Today, I am enjoying a breakfast of frittata made with Swiss chard from my garden, grape juice from my garden, and a mug of lemon verbena herbal tea from my garden.
I was reading a book this morning; a true story that takes place in Germany prior to and duing the second World War.
I thought about the other books I have read from this time period. One of the things I find most interesting is the food. Breakfast, despite the country, is usually just bread, but sometimes with something on it. In some places, this is still the traditional breakfast.
While I have had bread for breakfast before (toast was the main thing I could afford for breakfast as a college student), I am grateful to have such a variety today. I am grateful to have onions in my frittata, a rare thing during wartime in England. I’m grateful to have fresh greens from my garden, full of vitamins.
What are you thankful for today?
I think my Mum said fresh eggs were hard to come by during the war in England too-when they had them they were often powdered. Grateful for my gas fire this morning at -8 C-my Mum said she used to always have to light the coal fire every morning before changing and feeding the babies-we sure take a lot for granted these days!
Brandy I was reflecting on the time you said you fell asleep with the gas fire running one night and had a very expensive gas bill. I don’t notice much difference on mine running it now and again but I remember the first, hot summer we moved into this house and I ran the furnace fan to draw cold air up from the basement-not I mistake I will make again as it really jacked up the electric bill.
Yes on the eggs! I almost said something about those too.
Brandy, in the tv show FOYLE’S WAR, (a WWII mystery series) in one episode somehow they had got hold of a very large onion and were raffling it off. Everyone was stopping into the police station to admire and smell the onion. We just take them so for granted.
I saw that show. That episode really stood out to me.
Your breakfast sounds amazing! I love eggs, greens, and onions.
Today I am grateful for my family! My husband works so hard to provide for us and my children are very loving too. So much to be thankful for!
I am grateful my children love each other and get along well (most of the time!) Every day, they get a chance to learn one of life’s greatest skills – how to negotiate, keeping your needs and desires and those of others in mind so a satisfying agreement can be reached.
I heard a man from China who was born right before the country instituted the one-child policy, (which has since been amended and removed). He said the problem for those single children was that they didn’t know how to play a game of pick-up basketball, as they had no siblings to play with. I thought that was a very interesting opening for discussing families.
I am thankful for the vaccines that changed the world– smallpox, polio, diphtheria, tetanus, and others– and am thankful the people I interact with most closely are, like me, vaccinated against covid as the current best choice to be safe and to keep others safe.
Today I am thankful that I was born in America.
My grandparents were from Homs, Syria and the country-side around there.
That area has been destroyed in the civil war.
Both of my grandparents were part of the 10% Christian population.
America, with all of our problems right now, is still the best place to be born.
Today I am thankful for the following:
* Food in our freezer and refrigerator
* Friends who care
* Books that inspire me to be a better person
* Family
I am thankful to have our truck back from the garage. It runs and we’ll have to put oil in it weekly if we drive it often and the gas gage is broken, but it runs. I love my little truck with 4WD warts and all. Did I mention it has heat and that it runs?
Today I am thankful for our electric bill arriving at over $100 less than the total for last month. Turkeys on sale. Mustard greens and bok choy to be harvested in our garden. A full pantry and freezer. Our home spilling over with family & love.
I’m thankful that the brightly colored snake that crawled out of a raised bed I was digging in turned out to be a king snake, not a venomous coral snake. At first glance, I was far too startled to tell.
OH boy! I had a scorpion right by hand in the garden the other night, but I could easily back away. I am SO grateful it wasn’t a snake! Glad you are okay!
I am thankful that I took time to work on a few odd things around the house the last couple days. It was also helpful that the only thing I had to make for dinner last night was rice. Everything else came from refrigerator and freezer to the table after defrosting/warming.
Today I am thankful that my daughter is accepted into a toxicology fellowship starting in 2022. I am so happy for her and relieved that she will only be a few hours away.
I recall my mother talking about times during World War II when they had no butter and the margarine was white and came with a capsule they broke and mixed in to color the margarine yellow. This was in NYC.
Kat, I clearly remember my Mom breaking open that capsule to mix into the “butter” (looked like lard to me). She did this by hand as she had no electric mixer. that would be in the late 40’s. ann lee s
My Dad told me that he coloured his little sister’s blond hair with the yellow food colouring capsule during the late ‘40’s!
Im thankful for my husband who has taken care of me when I’m not well.
I am thankful for ibuprofen and acetominophen. I can’t imagine how I would treat my childrens’ current illness without it.
