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FWD: Thanksgiving in Fresno!

Happy Thanksgiving!

So nights are longer this time of year. Colors change and seasons transition into late Autumn and early Winter. George Winston's piece Thanksgiving always plays to remind me of Thanksgivings past and a look forward to Thanksgivings in the future.

When I think of Thanksgiving and I hear this music; when I see the leaves turn orange and yellow and blow across the street; when I feel the temperature begin to drop and as we welcome in the Holiday season I am reminded of Thanksgivings past with Mom.  Mom loved Autumn.  The Holiday Season between Thanksgiving and Christmas were always some of the warmest of times regardless of  how cold it would get outside.

Found 11/24/10 at 9am

Now as the seasons change and the days continue to shorten as we move towards winter and Christmas I look back to Thanksgivings of old.  Most recently, I think of the more recent Thanksgivings in with my family.  Gathered around a table of plenty.  Having built my family tree and tracing my Bradley line all the back into the 1600's, Thanksgiving for me is filled with ghosts.  Not in a scary sense, but a peaceful sense.  I feel my family.  I feel my blood.  I eat to honor them and the America they built with their blood, my blood.

Last night at work I was speaking with a colleague who has lost a very dear love one.  He was sharing with me how difficult Thanksgiving is and in fact how difficult most family focused holidays are.  We both tried to comfort each other with the reality that loved ones lost will be with us this Thanksgiving and every Thanksgiving from here on out but the harsh reality of the absence of their physical presence had set in a little too deep.

This year, I will honor my wife and her family.  They too are part of the American dream.  Immigrants that came here and fell in love with all this great nation has to offer.  They too have suffered and prospered to succeed and inherit their piece of  the American dream.  Sitting at the Turkey Table this year will be a tiny family from Costa Rica and their Irish American son-in-law husband.  Joining us will be a couple from across the hall, a Syrian and his wife.  She's from Mexico.  The American dream is alive and well in my In-Laws condominium complex.  My Father-in-Law is good friends with this man from Syria.  Each man significantly more comfortable in their native tongue and so they use English as a bridge to communicate and what is evident here is that no language is required to witness the bond that exists between two men who have left their homelands in search of greater prosperity and opportunity.

What must Thanksgiving be like for them?  This seemingly American holiday with traditional deep roots from England and Europe.  This day where we mark a time where men and women from different places, races, and creeds who share one land meet innocently to give thanks to God for the abundance in their lives at this time of Harvest.

This to me is what Thanksgiving is all about.  Family.  One big American family.  Steeped in rich history and tradition.  The main ingredient that holds this all together is love.  Love for our land, love for our family and most importantly, love for our God which made us in His image and made all of this wonderful experience of life possible.

And while there will be loved ones deeply missed on this Holiday of feasting and abundance I will feel their presence with me as I share a fine meal with some very special people who happen to be my family as well...

Happy Thanksgiving and Pura Vida!

Well I'll Be A Monkey's Uncle!

So Facebook can be many things for many different people.  One thing it has become for me is a nice way to spread the word.  That being said, for many, myself included, you don't always find things on "your time."  Feathers normally don't appear when you're looking for them.  They arrive right on time when you really need to find them or to remind you of your purpose. 

Which leads me to an interesting exchange on Facebook that happened yesterday.  This exchange was between myself and an old friend from High School.  It needs no real introduction so I'll just let her rip!

Jen Tank Bryan Glider Must have been "my time" to understand feathers! I ran across your Feather Blog again. I don't really know why, it just sort of happened. I had read a few postings, but this time, I jsut kept reading and reading. I love it. I love what your doing, but more importantly, I love that you are connected. So many peopl...e are not. And it seems they miss so much. I'm glad for you. The coffee with Mom was kinda awesome, I have to say. It all is fascinating!! THe next time I find a feather, I will keep it as my gratitude feather. Thank you for sharing that with me!

David R Bradley Thank you for getting it.  Let me know when you find your gratitude feather or email it to featherblog98@gmail.com and I'll put it on the blog.

Jen Tank Bryan Glider   ‎:)  Have you seen or read John Edward? He was a real catalyst for me. He opened my mind to think beyond the material now. I then read Celestine Prophecy and Seat of the Soul which lead to Many Lives, Many Masters by Brian Weiss. All the... books and seeing John Edward live, makes it impossible for me not to get it. I've always felt a connection beyond the material now. These just confirmed I'm not CRAZY! LOL! You are so blessed to understand your visits/communications. Not to mention blessed to have them. But you know that already.  I couldn't imagine not sharing that with you. I will definitely take a picture. It makes me want to run outside RIGHT NOW and see if there is one waiting for me.

