It’s Friday . . . c’mon in and share your pieces-of-happy and other good stuff you noticed this week!
Times are weird. Some days are hard. It’s helpful to remind each other that life is good. Even when the dumpsters are burning all around us.
As for me . . .
Well. It’s been Quite A Week around here, and very little has gone to plan. But as I sift through the events of my week, there are pieces-of-happy for me to share.
First, there’s the mahjong. I play twice a week (once in a large group of mahjong-ers at my local senior center, and once with a small group of friends). (I host these friend-games, by the way, because my house is at the perfect geographic center for all parties.) I really enjoy playing mahjong — it’s challenging, it takes me out of (ahem) world events for a while, and it puts me in good company on the regular. If you have a chance to join a group and learn to play, I highly recommend it! It’s a great way to build community and meet new people. (Check your local senior center or library to see if they have group play if you’d like to learn but don’t know how to begin.)
And . . . While JoJo had been realllllly slowing down back in December/January (we couldn’t go on walks for several weeks because she was limping so badly; arthritis . . . she is 12 . . .), she has shown drastic improvement with Flexadin Advanced – a collagen supplement our vet recommended. It took about 6 weeks before we noticed an improvement, but she doesn’t even need Rimadyl (a dog NSAID) regularly anymore. Anyway. We’re back to short walks in the neighborhood and she is loving it! (So are we.)
And . . . I can collapse in front of the TV with Tom every evening, where we’ve watched some Good Stuff lately. How to Get to Heaven From Belfast (link is to the trailer on YouTube) on Netflix is GREAT fun. Completely unexpected twists and turns throughout, and dialog to cheer about. Song Sung Blue, with Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson, is out now for streaming, and very good (link is to the trailer on YouTube). Kate Hudson certainly deserves that Best Actress Oscar nom. (Just sayin.) And, of course, we look forward to Wednesdays for Shrinking (Apple TV) and Thursdays for The Pitt (HBO).
And . . . I finally found the time to divide for those sleeves! YAY for getting some of those stitches off the needle for awhile.
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How about YOU?
What have you noticed this week that made you feel good? What pieces-of-happy showed up in your life? Where did you find joy?
Despite all the ugly stuff happening around us, we DO have good things happening in our lives.
So . . . join me for Happy Hour!
Let’s share the good stuff here in the comments!
Happy Hour will remain open all weekend, so come back and see what others have shared.
Yay for mahjong! We played for 5 hours the other day. (I have a great group and that is a piece of happy every week.) Other happy…I went to a colored pencil drawing class (we did a sunflower) and had a great time. I can’t draw my way out of a paper bag but heck…it came out pretty okay!
This little bit of happiness probably only applies to me, but I found the frozen snow peas! I had organized one of our freezers several months ago, but was dragging my feet on doing the same thing with the vegetable freezer. Yesterday I put on my mittens, went down to the basement, took everything out, and put most of it back in in an organized fashion. The snow peas John grew last year had been “missing” for quite a while, but now 16 qt. packs of them have been found. I also uncovered my supply of frozen shredded zucchini, so tonight is venison stir fry with snow peas and zucchini bread for dessert! (And I’m thrilled for JoJo!)
My bit of joy happened to me yesterday before sunset. Looking at the sky beyond the upper deck, I saw hundreds of robins, winging westward. They streamed across my window like a moving picture. It took almost five minutes for all the birds to fly by.
Well, I am thrilled for JoJo and you! Boomer is currently on Librela and gabapentin, both of which I give him with much trepidation. I will look up Flexadin Advanced and see if a dog with renal impairment can take it. We are still managing to take walks, but they are often followed by pain and stiffness. Mahjong seems to be having a moment! I took lessons and enjoyed them, but cannot find a group that will accept beginners in the city. I would love to play regularly. My happy moments this week have all happened during my daily gratitude walks with Boomer. Counting my blessings, seeing signs of spring, letting go of all thoughts of anything other than my surroundings, and watching Boomer’s joy during a walk are always a very good part of the day.
We finished PONIES this week (which is a great spy thriller/female buddy series on Peacock) and started Shrinking, which is still a delight. And I’ve been using the Sonia Scarf from the Alabama Chanin/MDK class last week as a little treat, when I finish my chores. Or another time, when I had to make a hard phone call. A little bit of beading and applique in the afternoon is definitely a bit of happiness.
I’m not sure I knew you played mahj! I haven’t played in a long time, mostly because two of the members of my group moved away (one to Sweden!). But Molly can play, and I keep telling my mom I’ll teach her, so I’m hoping I can get another game going. It’s so much fun.
I’m looking forward to watching the latest episode of The Pitt this evening (we just can’t stay up to see it when it goes online Thursday nights). Today the sun is out and it’s warmer, and it looks like we might get into the upper 60s next week. And I found buds on my hellebores — once the snow that was on top of them melted!
Glad Jojo is doing better.
It’s been a pretty rough week here. To be honest, it’s been a pretty rough year, BUT today I saw the first tips of the daffodils poking through the snow.
Yay for JoJo. This week I’m back to Yin Yoga after a brief hiatus due to arthritis and other aches and pains. It’s good to be back. Hoping to get out for a walk tomorrow – it smells and feels like SPRING. I can’t remember when I last walked! (So sad). We are enjoying Shrinking too, though the latest episode wasn’t that great (in our opinion).
I’m glad JoJo is up for walks and feeling better. We had some warm days this week so I enjoyed my walks in the sunshine. Today I drove to Omaha and had lunch with my sister. We browsed an excellent local independent bookstore so it was a happy afternoon. Thursday I had lunch with five good friends. We spent a happy two hours chatting and catching up.
Excellent news about JoJo! And the other things, too. I had 2 bonus days off from work this week because of our epic snow storm and I am always happy for extra time at home. The snow is now melting and yesterday it was warm and sunny and I ran errands without a coat. I had a good performance review and started negotiations for my next contract and that went great. And I treated myself to a little bouquet of flowers from the grocery store. I split it into two vases and have a little bunch of red mini carnations on my desk and I’m loving them.
I saw a pair of red winged blackbirds at my feeders this week! (The real dichotomy is that they were there at the same time as the juncos… real life spring and winter combining!) I am so so happy that JoJo is feeling more active… that has to be a relief for her as well!
I think it was Friday (don’t remember the last few days at all) that our Amaryllis finally started blooming. Very slow this year and rather wan in color. Last year’s was an explosion of red. But fun to see it open bit by bit.
Mmm…No, I don’t remember because it was a “Lost Weekend”. (Ray Milland had me on the edge of my seat). As usual, I was in the depths of a knitting pattern. Nothing much, just a counting fiasco as usual:).
So happy for all of you that JoJo is feeling better, and that you can go out for walks!! That’s wonderful news.