I'm  thankful that I still learn things every day despite having been on this earth for many decades. On Tuesday I learned from Marian Redmond lots of new tricks for making Christmas decor at my Mentor home new again. Like everyone, we tend to get into a groove, doing the same things every year. It's pretty and they work but it's getting boring.
 But this year I'm going to employ some of the masks hanging  on my fireplace wall into the branches of my tree,  spray paint some of the hundreds of pine cones I've collected from my evergreens, and use pine boughs beneath my tree instead of just a red flannel tree skirt. Marian heads up the decorating of the Lake County History Center this year and I'm working on a story about that for Monday's paper. When I was there I was in awe of what she's done with 54 trees in spaces around the center. I also bought armloads of dried hydrangea blossoms which I'll spray with varnish so I can use them on my tree. She collected them on the grounds of  Little Mountain Country Club with management's permission.
While I was in the spray paint mode I'd decided I would paint my old Flexible Flyer sled a bright red and lean it against the front porch wall near my door. It dates from the mid-1940s when I was a girl and has made its home in the loft of my garage for the past 30 years. My husband has been trying to persuade me to leave it alone since it's in pretty good shape with its original print  still legible. The runners are a bit rusted and need a good sanding, but it's a great old sled.  I've decided to listen to him.
This morning while making pies fo Thanksgiving, I disregarded my pumpkin pie recipe's instructions to put the piecrust on the oven rack and pour the liquidy  pie mixture into it.  I was in a rush to get to work and not only poured pie mixture up over the sides of the piecrust and into the bottom of my oven, but I burned my hand in the process.
It's lesson I thought I learned a long time ago, but I am now reminded.
Glad I still am able to learn from life.