I am grateful for a full larder. fridges and freezers. We have a wide choice of foods to eat and a plentiful amount. We are blessed.
I’m thankful every day since our dryer went out a few weeks ago. Yes thankful and grateful to Steve’s electric service and appliance repair for coming by so quickly. Steve and Kyle Butts probably saved our lives as well as our home and furbaby Wickett. They were checking the dryer heating element, which is what we all thought was wrong but he said wait a minute…he noticed something about the plug….a clicking…we couldn’t hear anything. He took the cover off and one wire had already melted, more starting. Plus the outside of the cover down where we couldn’t see. He put in a new plug. That was it. That’s all he charged us for. He could have done an element and who knows what all. Honest business with honest people. And we are thankful to still be here. God is watching over us. 🙏🏻❤️🙂
I am thankful that the DH and I, in our late 60’s, still have the energy and are in good enough physical shape that we could remove the tree that fell down during a windstorm. It fell onto our fence (damaged but not destroyed) blocking the access road to the water tower property behind our house. The DH was able to use the chainsaw and cut it into manageable pieces, and then he and I dragged it to the back section of the property. We had to get the road opened, so the employees of the water company could get back to the property. As the DH said – that was our exercise for the day. Also thankful it wasn’t snowing at the time, and that the wind had died down.
I am so thankful for my Lord and Savior every day.
Brandy, you might be interested in this website: https://www.1900s.org.uk/index.htm
It is based on the recollections of the webmaster (who is 82 now!) and her mother (who died in 2006). It has so much interesting day-to-day information about how ordinary people lived during the 20th Century. I have read a lot about that time period but am learning so many new things as I read my way through it – and it has really illuminated various period novels for me too.
I am grateful today for people like Pat and people like you, Brandy, who share their writing freely with all comers on the internet. The web can be such a force for good in the right hands.
Thanks for the website link, looks very interesting!
For readers with the WWII interest there is a book HOME FIRES: THE STORY OF THE WOMEN’S INSTITUTE IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR by Julie Summers. Talks about rationing, bombing evacuees, war work on the home front, making do or doing without and much more. Most of the info was gleaned from the journals the women were encouraged to keep.
I am thankful for everything that has led me to today, where I am safe, loved and bills are paid.
I’m thankful for the cool fall nights in the desert, which translates into good sleep.
And this is so minor, but I was so thankful today to find a few quarts of unsweetened soy milk after searching several stores. Not sure why it’s been such a hard to find item but it’s a pantry staple for us because of someone with a serious dairy allergy.
I’m grateful for popcorn.
I’m grateful for a sense of humor. Some days would feel impossible without one!
I am thankful that I could use $20 off rewards $ I had earned from buying our usual groceries and another $20 off a $200 online grocery order promotion to get $40 in total off our grocery order 🙂 . I used the $40 saved on items to increase our food storage.
I am thankful for the doctor’s at Cleveland Clinic.
Today we helped friends take out items from their house that had a really bad fire. I am grateful for our house.
I would love to know what your book was? Today I am thankful I could take a meal to a friend who lost her son tragically. We just sat and talked and it was a gift to be with her!
I am thankful for Brandy and the Prudent Homemaker website!
I am grateful for heat, clean water, electricity and a fairly well-stocked pantry. And for archivists around the world who provided help for our book. The digital age may have its drawbacks but one huge plus is a blog like this with such nice people sharing their thoughts. And of course it has given us access to research materials that we never dreamt of having. As I sit here eating the pears that “I” brought me, I am thankful for her kindness.
I’m thankful for a friend my 7 year old son made at school. He adores her….and she just told him today that she is moving away this weekend. I’m grateful for the friendship they share and the lesson in life this gives him, even if it hurts my mom heart to see him struggling so. Life is full of beautiful and sometimes hard things.
Today I am thankful for a sound roof during some heavy downpours. It is a pleasant sound, rain on the roof, and I’m thankful that it’s not a stressful noise.
I am thankful to accompany my husband on a call to friends house to clean and service their furnace. They have two young boys and recently moved to a town about 45 minutes away so they could afford a home. I visited with the wife while my husband did the work. He kindly gave them the service for free.
It was nice to catch up with our friends and to see their new home, which needs a lot of work, but gives them the space they need and keeps it affordable.
Today I realized how much I take for granted when I met a young single mom from Afghanistan. She shared some of her story with me and I felt a little ashamed at how easily I take my blessings for granted, here in Canada. I was able to gladly provide her some service and share some community resources available to her.