Laughter is a blessing. Hope this gives you a giggle!

Another random picture, one of my few attempts at using masking fluid.  I think one of my blessings is that I never quite got to be a grown up.  I can wander round the garden looking at things in the same way as I did when I was little. I might know the names of things now but the wonder, as I wander, is still there.

One of the reasons I have been struggling with posting recently is that now I have an iPad, I don't always turn the PC on and that limits me when it comes to incorporating a picture. So, I am going to make the effort and do something a bit different when we get into Advent. Watch this space!  A blessing for today is that my mum seems to be responding well to her new meds, she was 90 last week and still taking about when she feels better!

I know, I know, but I have to say, being a bit disappointed in the lack of response to my efforts, apart from a few stalwarts who would like it even if I was posting the roll of the Huntingdonshire Cabmen (well done if you get the reference!)  So I knd of lost the incentive.  But I would still like to get in my 365 posts so I have caught up by posting a few of my favourites from the beginning.

My hubby has been having a few short term memory problems lately, but it's difficult to know whether they are due to old age, deafness, or just not paying attention (LOL)  But when I woke up yesterday morning I had some insight into the problem and was able to have a very good natured discussion with him  about it and between us we have come up with some strategies and an understanding that neither of us will get cross about it.  Two things to be thankful for - one, that I was given the insight and, two, that he is such a nice chap and prepared to talk about it without getting irritated 

Sometimes I have a long list of things I want to do and suddenly I am just too tired to finish them. I'm not being lazy, it's just one of those things connected with an irritating but non-life threatening condition.  So, I have learnt to give myself permission to stop and leave things unfinished, tomorrow is another day

Do you ever think about all those people that work in the "back office"?  The people who type the letters, answer the phone, schedule the appointments, deal with the complaints, get the post out on time etc etc etc.  Often from some dingy basement that never gets decorated because the public never see it.  Don't forget them as life would be very difficult without them

Several people were nice to me today even tho' I probably didn't deserve it

Sunshine and showers, a metaphor for good days and bad.  The good days are a blessing of course, but the bad days tend to be when we learn and they make us appreciate the good days all the more

Those lazy days when nothing much happens but it doesn't matter

The NHS.  
Just think for a moment what life would be like without it

The walk through the woods, which is only yards from my front door, is very special to me.  When we moved house we needed to be nearer the town and thought we would have to move onto an estate.  We were truly blessed in finding this house and it lifts my spirits every time I walk through the woods, even when it's going to the dentist!  It is quite dark in there in the winter but there is always a light at the end of the "tunnel of green gloom"

I have the freedom to choose what I eat and when to eat it.  I can even fast if I want to, knowing that I shall have plenty the next day.  Google has given me some conflicting statistics but it seems likely that more than 900 million people do not have enough to eat in a day.  That's every day, without let up.  

I spoke about Twitter yesterday.  I found it well nigh impossible to make new friends when I moved to Suffolk, I met people through work. I joined things, of course, but no one ever seemed to want to meet up outside of the group involved. They all had their friends already. I do have a couple of very good friends from my school days. They are very special to me and will no doubt be getting a mention on another day but they don't live close by.  But then I met someone on Twitter.  She knows who she is.  She is a blessing. (Oh, and we know each other in real life now too!)

I was blessed with the lack of any wish to have children.  I know many people struggle to understand this, because most woman (I guess) have such a strong desire to be a mother that they can't imagine what it is like to be without that.  For me, it was a blessing because I never had the opportunity, and I know people who have experienced real distress, wanting a child and not having one.  I love other people's babies, they are fun and make me laugh when they are happy.  But a baby is a blessing, not a right.

Having the courage not to conform.  Within reason of course.  I think, as I get older, I worry less about what people think of me and do sometimes speak up about things when I feel strongly about them, even if I am not going along with the general attitude, view or belief.  I hope that is a blessing but maybe I am on my own there!  The picture is one I doodled a few years ago for a thing called Illustration Friday. I must look at that again.

Good colour vision has always felt like a blessing to me.  I knew someone years ago who saw everything in greyscale and he could never grasp the joy of art or nature, even the trivial things like clothes and wool shops.

Long story, but today (actually writing this on the 17th, will catch up soon, I promise) it was a blessing I didn't get angry with anyone because if I had it would have been with the wrong person. I was angry but I kept it to  myself and I am so glad I did

It's a blessing, for me anyway, when things go wrong. Yes, it really is, because that's when I have to rely on God and I feel Him closer.

I had the opportunity to start playing badminton. I played and did quite well, considering I haven't done it for 20 years. Back was a bit dodgy after the first time, but have played again and it was OK. Really enjoying it. All came about through a chance conversation in church and I feel blessed with the chance to join a very lovely group of ladies.

I made a new online friend. She lives in America and we came across each other through a post she did on her blog about a kitten in The Critter Room that passed away.  She's sending me a copy of the Memory Book, what a nice lady

Feeling blessed that I don't live here!

Random catch up thought and picture which you may have heard before #3
This isn't my garden, it is a lovely space behind the shop where I worked as bookkeeper for a while.  Opportunities for a rest in a quiet place are a blessing, again, something not everyone has and so to be treasured when one does.

Random catch up thought and picture which you may have heard before #2
The fact that I do have time to faff about drawing silly pictures and colouring them in.  Too many people have no time for any sort of leisure activity.

Random catch up thought and picture which you may have heard before
Water to wash my body and lustrous locks whenever I want.  So many people in this world dare not waste the water they have to wash in, or they wash in water that has unspeakable stuff in it because that is all there is.  It upsets me that so many people still waste it because they are so used to it being there on tap.

Had a lovely get together with 3 friends here. Fab lunch, great conversation, much happiness.  Friendship is one of the greatest blessings in my life

It feels a bit like this was all I did on Tuesday. No harm in that but I really do wish I could get a "round tuit"
Sitting in a warm house on a comfortable sofa made me think how many things we can be tempted to take for granted.  The sort of things that I wrote about at the beginning of the year.  

I have got far too bogged down in thinking of things that apply to me rather than things which are blessings for the wider world.  Sorry.  Stuff I've been reading lately makes me acutely aware of what a blessing it is we live in a free country.

I went to a rather disappointing Food and Craft Fair on Saturday but it was worth the entrance fee because I was privileged to meet and stroke a barn owl. He was there with his two reindeer friends and used to people getting close. A barn owl's breast feathers are the softest thing I have ever touched. I was so enthralled I never thought to take a picture so go and google images and see lots.

What do you think of my fabulous painting of a view from Sutton Hoo? It is a blessing to go there, must do it again soon