Coffee and… Summer Happy Things

It’s been a long time since I wrote any post, and even longer since I wrote one of these cheery happy posts (apparently in March!) It’s Wednesday, it’s coffee time. Join me?

The Coffee:

This week, we’re drinking Steampunk’s Tanzanian Ipyana cooperative, which has tasting notes of red apple and almond. As with all their coffee, this one is a delight, both hot and iced (which is mainly how we’ve been drinking it the last few days).

The Happy Things:

It’s only the middle (ish) of August and the last few weeks have brought so many things to be cheerful / happy / grateful about.

• My sister’s birthday party, because she drunk ordered a very excellent band. We had a lovely weekend, Wanda got to see her Mam and sister again. We got to see my sister and her family, had great food and great company, visited my Nana and had ice cream at my favourite ice cream parlour.
• S’s school leaver assembly, where he played the guitar and danced in a zumba group. All the kids took part and they all wore homemade caps and gowns and were presented with a certificate and a laminated collage of photos of their time at school. It’s emotional seeing my baby old enough to leave Primary school, but it was a brilliant send off for them.
• London trip. S chose this as a trip to celebrate leaving school. We took an evening bus tour which visited all the tourist sites apart from the palace, which we walked to through the park. We spent a day visiting the science, V and A and Natural History museums. The highlight was seeing Dippy the dinosaur.
• Spent the weekend in hospital – granted, I felt appalling whilst I did (it appears I have managed to pass a retained gallstone and develop a stomach ulcer at the same time). But I was incredibly well cared for at the hospital, the staff were brilliant and I feel very lucky to have the NHS.
• Trying new recipes from Hello Fresh. We got so fed up of thinking of new things to cook every day, that when Husband had an offer for Hello Fresh we decided to give it a go. Their gluten free options are brilliant and we’ve tried some really tasty recipes that we will definitely recreate. And it’s nice to have some of the pressure of planning and preparing meals relieved for a while.
• S’s 11th birthday! My sister and the kids visited, we had tea in the BBQ hut, visited the aquarium, had a little party at home and a family brunch at a great coeliac friendly cafe before they went home.
• Sorting out my little veg plot. Tidying things up. Potting things on. Planting new seeds and watching them sprout. This little patch of my garden brings me so much joy.
• Evening beach walks with the dogs. Watching the sunset, playing in the water and finding hag stones. Trips to the sea never fail to make me smile.
• Evening Farne Islands boat trip for Husband’s birthday. Trying lobster bites and chips. Seeing the seals. Watching the sun set from aboard a boat.
• Last minute Lancaster trip. Visiting my Nana. Seeing my sister and her family, catching up with my brother and sister in law over lovely food. Watching the sun set from my sister’s farm and finally managing to spot some meteors!

What’s been making you smile recently? Share your happy things below!

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