A Very Thankful Thanksgiving

 

This past week was our annual Thanksgiving holiday here in the US.  It is a wonderful time to get together with friends and loved ones without all of the busy-ness and pressures that are associated with the upcoming Christmas holiday.  Ordinarily, I travel to Indiana to spend this holiday with relatives on my mom’s side of the family.  This year I was invited by my aunt on my dad’s side of the family to join them in Florida.  When I was younger, our family used to travel down to Florida frequently to visit, but I hadn’t been there in years.  The last time I saw my aunt and cousins was in 1995!  What a wonderful opportunity to get reacquainted and catch up.  Also, even though I had been back from the trip to Turkey and Lebanon for a full 3 weeks, I didn’t feel fully recovered.  I needed a vacation from my vacation! 

My aunt rented a beach cottage on Sanibel Island that was within walking distance of her house.  My cousin, her daughter and I stayed there, while my other cousin and his wife stayed with my aunt.  So there was a lot of going back and forth, especially on Thanksgiving Day with the meal preparations.  The weather was ideal, and it was so nice to reminisce about our childhoods.  Activities included a lot of walking on the beach, a boat trip to an island north of there to a great seashell hunting beach, lots of good food, and my favorite, birding at the Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge, which was just a 5 minute drive away.  Sanibel Island has numerous wildlife refuges, and the bird watching was superb.  Below are some photos.  

 

 

 

 

I’d also like to take this opportunity to send great gratitude and appreciation to the readers of this blog, my many clients and students, and all of my friends and loved ones for your friendship, love and support over the years.  Just know that I send my thanks back to you tenfold!  You have played an important part in my life.  Blessings, Carla