Round our way

The skies are still rather foreboding around here at the moment. It is windy today, cold and spattering rain.

As always though, there is the comfort of thrifted goodies! I found this plate at a flea market in Copenhagen and I think I have finally found the right spot for it. I'm not sure that I want to find a spot, though. Once everything is put away, the holiday really is over!

I have also developed a strange penchant for thrifting ceramic money-bank pigs. The one above is a souvenir of Munich and the one below California (clearly). Such cheery little fellows!

And spring is on its way. The plum tree is beginning to blossom...always a lovely sign as the seasonal wheel turns.

A gentle whisper of spring...

Sunshine today! And signs of life around the garden - a dash of blue from the primoses and velvety purple blooms and fuzzy buds from the magnolia tree.

Every Day a New Beginning

Back on deck and feeling a lot better, thanks in large part to a course of antibiotics. Thank you for your kind wishes! While taking some enforced time out, I have been dipping in and out of a lovely little book by Stephanie Dowrick called Every Day a New Beginning. A lot of what she says seems simple and yet is difficult to take on board. For example:

It is not a failure of self-encouragement to feel sad. Sadness is appropriate in many situations. Sadness can also be a useful invitation to look into a complex situation more deeply.

In this sweet-and-sour year I've been having, I've found this to be very true. As trite as it may sound, in sadness, one can also realise how much there is to be happy about. I think that sometimes we need that jolt, that plunge into the depths, to realise what is really around us. Have a Happy Monday :)