Homework assignment: What makes my heart sing

       Time for the Professors monthly homework assignment! The task is to tell about things that makes my heart sing, what gets me up in the morning, what makes me smile, what helps me balance and focus etc. I won't do a bombastic post with lots of emotions this time, for me it's the little things.

Of course my family is most important to me, my sons, my stepchildren and Johan. Without them, I would have nothing. 

But there are also the small things that is important, those you barely see or think of, the little things that makes you smile or just smirk. Observe that these little things can be things that annoyes you in another circumstance but gives you joy in others, as I said, small things.

Following are just examples of niceties that happened recently.

I received my boots! Yay! Another plus is that I forgot that I paid for them when I put the order (yet another yay). They are comfy but still too small for thick socks, looking good with a petticoat and a shabby tunic dress. This thing made my heart sing only for a little while. The reason was a lovely lunch walk were I got sharp gravel in my shoes. Because I was almost back at work, I let the gravel be. Stupid, desiscion. What I wasn't aware of then was that the little piece of sharp gravel, peeled of the skin on the back of my heel. End of joy. Sorry, I just had to put in a tint of sarcasm here.

Something that has been very rare this month, is the sun. It has been so rare that while sitting at the table and eating lunch with coworkers, we gasped and yelled "look, the sun is shining through!"  The sunshine lasted for an hour long enough for a lunch walk. This is the sunny hour on the photo below. Yep, the sun exist. I have heard by many from warmer parts of the world that Swedes are strange. "They look dull and boring until the sun brakes through, then they lift their faces to the sun and smile".

I love snow and I love winter. Here's the view from my window were I sit and study. The hill with trees in the background is the beginning of the wilderness. From this point, you can walk for at least a whole day and never find a house, this is a place that gives me lots of comfort at any time of year. Oh and food: mushrooms, and all kinds of wild berries. 

Oops as I sat and wrote this, a hunters dog came out of the woods. The traffic on this small street is very fast, so I ran out to call for the dog. The pocket for the gps was empty, but the owner had wrote his phone number on the vest. She had been gone the whole day and had sore feet. The owners wife came to take her home. Happy ending and a very cute dog who made me smile.

A proper swedish fika, always with coffe or tea and sometimes a pastry. I baked my own buns and made an old classic semla. The top of the bun is cut off and the bottom is hollowed out. Mix the crumbs with marcipan and stuff back in the bun, then a thick layer of whipped cream on top of that. The top is put back and sprinkled with powdered sugar. One or a few of these every year are enough. 

 It doesn't matter how bad my mood is, our pets always puts a smile on my face. Pooki came to us in the end of the summer, she was very shy and bit me every time I was feeding her. She is still a bit shy but likes to be pet with when she wan'ts. She liked the grissini's.

Wilma munching on grissini. She's getting old 6,5 years now. She's the cuddliest bunny in the world.

Oskars budgies, Maja and Kim are very shy. this is the place were they sit mostly. 

Other things that makes me smile right now are; Good sense of humour, kind people, studies, a cup of coffee and solitude. 

Tomorrow will be Valentines day, instead of going out with friends, we will stay at home because I'm having the flu. 

Even if things don't go in the direction you wan't, you can make it a positive thing. 

Thanks The Curious Professor Z, for reminding me of the small joys of life :).