Happiness is

getting a punnet of cherries at a roadside stall, putting them on the passenger seat and then eating cherries whilst driving with the hood down on a beautiful day on country roads (and disposing of the stones by shooting them out of the car with a u-shaped tongue - but I wouldn't tell you that).

I can never see or eat a cherry without thinking about the series of posts that Katherine wrote here which started with a punnet of cherries and ended with a painting .

It was another of Katherine's posts a few days ago which pointed me in the direction of a recipe here on Cro Magnon Man's blog.  It was for bread which looked rather tasty and easy to make.  This evening I decided that I was going to have a dinner of fresh bread and cheese and tomato and lovely things like that.  I make most of my own bread in Eagleton but I use a breadmaker.  I got this one decidedly wrong.  Firstly I made it a bit too moist and secondly I discovered that my oven's 200℃ and a real 200℃ are quite far apart.  The bread tasted good but was decidedly overdone.

Out of The Slough

I knew it was going to be a good day this morning when I woke up.  As I have said many times before 'If I wake up it has to be a Good Thing'.  But today felt especuially good.  Odd because outside, despite being pleasantly warm, it was dull and the drizzle which seems to have become part of our life at the moment  appeared to be well set in for the day. 

I knew it was going to be a good day when I chose Gottschalk as my music at 7am!  For those of you who are not acquainted with his orchestral music it is lively and happy and almost boisterous.  It suited my mood perfectly.  But then if, from the 55,000 tracks of music on my computer, I can't find something  to suit my mood then I'd have to be in a very odd mood indeed!  After several hours of Gottschalk I moved on to Glbert and Sulliven - something I haven't done for a very long time.  Now it's Lumbye - he's really happy too.

I knew it was going to be a good day when I found myself dancing across the room and out onto the deck - at 7.30 this morning!  I hope that no one was watching  or someone would be ringing for the padded wagon.  Fortunately unless there had been anyone working in the orchards or training binoculars on The Cottage from the surrounding hillsides it is unlikely anyone would ever see the sight.

I knew it was going to be a good day when I found myself thinking positively about croquet again.

For over a week I've been in a slough from which I seemed unable to emerge.  That was exceptionally unusual for me and I didn't like the person I kept seeing.  But he's gone. And I'm very grateful for Blogland.  It was in Blogland and not the real world around me that I felt comfortable and happy.  Thank you.

Happiness Is

Playing in the leaves in the forest

Happiness is Dancing Naked in the Warm Rain

I have returned from Wendy and Martin's. It is nearly 0140. Late.

It has been a wonderful evening. Wendy came down at around 0830 just as Boston Legal was finishing and I was about to go up and see them. She had come to collect me because they were going to go in the spa and catch up with the week's news. We chatted for an hour and then went up to the house.

We all chatted about the week's events and enjoyed a glass of wine in the warmth of the spa on a beautiful warm evening in the open air. For a while we sat on the edge of the spa as a warm shower passed by and we tried to work out how to tell the world just how unlucky it was not to be sitting with us. To be honest we couldn't think of the words. But if heaven is like this then I would be well satisfied.

Cheese and biscuits - and perhaps a little more wine - followed with more chat.

And now for bed.