I love sunflowers; they have a subtle quietness about them but at the same time have an in-your-face-look-at-me attitude; they are a little showy but not at all fussy; and they have a happy upbeat demeanor with a laid-back casual wildness about them. And when you look deeper you find a more serious side; they have stories to share about the golden mean and the mystical fibonacci sequence, clockwise and counterclockwise spirals and why pi spirals are not as efficient as golden ratio spirals in the world of phyllotaxis.
Most artists are familiar with the Rule of Thirds, but not all realize that the Rule of Thirds is merely an oversimplification of the Golden Ratio, the Divine Proportion, Leonardo's sectia aurea, "Phi", and it's fascinating relationship to the Fibonacci numbers.
What does this have to do with Thanksgiving? Everything.
My husband and I both try to live everyday in thanksgiving. Today I am thankful for, among many other things, sunflowers - the beauty they bring to my life, the mysteries they have shared with me and the wonder they inspire in me to learn about such things as Fibonacci numbers, Phi versus phi, magical spirals and the importance of math in both nature and art.
For me, Thanksgiving the national holiday is a day to celebrate the harvest not list the things for which I am thankful, and I feel pity for people who only remember once a year take time to reflect on the things and people they are grateful for. I have so much in my life to be thankful for that it could never all fit in one day! I think my husband said it best when he looked at me one morning and said "Every morning I wake up and I have to pinch myself." I hope we never lose that feeling.
But to my dear friends who may read this, yes, more than anything we are most thankful for the wonderful people we've met in our lives, especially those who have become our cherished friends.
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