The simple pleasures of the day (please add your own)

I like this comic by Michael Leunig on a Herbal Remedy for Life Ache:


(source: Cards by Michael Leunig)

I think this is a rather comforting comic to read.

I checked one of the chicken wire cages filled with leaves for leaf mold and found 3 eggs in there. What a surprise ! My chickens are 5.5 month old and daylight is getting shorter. I thought I need to wait till next spring for eggs.

Learning 2 new knots.  Listening to rain on the tin roof.

This one sums it up for me.

We recently had a snowfall of about 18" and it took me days to shovel out our 700 feet of footpaths. While I was shoveling, a snowshoe rabbit effortlessly hopped past me on the snowbank to my left and briefly paused to observe what I was doing. Then another passed on the right of me and I realized that they were having a blast running around in the fresh powder while I could only think of how much work it was. I appreciated the reminder to relax and find joy where I can.

Is there anything better than an ice cold piece of watermelon on a stifling hot day? It finally got hot (about time for southern hemisphere summer!!!) and we're finally getting good, good watermelon. What a treat.

Having someone come and cut all the downed tree branches from an ice storm and not having to ask.

Watching your Muscovy catching the bits of bread you're tossing them, right out of the air. No wonder they're known for being good fly catchers!

Petting the dog in the morning. Taking a look at the new day through the trees. Listening to the BBC World Service's "Newshour". Toast. Glass of wine. Afternoon sunshine through the trees. Curling up in bed in a down duvet cocoon.

Fantastic Heidi... I LOVE raspberries and they don't grow here in Mexico. Seeing your photo made me feel like I'm there, teasing the raspberries carefully off their stalks, the soft almost fuzzy feel of them, the smell, the way they feel in the mouth, the taste!

Heidi Schmidt wrote:It is such a simple, satisfying pleasure to wander past the raspberry bushes a few times a day, and pop raspberries to my heart's content. It's just dripping with raspberries right now, and they seem to ripen up every few hours. It's heaven!

So after months of renovating and chaos (in house and garden!) my husband has finally completed renovation of the basement. The first new shelf is set up and today I have sorted all my jars and preserves that have hardly been accessible during the last time.

It is such a satisfying sight to see all the jars lined up - and really there aren't as many as the husband complained, about three boards of the shelves which is hardly a packed pantry!

And I have now a better overview of what is left:
Too many jellies and preserves (most of those that don't get eaten are the ones I got gifted, plus the grape jelly from our own grapes where we also have far too many).
Enough tomato sauce and pickles to have one jar about every 10 days until next harvesting season.
By far enough honey to last until the next harvest.
Enough tomatillo salsa to last without planting tomatillos this year.
More cucumber pickles than my family eats (have to gift some)
Enough apple sauce until autumn (necessary for some Bavarian dishes like potato pancakes)

And some extra treats I had forgotten like canned plums and hot chilli sauce!

Aaaand the weather smells like spring!

Yesterday we had a family of 5 Lynx pass by our yurt. We watched them patrolling the woods hunting rabbits and we got 10 or more minutes of video. When they were done, they all came to our doorstep to regroup, walking within 10-15 feet of us as we watched and filmed. After they left we were full of positivity and joy for having had the experience. Thanks Nature.

P.S. the 5th Lynx was a slowpoke and didn't catch up to the group until the photo op was over.