Days of Gratitude - Snowdogs and Sculptures. Or Crawley: This Way To Hell

It's time for me to post some more from my entries for the Sunday Assembly Newcastle gratitude group.  It's November already and as I post this only 43 and a bit days remain of 2016.

It's been an interesting year.  I've had some hard times.  Every day is hard.  But I've had some very good times too and I think that I approach the end of the year with a better idea of who I am, more positivity and a better idea of what I'd like the future to be for me.  I think that posting in the gratitude group has helped me.

November has so far been a stunning month for me.  I've got out somewhere on nearly every day.  I've seen lots of wonderful things.  And I've completed the Great North Snowdog trail which wasn't something I'd planned to be doing.  I will warn you now.  Though this post contains no pictures of Snowdogs the next few blog posts from my gratitude diary will contain dogs.  It's been a fabulous month.  I think the rest of the month may contain less going out because I have a major urge to be writing and I don't get much of that done when chasing Snowdogs!

So here are four days.  I am still extremely grateful to have pulled out of the something mentioned below.   My withdrawal came from self-awareness and wasn't a cause for guilt.  I sincerely hope that other people can make that something work.  I believe I had some good ideas and I hope that they come to fruition and that someone has the enthusiasm to carry them out while putting their own stamp and ideas onto mine.  My own withdrawal I see as a positive, a self-care, a turning to what brings me joy, and possibly a turning towards a bright future.

3^rd November

Grateful - very grateful - to have been able to withdraw from something because I knew it wasn't the right thing for me to be doing. Grateful that someone was so understanding about it all and supported me rather than shouted at me.

Grateful for finishing my photo challenge quickly and having an hour spare to wander before going and withdrawing from what I withdrew from.

4^th November

Grateful for another photo challenge - which I've so far not succeeded with. I think I will need to do an art to succeed.

Grateful that my route from Broadacre to Gateshead Tesco was not the obvious three minutes on the Metro kind of route but included seven snowdogs, an accidental climb up a multi-storey car park, watching Katherine Tickell rehearsing, and a 16th century anchor.

These pictures are from the car park. Amazing what you find up the stairs at the end of a passageway with no signs to let you know where it leads.

5^th November

Let it be said that I am not very grateful for Crawley - shown in this 1970s postcard.

I am grateful for an eleven word writing prompt from Amanda and how by the time I came to it I knew what the next two words would be. Two. Just two. But then I had to work out what the postcard would be and after three possibilities (a tacky London tourist card, a generic Lake District view, and a motorway service station) I settled on a view of Crawley for some reason and found this card online.

Grateful, after that decision, to have quickly written this: https://niume.com/pages/post/?postID=151744 It may be worth returning to and developing later.

Grateful that when I came to post the story I found that I own the identical postcard so I didn't have to nick someone else's picture of it.

6^th November

Grateful to have gone out on another challenge, combined with a Snowdog hunt.

Grateful to have stayed out even though it was hailing when I got off the bus.

Grateful that the walk from Gosforth to Seven Stories is pleasant even in the rain - although next time I need to go and see graffiti street instead of forgetting which street it is.

Grateful to have photographed every Snowdog in Newcastle. Heading out to see some more dogs this week but I know I won't be able to see all 61 because one went missing and one is at Kielder.