One of my intentions this year is “more joy”. This morning, I was reflecting on a handful of delightful things that had happened over the last 24 hours … and I was reminded that the simple act of paying attention and naming the delight was an easy way to bring “more joy” into my life. I started a list. At 5:40am I had six things and I decided to challenge myself to come up with (at least) four more to blog about this afternoon. Here goes:
- I joined the back and the two fronts on Long Love and the pattern worked out perfectly. I even had the right number of stitches! (like I said, these are Little Things*)
- Manicure Monday was yesterday and I found the perfect reddish brown (I think it’s supposed to be the color of clay) in my polish collection to match the current Fiction Matters bookclub pick.
- The manicure gave me a focused hour to read the book. The language/style of this one seems to work best with chunks of time instead of minutes here and there. I’m now to the halfway point and would love to just sit and read til the end. maybe I can find that time laster this week.
- The response to Summer Book Bingo. Y’ALL!!! More to come soon; at this point it’s about even with categories we’re adding/deleting. If you have suggestions on either front, now is the time to LEAVE A COMMENT! (please and thankyou-in-advance)
- I finished the ball of yarn for this prayer shawl Sunday evening – it’s for our 2021 confirmand class (the 13 year olds who are confirming the promises made when they were baptized, likely as infants or toddlers) – and when I measured yesterday afternoon it was exactly 47″ long … which is exactly the length it needed to be! I wove in the ends last night.
- Lauren (my dear friend who moved to Santa Fe last fall) and I had a spur-of-the-moment HOUR-LONG phone call yesterday evening. A phone call is not at all like the walk/talk in the park we used to have. and yet. she’s where she wants to be. and so am I. and we are still connecting. (and now we are starting to think about seeing each other face to face again!)
- We are trying out some new things on our front porch this year. We added three new pots, one of which (the one pictured) gets a little less sun (it faces south, not west like the front of the porch does, and the porch provides some shade). We chose a simple planting scheme of geraniums, petunias, and lavender – all new to these pots! – and marigolds.
- Marc planted everything yesterday … and watered everything again this morning.
- Now that the prayer shawl is finished, I’m back to knitting socks. The stripes continue to delight – this is Knitpicks Felici (in a discontinued colorway 😉 )
- That’s my mom in the background. We have just two more weeks to meet “like this” (and I can only hope the weather allows us to meet like this instead of FaceTime) and then we will be meeting for lunch.
TEN!
*oops, or 11?! ugh, html is not inspiring JOY right now!
I’d love for you to share a Joy, little or BIG, you’ve experienced in the last day. I’m pretty sure shared joy evokes more joy!
mere-et-filles 
I’m impressed at 6 things before 6:00 am, and that you found 5 more! I found some joy in my stash in the form of a bright yellow skein of yarn that I have no memory of buying, but will be perfect for the second Nervous Breakdown Hitchhiker. Also, I’m making hamburgers on the grill tonight and looking forward to that. I love your striping socks and lovely nails!!
I LOVED our phone call too Mary. My heart felt light and happy. It’s wonderful to keep connecting despite the distance!
P.S. Will you teach me how to do a manicure when you come to visit??
I got to do a bit of gardening which always bring me joy. I am also feeling a lot of joy in my current reading choices. A manicure – that would definitely bring some joy to these garden and washing weary hands.
I love posts on joy! And you’ve got quite a collection here, with pictures included – wonderful!
And I’m thrilled to learn that Book Bingo will return – last year was my first to participate and I’m excited to play again!
Good luck with your plants this year!
Yesterday’s joys included the completion of the new roof on the front of the house! There’s still quite a lot to do, but they are making excellent progress. And I’m anxious for them to remove the scaffolding from the front of the house because the front yard is a mess and I’d like to clean it up a bit. We have a spot where we removed a small tree last year that I’d like to plant a patch of lavender, but I don’t want to do that until there’s no risk that it’ll be trampled.
I’m excited that you and your mom will be having lunch. My husband has an appointment this morning for the first shot and when it actually happens (doubting Thomas??) I will be leaping for joy!!!!
I am with Bonny… 6 things before 6 is impressive, but 10?? I bow to your joyfulness! lol
My joy this week is in how much time I have been able to spend in the dirt outside! It is truly joy inspiring!
I’m such a lover of the little things, Mary…so I extra-enjoyed this post! Your questions…a joy from the last day or so: When I realized I forgot my audiobook for school pick-up, I turned on classical radio *just* as Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2 came on. It delighted me all the way there and part of the way home! That’s a BIG joy for me. And book BINGO categories. For me, I don’t think I’ll include anything with the word ‘should’ this year. Like ‘classic you should have read in school.’ No Shoulds in my Summer ’21 reading. I think a fun one would be something along the lines of ‘A cover you’d try to hide if reading on the subway.’
And again–loving your manicure! You’re a pro!
This is a wonderful list. And I think it’s 10 because you started with 2.
I rarely get a BINGO, but I sure do love to play and it gives me an opportunity to challenge myself to read “outside the box” — genres & whatnot that I don’t normally consider.
A joyful post Mary!! So many things can bring happiness, non? My joy recently was new stash!! And, Colin & Mailing will be over for dinner on Saturday.
Love the color of that manicure Mary! And your Mom there too. My joy – packing for CO where I’m reading this from right now! 🙂
What a sweet post full of joy. My sister and I are getting together – in person – without masks – both up to full immunity – on Thursday. Anticipation is bringing me joy.