Miss Dilettante's Playground

Thanksgiving, 1999. 2:10 p.m. You are so beautiful to me. Still.

The Telephone (No. 1). Sean Duggan, photographer. Used with permission. When I was living in San Francisco in 1976, I had a broadside of this poem by Charles Bukowski. I haven't seen the broadside in years, but the poem has always stayed with me. 462-0614 I get many phone calls now. They are all alike. "are you Charles Bukowski, the writer?" "yes," I tell them. and they tell me that they understand my writing, and some of them are writers or want to be writers and they have dull and horrible jobs and they can't face the room the apartment the walls that night --they want somebody to talk to, and they can't believe that I can't help them that I don't know the words. they can't believe that often now I double up in my room grab my gut and say "Jesus Jesus Jesus, not again! " they can't believe the streets the loneliness the walls are mine too. and when I hang up the phone they think I have held back my secret. I don't write

I couldn't believe it when Tara Bradford left her comment on my blog the other day. She inspired me to create my own giveaway by offering a beautiful collage by Colette Copeland on her blog Paris Parfait . I enter contests never expecting to win and am always shocked when I do. It really felt like a karmic experience. I gave something beautiful away, and on the same day, I received notice that Colette would be sending her lovely artwork to me. Thank you, Tara and Colette!

Thank you all for your incredibly heartfelt comments. I'm glad that I didn't have to choose the best comment, because it would have been impossible for me. I wish I had more yarn to give away! Despite unemployment, health issues, accidents, and a death of a loved one; you all managed to rejoice in life and count your blessings. As I read your comments, I laughed and cried. I identified with the joy of family, friends, and fiber. Thanksgiving is a day I will always treasure, because it was the day my dear Michael proposed to me in 1999. My first Thanksgiving without him in 2007, I reminisced about our engagement on MySpace . I continue to feel fortunate for having known and loved him. As I'm making my way in the world alone again, I know that the best way to honor him is to reach out to other people and be that light in the world. I'm thankful for the people who have always been there for me, and the new people that have taken me to their hearts this past year. Drum roll

Thanksgiving seems like the Rodney Dangerfield of holidays. There's always a mad dash from Halloween to Christmas. Okay, so maybe Thanksgiving celebrates gluttony and football. But what I like about it is that it gives me time to reflect on the good people in my life and to acknowledge the blessings I've experienced. I've decided to have a giveway. It requires no special skill. No artistic ability necessary. It would be great if you would leave a comment about one thing for which you're thankful this year. This is for the yarn lovers out there: 2 hanks (350 yards each) of superwash merino sock yarn . Sundara Yarn produced a special colorway in Tulip to celebrate Spring 2008. On November 17, I'll randomly draw the name of the lucky recipient.

I've been feeling scattered. Part of that is due to the fact that I've been maintaining two other blogs. It looks like I'm finally settling in at Blogger. About the time that Darcy finished the design of this blog, Dia de Bloglandia was in full swing. I realize now that I might have confused a few people with the comments I made on their ofrenda, because my comments were linked to this blog instead of the one at TypePad . At the risk of continuing the confusion, I put my post for Dia de Blogandia under my Widowhood 101 tab. So if you haven't read it already (and you want to), there it is. We each honored our departed family and friends in very different ways. At the same time, there was something so touchingly familiar about the tributes. I felt like I got to know the mothers, fathers, grandparents, husbands, siblings and friends that the other participants commemorated. It's taking me longer to make the rounds than I anticipated, mainly because I take time at e