Blog award

Annalisa, who has a really interesting cooking blog here, has been kind enough to give me my first blog award. Here it is, and I'm about to try and put it at the side somewhere too! So thank you! I do enjoy cooking but often run out of time to try new recipes, I do like looking though and it's great to see recipes from another country.

I'm still learning about blogging and awards, some things are still a bit of a mystery!
This one comes with some things that you do - mainly making a list of ten things that make you happy. This I can do!
I've deliberately chosen things that make me happy, rather than things that give me a lasting contentment, as I think these are often different things. I am for the most part truly content with the life that I have and very thankful to be in the situation that I'm in, I know I'm very fortunate.

But happy things that lift my spirits, in no particular order:

1 Walking though woods on a sunny late spring day, with bluebells.
2 Finishing decorating the house for Christmas (about the only time it's all tidy at one time.)
3 A purring cat or kitten wanting a cuddle (Archie has today started purring.)
4 Taking a walk with one of my boys so that we can have a proper talk.
5 Family holidays in Swanage - we love it there and there's a beautiful quiet beach nearby.
6 Spending time with a good friend and really finding out how they are.
7 Designing and laying out a piece of felt (the actual felting can be hard work!)
8 Escaping with my husband to London on our own (only managed this a couple of times.)
9 Finding little tiny seedlings on examining seed trays.
10 The atmosphere at the beginning of each new season.

Once you start thinking about it there are lots of things.

Now I know I'm then supposed to pass the award onto 10 other people. This is where I'm going to break the rules slightly, for which I apologise to anyone who likes to see rules followed exactly. Awards are supposed to be nice things, but I know not everybody likes them and I'd hate to make people feel awkward. So I'd like to say I enjoy catching up on all my follower's blogs and have enjoyed getting to know those of you kind enough to form a friendship with me, so I'm going to offer the award to any of you who'd like it, but no pressure to accept or do anything with it, I hope that suits everyone. If you want to see how it's all done properly pop back to Annalisa's blog and you'll see!

Now I'm off to cook dinner (not nearly as interesting as Annalisa's recipes - just baked potatoes!)