I opened my journal to write, and Sasha plopped down on top of the pages.  How does she know I’m writing?  Does she hear the scratch of my fountain pen against the paper? I am so lucky to have a cat who aspires to be a writer, or an editor, or perhaps just a critic.

Oh so much gratitude this morning:

♥  An inspiring Mom: full of vim and vigor both physically and mentally. She’s 87 tomorrow.  Still my wisest friend.

♥  A husband who spontaneously dances with me in the middle of the day.  Holding me close, twirling me away, and dipping me like I’m a feather in his arms.

♥  A Valentine’s Day tradition of dinner brought to us by Mademoiselle CoCo.  She cooks us a spaghetti dinner every year.  This year she expanded the guest list to two good friends and decorated the windows with heart-people for all of us.

♥  A new writer friend, Kristen Harnisch, author of The Vintner’s Daughter.  She encouraged me to enter my novel in The Historical Novel Society’s contest, which I did. She also gave me some great advice on genre.  Plus, her novel pulls me into another world. What a wonderful gift.

♥  CareBridge, an electronic system for updating me on the progress of my friend Jane who is recovering from a stroke.  Sometimes connectivity is a good thing.  CareBridge makes it easy for me to update the rest of our book club on Jane’s progress.

♥ A new haircut from my long-time friend and expert Sassy Haircut.  I especially love the back of the cut.

♥  Chocolate covered strawberries for Valentine’s Day.  Alison, CoCo’s friend brought them every year for our New Year’s Eve party.  This year her Mom and Dad brought them in honor of our lost friend.

♥  Sunshine.  It almost makes me forget about sub-zero weather.

♥ A fireplace.  Because “almost” is the pivotal word.  It’s still sub-zero weather out there.

Please join Laurel at Alphabet Salad for her Gratitude Link-up.  You won’t be sorry, I promise.