

3 days later he was back, but huge dementia.

6 weeks later he was allowed home but me and my sister took turns giving him literally 24 hour care for the next 4 - 5 months.

After a further year, he really 'came back'.

6 months later at his insistence, he took another test - 94+ years old - and got his driving licence back!

We visit him every week now.
He's 'bright as a button' - still goes out in his car, does his shopping, looks after himself and (bless him) even takes my mums ashes out for a drive in nice weather.

Talk to him - he's 97 and will still BAFFLE you if you talk physics, metallurgy (he was a senior college lecturer) astronomy, space/time theory...

He's one of the LAST that was there on D Day.
BBC and ITV want to feature him in programmes but he says 'No way!'
I just did what I had to do.

Another 'thankfull'''?
Yes, I think so.

Pic attached - Dad now...

He was part of Sword beach landing.
One of the lucky ones who came back.