It’s Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada. As I celebrate my favourite holiday of the year, I reflect on what I’m thankful for this year.

Welcome to the 133^rd edition of The Sunday Spark, a series with weekly thoughts and highlights, nuggets of learning, and a simple living challenge for the week. In addition to what I’m thankful for this Thanksgiving, this week’s edition looks at innovations in fracture treatment, Banned Books Week, and No Bra Day.

On my mind this week: Thankful

It’s Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada. By far, Thanksgiving is my favourite holiday of the year.  It has many of the wonderful things I love about Christmas, without the pressure of gift giving. And, unlike Christmas and Easter, there are no extra choir practices or services at church to prepare for, and no “us vs. them” debates on whose holidays or religious rituals are right or better.

Above all, though, it’s an opportunity to take the time to reflect on our blessings. I think that matters more in 2025 than ever before.

Here are 7 blessings I’m thankful for this Thanksgiving.

• The beautiful fall weather continued this week, providing a chance to relax on our deck a little while longer before putting our outdoor furniture away for winter.
• Being able to celebrate Thanksgiving with my Mum. She’s 92, and the passing of time is a reminder of how precious these occasions are.
• I miss having our girls home for Thanksgiving, but I am grateful that I can travel to BC on Saturday to spend a week with Laura.
• The blessing of music and the opportunity to sing and jam with other musicians in the choir and my band.  
• The gift of reading and the treasure trove of books at the library. So many books. So little time!
• Health is precious so it always needs to be on any list of blessings. As my family doctor retires, I am thankful for the wonderful care he has provided over the last 25 years, and I’m grateful we have a new doctor taking over his practice.
• Finally, I’m thankful for the ability to write and the creative outlet provided by my blog. The thoughtful conversations I have with the members of our wonderful blogging community provide endless food for thought and inspiration.

Happy Thanksgiving to all my Canadian readers! What are you thankful for right now?

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Three highlights of the week

It’s important to celebrate big milestones and simple pleasures in life. Keeping the trend going, here are three highlights and simple pleasures of the week gone by:

• On Sunday, we enjoyed takeout from Swiss Chalet. We had their Thanksgiving Feast and it was delicious.
• We were so excited that the Toronto Blue Jays beat the New York Yankees in the ALDS. What an exciting series! Bring on the Mariners!
• Our new vehicle arrived at the dealership this week. We get to pick it up on Friday!

Things I learned this week

Life is all about learning. Here are three things I learned this week:

Bone glue can bond fractures in minutes

Researchers in China have successfully created a new medical adhesive designed to repair broken bones quickly without the need for metal plates, screws, or big surgeries.

The Bone-2 adhesive can be injected directly into a fracture site to help speed up bone repair. It bonds bone fragments together in 2–3 minutes.

(Source: Interesting Engineering)

Celebrating the Freedom to Read during Banned Books Week

October 5 to 11 was Banned Books Week. This annual event highlights the value of free and open access to information. 

I didn’t know such a week existed and it’s sad that we have learned so little from history that we even need it in 2025. I also learned that several US states have passed “Freedom to Read” laws. Kudos to California, Colorado, Illinois, New Jersey, Maryland, Minnesota, Vermont and Washington!

(Source: Reasons to be Cheerful)

No Bra Day – October 13

As a Breast Cancer survivor, I’ve written before about my dislike for the insincere hype of Breast Cancer Awareness Month—or Pinktober as I prefer to call it.

Thanks to a clue in a New York Times crossword earlier this week, I learned that tomorrow is No Bra Day. Apparently it’s a day to encourage women to go braless to raise awareness of breast cancer.

I have no words. Well, I do, but I’ll save them for another time.

This week’s simple living challenge – Plan a staycation

Simplifying life is a big part of living more intentionally. With that in mind, I kicked off the year with 52 ways to simplify your life this year, including a downloadable checklist of weekly ideas and tasks.

This week’s challenge is to plan a staycation and explore everything your local area has to offer. We did that during the pandemic and discovered lots of new hiking trails close to home.

I’d love to hear what you think about any of this week’s topics. Drop me a comment below and let me know your thoughts and ideas.