Last week I was asked the question what brings you joy? It led me down an interesting rabbit-hole, with some great results.
Canada has always fascinated me, and that was before I saw this by Gunnarolla & Bentley. Back in the late 19th century one of my great-great uncles vanished on a madcap adventure into the wilderness. Many decades later, I nearly lost my husband to the country before we’d even met. When he was a little boy, Martyn’s family were all set to emigrate to Vancouver. They were at the packing-up stage when two of the older members of his family (no names, no pack drill) decided they couldn’t bear to leave England. British Columbia’s loss was definitely my gain.
Quite a lot of time passed, and I became a very mature student at the University of Gloucestershire (you can read more about that here). One of my fellow students was from Humber Polytechnic. That’s in Etobicoke, Ontario. Those Canadian students who don’t live in England while attending Gloucestershire University use distance learning. They spoke well of Canada’s then Minister of Science, Sport, and Persons with Disabilities, Kirsty Duncan. I began following Kirsty, and her inspirational enthusiasm for education, especially in science, means that she often pops up on my timeline. She is always cheerful, and people really warm to her.
I was pleased to discover from a recent post on X (formerly Twitter) that the Honourable Kirsty Duncan PhD, as she is properly called, has just been given an honorary doctorate from Humber Poly. It couldn’t have happened to a nicer person. Quite apart from having given many years of public service to the people of Canada, Kirsty always takes the time to reply to anyone who comments on her social media posts. That’s a rare quality, and it’s one of her replies which led to this blog post.
Kirsty asked me what was bringing me joy on that particular day. It so happens that I had been going through a rough patch. Had anybody but Kirsty asked that question, I would have said “nothing!”. Yet you can’t say that to someone who has turned Getting Things Done into a career, and is the perfect example of quiet determination. So I went outside to find something that might bring me joy.
In my case, it’s true what they say about the healing power of nature. The minute I escaped from my desk, I was on a mission. It really helped me to have a distraction. I lost myself in the garden for a while, and picked a big bunch of sweet peas.
That simple action made me feel so much better, I decided to identify something that brings me joy every day for a week. So, here’s what I found…
Monday
Sweet pea seeds cost next to nothing, but their fragrance is priceless. They are easy to grow, and this year I’ve discovered they bounce back quickly when grazed by deer. That’s a huge advantage when you live in the middle of a forest. Only our vegetable garden is protected by deer fencing. I took a chance planting flowers outside the deer exclosure, and my poor plants paid for it!
The more sweet peas you pick the more flowers they produce, so I now try and gather a bunch every day.
Tuesday
Today’s moment of joy was thanks to a blackcap. When we took Alex for a walk at 8am, this little bird with a big voice was singing its head off from the top of a thicket beside the woodland track. It was only a couple of metres away but I can never get good recordings, so here’s a clip from YouTube, by My Birding Year.
Wednesday
Today’s moment of joy was completely unexpected. In 2023, I collected two ripe seed pods from lilies growing in my greenhouse. They lay around in a shallow cardboard tray, waiting to be sown. I kept forgetting about them. When I remembered it was too late in the season, or the conditions weren’t right. A few weeks ago, I decided the seeds were too old to grow and was going to throw them away.
Half-way to the compost heap I had a change of heart. I threw them onto the nearest patch of bare soil next to some sweet alyssum plants, and let them take their chance. I didn’t even bother covering the seeds, and it’s been really dry.
Even so, look what I found today. Those narrow leaves are lily seedlings!
Thursday
This year, the Radio 4 programme Ramblings celebrates 25 years of accompanying people on their favourite walks. They have marked the anniversary by walking stretches of various pilgrimage routes to Santiago de Compostela in Spain with groups of friends and pilgrims. Listening today to a group on the final stretch of the Camino, telling their stories as they walk into Santiago really brought me joy. It’s an emotional climax, so get your hankies ready! https://bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002dpnl…
Friday
This morning’s Moment of Joy was a cool breeze and dappled shade on the 8am dog walk, when the sun was already bright and hot. We take Alex out early in the day or late in the afternoon, and always take water for him with us. Walking in the heat is bad enough, and he has to do it in a fur coat!
Saturday
There was a quick-or-you’ll-miss-it moment of joy today. Our mock orange flowers are nearly over, but there were still enough open flowers the perfume the air first thing this morning. The petals have been falling fast, and look like confetti when they are fresh. Philadelphus must set seed, because a bush has sprung up out in the wood. It flowers slightly later than the ones in our garden, so we get to enjoy the perfume twice each year.
Sunday
I love cooking. For Sunday lunch this week I tried out a new recipe, cobbled together from several different online sources after seeing the Tatsunami stable’s chef Kokuryunami cook it here on their YouTube channel (scroll forward to 14:37 if you don’t want to watch Morning Practice). It’s chanchan-yaki – seared salmon coated in miso butter, on a bed of vegetables and braised with the addition of a little sake. It was delicious, and these left over veg were lovely in a jacket potato next day.
Even my son, a notoriously picky eater, ate every scrap of his chanchan yaki – including ALL the cabbage!
I enjoyed concentrating on the positives in life so much this week, I’m going to do it more often. Thanks for the nudge, Kirsty!
What brightens your life when things are dark?
Yesterday it felt like “St Luke’s Little Summer’ —the name given to mild days around St Luke’s Day (18th October)—had come a week early. Here in Gloucestershire, it was sunny enough to be almost hot. Walkers were out in the woods dressed in shorts and t shirts, collecting sweet chestnuts. It was still warm when I reached university at six-thirty last night.
