Five on Friday

The past week has been a tough one for me physically.  I'm not going to dwell on it though.  For my Five Things this week I've chosen to share five of the little things which have made me happy and for which I am ever so grateful:

#1  Morris Men

A quintessentially British tradition of men dancing together with hankies in their hands and bells round their knees.  It can't fail to make you smile.

#2  Stupendously beautiful and aromatic stocks

A delightful 'whoopsie' purchase made in the supermarket whilst I was perusing the "Free From" section.  I often buy reduced flowers partly for budgetary reasons and partly because they are in flower and harder to walk past!!!  These were already in flower and continue to make the whole kitchen smell beautiful!

#3  Kitchen Dresser

I've mainly stayed in the house this week but instead of focusing on what I couldn't do I chose to find something that I could do.  I wanted something that I could come to and leave, which could be split down into smaller parts to make up a whole job over the course of a day and that would provide happiness to me.  Rearranging the display of china on my kitchen dresser always does this.  Part of the joy is in deciding what colours, which plates and items to select and part comes from seeing those pretty things each day on entering the kitchen.  Oh, I do so love a flowery, vintage plate!

#4  A Special Treat

When I saw what Jooles of the lovely blog Sew Sweet Violet shared some pictures of her recent Liberty fabric butterfly makes I completely adored them.  They really are my kind of thing and are so exquisitely sewn.  I felt that a naughty treat was just what I needed during a physically difficult week and it's true that the anticipation of a beautifully wrapped purple package winging it's way to my house was part of the joy!  I completely love this canvas and can't wait to hang it in my lounge once it is decorated.  Watch this space!

#5  Sports Day 

It seems that both of my children are Queen and King of the traditional "Egg & Spoon" race! (Both of my little winners are on the left of the photos in caps).  The school is divided into tribes named after different tribes in Kenya (Maasai, Luo, Kikuyu & Kamba) and each wear their tribe colours.  My children are part of the Kamba Tribe and so were wearing blue T Shirts.  These connections are made throughout the education within the primary school as it is twinned and contributes to schooling with one in Dabaso, Kenya hence the names of the school teams.  We fundraise through school events throughout the year and connect with some of the students attending the school in Kenya so this is a fun, educational and inspirational thing to be part of.

Last year the school sports day was rearranged 3 times due to weather issues meaning it had to be postponed on each previous occasion.  This year the first date was a beautiful sunny day - the days either side of it were torrential rain and wind!!  On the day in question though, the weather couldn't have been more wonderful and it meant that the end of next term won't be quite so manic with celebratory summer term activities.  My lovely Mum was up staying too and so she was able to watch the little ones race.  My children are very outdoorsy and athletic and competed with gusto on the day. The occasion provided so many things to be grateful for.

I hope too that there have been many Simple Things which you too have been grateful for this week.

I won't be around in this space much over the next couple of weeks.  We have half term next week here and we are away visiting family and enjoying a special visit to London too!  This will be the Little Ones' first visit to the 'Big Smoke' and they are very excited!  Of course I'll share some pictures on our return!  I know that this will impact me physically and so am just going to take the following week to help recover.  I've started instagram though - my brick sadly had to go to phone heaven and so I have succumbed to the android smart phone generation!  If you would like to see some pictures whilst I'm away I am @j9shappiness I am finding out that the camera on it is fairly pants but I'm enjoying seeing what some of you lovely people are doing in such an accessible way.  The laptop which I use for blogging is quite old and slow now and I tend to binge read on blogs a couple times a week as a result.  I love this little bloggy community though so after my little break I shall be back!  There are a few things on the hook at present and I can't wait to share!!!  

Enjoy the weeks ahead... until next time!

Today I'm delighted to be joining in with Amy for her Five on Friday linky party.

Happy Weekend Folks!!!

J9 x