My Week In Pictures- Finding Happiness

Give me a sunny day to dry my washing on the line and clean my floors and I’m a happy woman. Such is the heady mix of spring days and middle age. We celebrated the first official day of spring this week and combined it with international day of happiness. Quite frankly I hope to find something to be happy about every day. Just starting the day off with a cup of tea outside can be enough to bring an appreciation for contentment in my world. A few years ago I did a personal project called 100 happy days It was based on the question can we be happy for 100 days straight? You had to submit a picture of something that had made you happy that day and hashtag it #100happydays I managed to complete it making me one of only 29%. I sincerly hope we can find something each day to smile about even if it’s only excellent parallel parking as demonstrated by this driver.

A few years ago I spent a very happy six months living in MyFriendFiona’s house while she was away in New Zealand. She had a bedroom with a balcony that looked out over the sea and I loved waking up there. This week after 7 years I got to wake up in that house again. I was visiting the same friend now firmly established back in her own home, and we had a good catch up and drank gin on a school night. Here’s the view from the balcony (admittedly through a slightly dirty window) and it brought back many happy memories. Thank you MyFriendFiona for a trip down memory lane.

My uninspirational calendar still brings a smile each day

and by the weekend it was full on laughter. Our local village hall had a book sale to raise funds. This kinds of events can often be the glue that holds village life together. It was a brilliant turn out and several hundred pounds raised as well as a solid amount of books shifted. But funniest of all was the categories. As well as the usual Fiction/Non-Fiction there were some hilarious sub categories.

Yes along with cannibalism there were cookery books and with mind, body, spirit/weirdness. Personally, I would put cannibalism in the weird category above pilates but someone had fun categorizing things for the big sale!

On the subject of books I’m currently reading a brilliant one on a subject which is far from happy. It was recommended by my friend Rik Nelms who writes candidly about his faith and debilitating illness in his own blog. ‘The Husband’s’ Joyful Journey he includes some his own incredible and powerful artwork too like the one below.

The Book Rick recommended was ‘With The End In Mind’ by Kathryn Mannix. It explains the dying process absolutely beautifully and leaves the reader with a clearer understanding that the dying process is usually a dignified and gentle process. Not the cheeriest of subjects but one I would highly recommend if it was something you wanted to explore. As Rick’s wife said though, have your tissues nearby.