Here in Seattle it’s a day of scudding cloud and lemon sun, and the outside world is very quiet: few cars, few planes, no one hammering or sawing. It is Thanksgiving Day. I want to give thanks to this community.
In the eight months since this blog began, nearly seven thousand of you have come and read and contributed, and read and contributed again. As a group we have listened, and learned, and offered a helping hand. And giggled at naff stuff. Oh, and we built our own photo gallery, A View of One’s Own. Thank you, all, for being part of this. Thank you for reading and commenting here, and on MySpace and Facebook, on the Yahoo list, and on my other blog. There are several hundred of us regulars now, and for each other we make the world just a little sturdier, just a little richer, just a little more connected.
I am thankful for you all. I wish everyone a most marvellous day.
Nicola Griffith 
It’s a glorious day here in LA. Clouds like we rarely see – only for brief periods after a storm. So I went down to get the view on the coast. Posted a few more pix even though it’s not strictly my view from home…Thank <>you<> Nicola and thanks to everyone else who comes here as well.
Happy Thanksgiving, N, and the best of fall to you. You’ve made this such a warm and welcoming place, it’s no surprise at all there’s been such a great response!
Thank you, Nicola, for welcoming us into this virtual home. It’s been changing my life with gentle, constant and surprising consistency–much in the same way a friendship would. It feels that way, too. Hugs and warm wishes to you all.
Thank you, Nicola, for being this community’s founder.And thank you, everyone, for that familiar and gentle consistency that Karina so aptly described.My life is richer because of this community.I’m so grateful today..hugs. to all of you!
Thank you Nicola, I enjoy very much being a part of the community you have created here. The support and comfort I received a few months back was extremely helpful and got me through a difficult time. I am grateful I found this blog and the people who participate, hope it was a joyous and bountiful holiday for all.Rory
jennifer, holysmokes! That LA crest photo is just fantastic. The other ones too, but that one… Wow.
Glad you like it, Karina. The cool thing about where I live in Pasadena is that I can be in the mountains above LA or at the beach in 30 -45 minutes. At least on days like today when most of the peeps are off the roads… I love it when it’s not so crowded. I hate the masses. And the traffic.Since we only get rain in the winter, the filth builds up. Now that we’ve had a real rain, things feel cleaner, fresher. Better.
So, today I was at the coast in the early am (didn’t get my ass out of bed early enough for sunrise), and in the mountains for sunset.
Nicola, my thanks to you for providing a niche in which I have “met” some truly interesting and insightful people. I have learned much.Another thank you to Jennifer for provinding a visual window that has given a whole other dimension to this group.I spent my Thanksgiving Day countryside with my daughters and family at my brother’s home. We ate our meal out on the covered porch with the wonderful scent of surrounding Live Oaks. The skies were overcast. In the late afternoon several whitetail deer came for their meal as well. I drove home with one daughter sleeping and the other and I listening to “songs of the season.”A Celtic Blessing for Nicola/K and all this Community:May you have Walls for the wind And a roof for the rain, And drinks bedside the fire Laughter to cheer you And those you love near you, And all that your heart may desire
Thank you all. You are not virtual friends. You are real friends.
Thank you, all.jennifer, that photo of the road is astonishingly like one of April Gornick’s painting–the bending grass, the light. Wow. I really like it.
Interesting comparison, I wouldn’t have thought of it. Thanks, Nicola.