My weekly exercise in gratitude – three things that are making me smile – feel free to steal this idea with wild abandon and fill your blog [or Twitter account or Facebook page or diary or life in general] with happiness.
Roo will be featuring in Sue’s blog
First, new blogs. Two dear friends – both of whom I originally met on-line, but both of whom I now know ‘in the flesh’ – have recently launched blogs. Sue, is writing at Going Batty in Wales about her life, land and dogs Roo and Orchid. She has a very slow internet connection, but fingers crossed she will manage to post despite this challenge. Kt (who guest blogged here a while ago about her Creative Dying project) is charting her achievements following a recent diagnosis of myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) at Today I Can Blog. She is living with severe health challenges, so fingers crossed she will be able to write about her achievements and find support online in our lovely blogging community. Both of them are new WordPress bloggers and I’m looking forward to reading their posts.
an unlikely place to find an old friend
Second, an old friend. In the box of old photos I wrote about the other day, I came across a picture of a friend who I hadn’t seen for many years. We each had a little flat in a house on the seafront in Aberystwyth when we were studying for our PhDs – there we drank gallons of tea and talked for hours. When we were done, we went our separate ways – she to work in the BBC archives in Reading and me to work for the local wildlife trust here in west Wales. We kept in touch, but somehow it slipped and finally we lost contact. And then I saw the picture and decided to try again… and there she was on Twitter! A quick message and we are back in touch. I got a long email from her this morning and feel incredibly emotional reading it – it brought back so many great memories.
Third, anticipation. This Saturday is the grand, final get-together of the Sixty Million Trebles project. On Saturday, in Birmingham, a large number of the ladies who have contributed to the project will be meeting for the first and last time (at least as a group). The final number of trebles created will be announced (will we have reached the magic figure of 60,000,000?), there will be representatives of Hand in Hand for Syria present and we will celebrate what we have, collectively, achieved. I’m so looking forward to the event. I’m going tomorrow (Friday) and staying overnight with a few others, so we’ll also have a sociable evening in advance. I’m sure I’m going to be telling you all about it next week…
So, that’s what’s making me happy this week. How about you?
-oOo-
Emily of Nerd in the Brain originally created Three Things Thursday, but it’s now being hosted by Natalie of There She Goes.
The Snail of Happiness 
Nice Piece of Work
/ September 14, 2017Three excellent things indeed 🙂 I have followed both the new blogs, and will catch up on my reading with them a bit later today. Thanks for the introductions.
Today I am grateful for:
1. a reconciliation between myself and someone very close to my heart. I will still have to take things one day at a time, but right now we are headed in a positive direction;
2. the ability to work and generate my own income, and retain my independence;
3. news from my ex-husband that his cancer is in remission and that he probably has another 20 years left!
Happy Thursday to you, Jan xxx
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The Snail of Happiness
/ September 14, 2017All those are things to be very grateful for. Reconciliation is especially important – life is too short for unhappy relationships.
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nanacathy2
/ September 14, 2017I hope you have a super time in Birmngham, and I love the news of your friends. I am grateful for, spring bulbs, Mr E finally agreeing we need new French Windows and chance comments that send one in a new direction!
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The Snail of Happiness
/ September 14, 2017New French windows transformed our kitchen a few years ago!
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coppicelearner
/ September 14, 2017Thank you Jan for all your help setting up the blog – and I will be following ‘Today I can blog’. Enjoy your weekend and I look forward to hearing more about that. And about finding your long lost friend – it happened to me a few years ago when someone I played with as a child but had lost touch with found me and now we are good friends again though distance means we only meet occasionally.
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The Snail of Happiness
/ September 14, 2017There has already been a suggestion of a chat over a glass or two of sloe-gin, so I am hopeful we will be able to get together at some point.
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coppicelearner
/ September 14, 2017You must both be properly grown up – sloe gin replaces lots of tea!😉
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The Snail of Happiness
/ September 14, 2017We’ve both hit our half-century, so I think graduating onto the hard stuff might be ok now.
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quietwatercraft
/ September 14, 2017Oh how lovely to find your friend again, hooray for social media.
Today I’m happy to be back into a routine after being off work ill, looking forward to a Bulgarian singing workshop tonight, and excited about my first ever Instagram giveaway 🙂
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The Snail of Happiness
/ September 14, 2017good luck with the give-away
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katechiconi
/ September 14, 2017You really do have three wonderful things to be grateful for today! I’m grateful for loose ends tied up, for a financial millstone suddenly becoming useful again, and for a small project that reminded me of a lost but not forgotten friend. Oh, and for a batch of peanut butter and raisin cookies…
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The Snail of Happiness
/ September 14, 2017They all sound live lovely things… especially millstone conversion – that’s always good.
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Wild Daffodil
/ September 14, 2017What a great trio of things, all with wonderfully rich back stories.
1. I’m grateful to have an Osteopath appointment on Saturday, my back is giving me jip!
2. Grateful for otherwise good health.
3. Grateful for a network of loving friends helping our dear friend, through the most ghastly bout of depression following the death of her mother – grief takes people in so many different ways. We’ve all been friends for more than 40 years and seen each other through the good times and the difficult times – such a precious bond and I am supremely grateful.
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The Snail of Happiness
/ September 14, 2017Hope your back is on the mend soon. Networks of friends are amazingly important… that’s a garden we should all tend!
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thecontentedcrafter
/ September 14, 2017Finding old friends is such a special occurrence – I do hope you get the chance to meet up again and enjoy a tipple or two of sloe gin! I’ve got my fingers crossed for the 60 million coming out even higher, just because it deserves to! And dear friends starting up blogs is a lovely thing – your community widens and deepens 🙂
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The Snail of Happiness
/ September 15, 2017I have my bag packed… fingers crossed the train is not disrupted by the heavy rain we had overnight.
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Murtagh's Meadow
/ September 14, 2017Congratulations on sixty million trebles project. Fabulous achievement
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neilsonanita
/ September 16, 2017What a lovely, happy post. Thank you for sharing your positivity!
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The Snail of Happiness
/ September 17, 2017It’s a pleasure… I try to seek things that make me smile every day.
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Born To Organize
/ September 20, 2017Three cheers for getting back in touch with a dear, lost friend. Best of luck to the new bloggers. A lovely post of gratitude, Jan.
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The Snail of Happiness
/ September 20, 2017The lost friend and I are trying to arrange a meet-up. I think it might be 20 years since we last saw each other.
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Born To Organize
/ September 27, 2017Oh what fun! I’m happy for you both.
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