52 Weeks of Happy - week 4

This week has felt like a long, hard week.  First there was the snow, which kept me in the house for days because fibromyalgia and snow do not mix, and made the days seem endless, although the rest helped a bit.  Then my mother was ill, as referred to yesterday, which has left me feeling rather shaken and a bit emotional.  All the more reason to look for my four happy things this week.

1. Goldfinches - there were eight in the garden today, males and females, this is the largest number we've seen before.  They are such pretty birds and it is thrilling to have them in the garden.  A few years' ago I started catching glimpses of goldfinches them in a garden around the corner and so they have slowly moved up the gardens.  So far the other birds seem tolerant of their presence, even the robin, who still has occasional attempts to prove that the feeder is his and his alone.  For some reason the robin seems to go for the dunnocks a lot, I suspect because they look similar to him.  My sister took this photo this morning of one of the goldfinches on the bird feeder.



2. A good book - I have been reading Slipstream, Elizabeth Jane Howard's autobiography and it is a thoroughly enjoyable read, not only because she has known some remarkable people and done remarkable things, but also because it is so well written, quite the best autobiography I can remember reading.  She has an incredible memory, wins your sympathies and is humbly honest about her mistakes.  Yet more than this, she shares the wisdom she has learnt through her life, although not in a didactic or condescending manner.  For all these reasons and more I have been finding this compelling and having the Kindle version has made it far easier to read as it is a long book (around 500 pages), but somehow manages not to feel long.  I am looking forward to getting onto her novels.

3. The perfect green - Rico Merino Essentials DK in shade 42, bought at Deramores, a shop I've never used before but who seem very efficient.

4. Miranda - whoever put this show on Monday evenings in January was a genius, it is the perfect antidote to January.