15 Days of Thankfulness: Things in the Home

Hail Caffea!

Day 8

I am pretty certain there is a goddess named Caffea who has made her temple in my coffee pot... I would be remiss if I didn't begin this list of things I'm thankful for in my home by singing the praises of the coffee maker! One of the blessings I missed the most when I was briefly in homeless exile was the ability to have a cup of coffee any time I wanted one. Coffee is more than a drink, it's a social ritual for me. Some of the most intimate conversations of my life have taken place over a cup of coffee. Coffee equals creature comfort to many: the day begins with a hot cup of coffee while gathering their thoughts.

While I'm not much on gadgets and fancy machinery, I have found that I am rather fond of both the vacuum cleaner and the steam cleaner. While there is something intrinsically satisfying about sweeping a floor with a broom, I'm finding that as I get less flexible, my appreciation for the vacuum has grown... you point it... ZOOP!...the cobwebs and dust bunnies are gone! It does a better job of keeping the carpet clean since too much vigorous sweeping has become painful for me. Ditto the steam cleaner. Armed with a soft dry cloth in one hand  and a fired-up steamer in the other , and the kitchen and bathrooms are clean and sparkling in  half the time without the use of harmful chemicals...and there is something satisfying about watching the grease melt out of crevices in  the stove that I can't explain.

The back yard this morning. I am blessed.

My thankfulness doesn't end at the modern conveniences around the house: I am thankful for the house as well. There is a formal living room/library, and when I first moved in I was thrilled to find an entire wall of vintage books. Yes, many of the volumes contain outdated material, but reading through them gave me a sense of how people thought at the time they were published.

There are two porches on the house, one above the other. The bottom porch is screened and includes a ceiling fan ( the coolest spot in summer, since we don't have air conditioning); the top porch is more of an uncovered observation deck. Both give fabulous views of the back yard, which is thickly wooded. Coffee on the screen porch at dawn where I can watch the birds feeding or at dusk when I catch an occasional glimpse of a raccoon or fox is magickal.

Don't laugh, but I am thankful for blankets. The heat is kept minimal here during the winter, and I have acquired a collection of colorful fleece throws for my bed. I appreciate they have less weight than a traditional blanket with comparable warmth since finding a comfortable position is sometimes a chore for  me- I'm not fighting a bunch of heavy blankets while sleepily searching for the sweet spot that will allow me to relax. Two of the three blankets I own are nothing to write home about-they are faded but warm and have long passed the age where they are attractive. My favorite blanket is a cranberry red velvet-like number from Martha Stewart which pretty much stays on the bed year round.

Creature comforts and things that make life easier aren't often thought about as something to be thankful for...but naming them today makes me thankful for them.