Friday Happies

Many, many thanks for all your suggestions and recommendations on apps following my last post. Just brilliant, all of them, and I've had a lot of fun exploring them this week. Someone suggested a follow up post on the apps I've been using but I don't want to make this an exclusive, iPad-only thing, and I know that most of us are using our good old laptops, PCs and other tablets, so I'm undecided about that yet. A couple of you nicely pointed out that I'd forgotten to mention one MAJOR source of inspiration and that is, of course, blogs. And it's true. I can only think that the little time I've had to read blogs this summer holiday made me forget that but I mustn't, as I honestly do find blogs to be one of my biggest sources of inspiration and not just for craft, but for cooking, decorating, days out, ideas, all sorts of things really.

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Onto my weekly round-up of happy things. 

: : We've enjoyed some really pleasant walks lately, taking in the change in seasons and the slow move into autumn. Although it if it could slow down a bit that would be nice. I like autumn, but not in August. Brrr.

And there's nothing like a big pile of logs to make you feel that Winter Is Coming, but in a comforting homemade-soup-and-knitted-socks kind of way, not in a Game of Thrones kind of way.

: : A glance back over another week of the school holidays reveals lots of opportunities for small happinesses from people of all ages. Day trips, boat trips, trains, museums - we've covered most of the modes of transport this summer holiday, apart from flying. 

A boat trip around Portsmouth Harbour to Gunwharf in the early morning sun last Saturday was memorable. I like boats and being on the water. I also like shopping and lunch out, so it's win-win, frankly.

:: Garlic mushrooms on toast. I just really fancied it and it was lush. 

: : A brand new soap. This is a major weakness of mine. Do you remember those TV adverts for instant coffee from the eighties where they would slowly break the seal on a new jar of coffee, and how satisfying that was? It's that kind of pleasure. Unwrapping a brand, spanking new soap, releasing the gorgeous smell, being the first one to use it before it goes all slimy (or is that just in our house, soaps that seem to swim in their water-filled soap dishes.)

But this was a pleasure to buy (from this lovely shop in York), and I love the name and the packaging - it pleases me greatly when packaging is nice - and best of all it smells delicious. And while I don't like instant coffee much, I do love to break the foil seal on a new jar of, say, hot chocolate or nutella, and peel it off round the edges really carefully. That makes me happy too.