I've been writing a few things on what makes me happy at the moment. Well here are a few more:
My Keep Calm and Carry On Magnetic Calendar - The Whole Month of August, 2016
I have this vintage style letterbox-red metal all-purpose any-year calendar that hangs on the wall just above my kettle and Hario Tea Dripper in the kitchen. It's a nifty little device. Every day you move two dark magnetic strips along one spot to coincide with the correct weekday and date of the month. Once a month, you get to move all three, but this is another story of great excitement meant for another day.
As the days of the week start (on this calendar) on a Monday and the date starts with the number one, the day and date almost NEVER line up neatly. And oh the frustration when a month starts on a Tuesday! For the whole month, the date magnet lags just one step behind, almost there and sadly never quite catching up.
But not August 2016! That's right - every day this month, the two little magnetic strips under the day and date line up perfectly. Monday was the 1st, Tuesday was the 2nd, Wednesday the 3rd, Thursday the 4th - you get the idea. On that first Monday, when I realised with great excitement the impending daily unbridled joy of uninterrupted perfectly lined up days and dates for the next 31 days, I called out to my somewhat perfectionist, occasionally OCD son to deliver the news. We high-fived, relishing the thought for a few moments and went on our happy way.
Early Morning Walks with Alison
I never thought I'd say this, but I like getting up early. Now before your head goes into a spin and you write me off as someone completely untrustworthy to write on the topic of anything-at-all, I'm not talking about that ghastly chasm of eternity that exists somewhere between hearing that first beep of the alarm, realising with great horror that you will have to part ways with the comfort of your cosy pillow and arriving in a foggy haze to the bathroom door. It's what comes after.
I've started morning walks with Alison and I LOVE IT. Three mornings a week, we're up at the crack of dawn, rushing to the beach to make it before the sun pops up, catching a few happy snaps to later post on Facebook (sometimes mulling over the curious thought that we are doing something quite frankly the majority of the population only imagines possible) and enjoying a leisurely stroll home.
But there's much more to it. The buzz lasts a couple of days and I still haven't figured it out. You see, I've tried morning exercise before, in fact I've tried exercise in general, but it has this way of leaving me in a state of painful depletion, of head-throbbing exhaustion while I pathetically try and convince myself that someday I will reap the benefits of hours of relentless pain. Not this time. I arrive home with a bounce in my step and I am ready to take on the world.
New Harvest Cupping
Yesterday a little package of new harvest Fairtrade organic tea samples arrived in the mail. It's hard to believe it's that time of the year again. Now I hesitate to tell you how I am relishing in the blissful new harvest when you have to wait at least another month for it to arrive by sea, but nevertheless, here I am relishing in my cup. Actually I'm sitting on our back deck under a large black umbrella surrounded by hundreds of golden cane palm fronds, blue skies and sunshine, relishing in my cup, but I really don't want to receive hate mail, so let's stick to the brief. The new harvest Fairtrade organic tea samples are fabulous as always. I am not disappointed, but you'll have to wait to hear more on that.
Indulge in Life!
Rebecca Domorev