Inspired by Emily of Nerd in the Brain (note her new self-hosted web site) here are my Three Things Thursday. As she says…
*three things that make me smile: an exercise in gratitude – feel free to steal this idea with wild abandon and fill your blog with the happy*
First, antibiotics. It’s very rare Chez Snail that any of us take antibiotics – we are generally quite healthy and we don’t go rushing to see the doctor with every cough and sniffle. With excessive and inappropriate use of antibiotics, various bacteria are building resistance and therefore becoming untreatable. I’m pleased to say, however, that when required they mostly still work. In fact, this week it was Max who was in need – the poor little chap developed an abscess on one of his anal glands, resulting in a very swollen and sore bottom. However, a shot of antibiotics from the vet and a subsequent course of tablets and he’s pretty much mended…
Second, Muraya koenigii. My recent interest in Indian cooking has led me to start investigating growing some of my own exotic ingredients. I was so happy, therefore, to discover somewhere I could buy a curry leaf plant. They apparently make great house plants, so this one will live in the house in winter (needs to be above 15ºC) and in the limery in the summer. I do hope it thrives, as I have lots of recipes that include curry leaves.
curry leaf plant
Third, the kindness of strangers (and friends). The Sixty Million Trebles group on Facebook was set up as a project to make blankets for charity (at least half going to refugees). However, it’s so much more than that and full of kind people. On Sunday the organisers set up a ‘Solve My January Blues’ event for the group. You could post up a request to cheer you up in the depths of January (the group is based in the UK, although we do have members worldwide) and members tried to help. I do find January a bit glum, so I asked whether anyone would send me a hand-written letter. Well, wow – what a response… I’m all smiles after only four days, look…
lovely letters and cards
And a bonus smile… these flowering in my garden today:
So, those are 3+1 things making me smile this week – what about you?
The Snail of Happiness 
katechiconi
/ January 19, 2017Poor old Max, glad he’s mending. And watch out for that curry plant; when they get warm, they release the smell of curry, and while you might not mind the whole house smelling of it permanently, you might find the Limery is a better spot long term.
I’m grateful for healed burns, for a return of my creative mojo and for making good progress on the SIL’s quilt top 🙂
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The Snail of Happiness
/ January 19, 2017It’s currently in my office as the limery is a bit too cool… I’ll be interested to see how curry scented it becomes!
So glad your burns are better.
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katechiconi
/ January 20, 2017I suppose it’ll depend on how warm you keep your office! Here, where they’ll grow outside, you get a noticeable waft on a hot day from all the volatile oils.
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The Snail of Happiness
/ January 20, 2017I think we’re safe from excessive heat in the winter… even indoors!
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Violet of Violet's Veg*n e-comics
/ January 19, 2017Aw, how lovely 🙂
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The Snail of Happiness
/ January 19, 2017I do enjoy my weekly smiles!
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Violet of Violet's Veg*n e-comics
/ January 20, 2017Me too! 🙂
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Wild Daffodil
/ January 19, 2017I’m grateful for coming home after a month away to a lovely bath!! (I hate showers). The sun is shining and I had a brilliantly creative day yesterday with my granddaughter who simply fizzes with creativity! ❤
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The Snail of Happiness
/ January 19, 2017It’s always so lovely to spend time with creative people…hope you made some lovely things.
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Wild Daffodil
/ January 19, 2017Miss E wanted to make drawstring bags, ice sculptures and music using steam, the iron and a water bottle! Never a dull moment on Wednesdays! 😀
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The Snail of Happiness
/ January 19, 2017Wow – that’s an eclectic mix!
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Wild Daffodil
/ January 19, 2017Keeps me on my toes! 😉
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Clare B
/ January 19, 2017Thank you for sharing your positivity again this week. I was just talking about curry leaf plants with a friend. They have recently moved to West Wales via India and would love to try growing a plant themselves. They’re new house has a conservatory but I wonder if the house will be warm enough at night over the winter. I know mine wouldn’t be but I’d like to give it a try. We’d be most grateful to hear where you sourced your plant from.
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The Snail of Happiness
/ January 19, 2017It came from https://citruscentre.co.uk/ – who were very efficient. Apparently, you can grow them from seed too, but I didn’t want to have to wait!
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Nikki
/ February 6, 2017I also second the citrus centre! After some research, I decided to buy 2 lemon trees from them last year & have been really impressed with how robust & beautiful the plants are! I’ve since rung them up for further growing advice & found them super helpful. Surprisingly, my lemon trees even survived a 5 week break while I was abroad – not a recommended strategy, but I did manage to revive them with some care. Curry plants are probably equally challenging as they too would need more warmth than we usually have in the UK. Looking forward to seeing their progress…
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nerdinthebrain
/ January 19, 2017Oh, I love that you received cheerful mail! And that Max is on the mend! 😀 I didn’t even know growing your own curry was a thing…that is just fantastic. 😀
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The Snail of Happiness
/ January 19, 2017We use lots of different spices in curry, but apparently these leaves add a little extra “something”. We are just off to the vets for a follow-up visit, but all seems to be well now
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Andrew | w1nt3l.com
/ January 19, 2017Curry is one of my favorite ingredients to cook with, but, its few and far between a no one else in the house likes it at all. I have to plan when I cook with it to give a day or two time to air out the house as it tends to linger. I also had a good laugh initially at scrolling down and seeing a picture of a dogs bottom, not what you’d expect but after reading it made more sense. Just took me by pleasant surprise.
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The Snail of Happiness
/ January 19, 2017Poor Max – having his bottom displayed on the internet!
I really love cooking with spices and we’re having a great time experimenting with never recipes. The other night I made potato curry and spiced roasted cauliflower – really delicious. I’ve also been making chapattis, which are a great accompaniment to Indian food.
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thecontentedcrafter
/ January 19, 2017Poor Max – but the photo of his rear end made me smile. Real mail – now there is something I love to receive, but somehow never seem to get round to actually writing myself – now there’s a conundrum!! 🙂 The sun shone one morning this week, that made me very happy.
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The Snail of Happiness
/ January 19, 2017Sun is good -we saw a little bit today.
Poor old Max had a couple of difficult days and has to go back next week to have his bad teeth sorted out… I hope he forgives me!
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thecontentedcrafter
/ January 19, 2017Of course Max will forgive you – he’s a dog and probably doesn’t even think to blame you in the first place 😀 Now, a cat ……. We just lived through a ‘weather bomb’ and I am consoling myself by pretending I live in the Northern Hemisphere and it’s quite a good winter really ……
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nanacathy2
/ January 19, 2017Poor Max. I will send you a proper letter too if you let me have your address. I so agree that a friendly letter brightens a day. We had a curry plant in our last house and you could smell it for yards!
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The Snail of Happiness
/ January 19, 2017Thank you… all letters welcome… I’ll send you an email.
Max should be fine, although the vet is going to sort out his teeth next week, which he certainly won’t enjoy.
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nanacathy2
/ January 19, 2017Should have explained the plant was outside in the garden.
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shapeofthingstoni
/ January 22, 2017I grew curry-leaf when I lived in Brisbane (along with Vietnamese mint, Thai basil, lemongrass and all the chillies). It is wonderful stuff. I do miss having proper dirt of my own.
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claire
/ January 24, 2017oh that curry leaf plant sounds amazing! I stayed in a place in sri lanka where they made a fabulous salad dressing with fresh curry leaves. it was super tasty and refreshing
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