Jen Tank Bryan Glider Guess what I FOUND???? I know, it's unbelievable. Believe it, I'm getting the pics now!!! And TWO of them!!! I didn't find any when I went outside, so I resigned to the fact that it wont happen on my time. So, I walked to check the mail. There was one right by the mail box. Then on the way back, there was another one, that I seemingly passed by. AWESOME!!!!

David R Bradley Well, I'll be a monkey's uncle. It's amazing what can happen when you put something out into the universe yet detach from the outcome. I guess I have a blog post to work on now...   Oh, and congratulations on your Gratitude feather(s)!

Jen Tank Bryan Glider A monkey's uncle! HAHAHA!!! Thank you!!! I feel a deeper connection to the universe now than I did even 30 minutes ago. AMAZING. I love that feeling. I feel like my energy and the energy you are sending out there into the universe, just emeshed to actually ADD to the universe's energy. I know this happens everytime energy is felt or given, but when it's a feeling that happens immediately...that's God. :)


Jen Tank Bryan Glider Oh yeah, I needed this today. Not sure if you saw my earlier post about my angel, but this, today...this matters. A lot.

So there you have it.  Feathers from the Universe.  I think I will re-post the Gratitude Feather blog on Facebook for Thanksgiving...

Sold a car...

...and here was this guy on top of the trade in.  An 06 Mustang GT with a 4.6L V8 engine and a short shifter.  Que the Tim Allen grunting!!!

Walked into work...

On the Welcome mat.  Literally.

What was on my mind...

Get the book on CD do the Dyer thing...  make that a book too...  then as I got out of the car, right under the door was this one.  So it looks like these two things need to happen and you heard it here first people!

Feather in the Sandbox

Found this at the park under the push up bars in the exercise sandbox.

It's like getting spotted by mom.  Many times during workouts past and present I have uttered the phrase, "I'll push and you pull" to get in that last repetition.

Strangely or not so strangely, I tend to harness a little extra strength when I utter that phrase. 

Left by the cleaing crew...

Or was it?

While wondering about this, http://puravidakettlebells.blogspot.com/2010/11/40-days.html

I found that feather...

So I guess we're all good there.

Halloween and Mom

Halloween and Mom...

It was a large lamp, a light, an orange salad bowl, 1 white sheet, 2 black eyes make from construction paper and 2 black hands.

At Christmas time, the tree was center window, lights ablaze.

For Halloween it was the ghost made from the ingredients above.

One year the bowl melted a bit... 

Halloween was always fun.  Whatever the Holiday, mom decorated.  Hallmark cutouts of ghosts, witches and Autumn themed decorations.  Pine cones, orange and yellow maple leaves, Mom loved Autumn.  She was born in October.  It was her time.  The season where things die and get ready for the winter was also the season of her life beginning.  Every set of decorations through childhood contained some level of magic, rising in intensity to the most magical time in a child's life.  Christmas. 

This year for Halloween, Neff and I carved a pumpkin and decorated her uncle's sculpture.  We have a few knickknacks around the apartment too.  No ghosts on lamp posts, but a few signs of the season.  I was reminded of the Halloweens of childhood.  Trick-or-Treating with my buddy Stephan.  One year I was Luke Skywalker, another year a Cowboy, as I got a little older (and slightly more Gothic) I went as the Grim Reaper.  Halloween was different in the 70's and 80's.  Sure there's always the concern of razors in the apples and poison candy but for whatever reason Halloween in the small town of Yucaipa in 1981 is a whole different Holiday compared to Halloween 2010 Encino, CA.

Mom was always there throughout childhood and it seems as I spend this year documenting feather sightings and reliving Holiday memories in my mind, I struggle sometimes recalling things.  I want to remember more.  Maybe by remembering more it'll be like having her back for just a little while.

Mom was always there during childhood.  Well, no duh!?!?  Sounds like such an obvious statement.  But she's missing from my adulthood (sort of...  ok, physically) and that means that the time she was here (childhood, in this case) becomes all the more precious and valuable. 

You can't TiVo Mom.  Either way, it became clear that Mom liked the Jack-O-Lantern.  On Monday morning this little guy was hanging out just under the table from where the Jack-O-Lantern sat.  I snapped this pick as I played a Trick in lieu of a Treat on our resident apartment manager.  The trick will be for a different blog altogether but mark my words, Mom and Doris together smiled down at this little bit of delinquency on my part..