Happiness is in the Small Things.

Yesterday was Mother’s Day and I had a nice day. I’d worked a night shift Saturday night, arriving home around 8am. A quick shower and I was off to bed. This put a kink in the traditional Mother’s Day breakfast in bed, but that’s fine. I’ve never been very keen on breakfast in bed anyway.
Lots of little things made me happy today.
It was a glorious sunny autumn day and I was awake by midday. Getting up and enjoying the sunshine was a good idea. I had a leisurely breakfast on the deck with the Sunday paper. Small thing number one. No hurry, no fuss, a good cup of tea and plenty of time to enjoy it. It is lovely on the deck at this time of year. The grapevine that grows along the rail is changing colour. The pineapple sage, a large bush just below the deck is smothered with red flowers and the roses that also grow along the railing have a few late blooms. The sun floods the deck making it warm and helping the pots of lettuce and others of flowering plants last longer than they do elsewhere. Usually of course I’m too busy to sit out here longer than half an hour or so at lunchtime.
Oldest son Alex was away for the day working at his job at Rosendale restaurant. He was anticipating a busy day with the Mother’s Day rush. Alex’s job provides enough money for him to pay his own gliding bill. It’s all good. Robert and John went off to get my Mother’s Day present and came back with a trailer load of peastraw for my garden. Not romantic, not gift wrapped, but just perfect. I’ll get onto weeding the rose bed and finishing off my raised beds in the next few weeks. The peastraw will help keep the weeds down among the roses and makes up the bulk of the material in the raised beds. It is just what I wanted.
Later I took the dog out for a walk. Alfie’s a golden lab, three years old and he gets scratchy if he hasn’t had a walk. That’s fine, I need walks too. Not far from here we have a wonderful park. It is at the back of the agricultural show grounds. It’s owned by the council and run as a working farm. There are some walkways, there are lots of horse jumps and a polo paddock and a wonderful pond and wetland with some native plantings. Anyone and their dog can walk over it at will. The only stipulation is that dogs must be on a lead if in a paddock with stock. Well that’s just common sense.
I ambled along the stream and around the pond. Alfie bounced, ran, swam, played with other dogs and chased sticks. Coming back from the pond I was enjoying the way the open land gives a view all the way to the mountains. The sun was warm, the sky was large and blue. I was wearing my new jeans and new bright purple blouse. I was feeling good in my clothes – this is probably a girl thing but it was adding to my enjoyment of the walk.
Across the fence in the paddock with the horse jumps was a man with two small children, a boy and a girl, and a chocolate Labrador puppy. The man walked in something like a straight line. The others didn’t. The children and the dog went round and round in circles. The little girl sat down and called to her father, obviously wanting to be carried. He kept walking. She did a great theatrical sigh, got up and ran after him. Dad smiled and held out his hand for her to hold.
I don’t know anything about them. He may have been taking the children out to allow Mum time to herself for Mother’s Day or this might be a regular Sunday outing. I just know that seeing them, all obviously having a lovely time in this great open space made me smile. Dad, kids and dog, happy in the sun.
Robert my younger son cooked a roast dinner and did all the vegetables to go with it. I made the gravy, because somehow I seemed to have neglected to teach my children how to make gravy. I must rectify that. Robert made an apple and rhubarb crumble for pudding, a Weight Watchers recipe. That was sweet. Alex finished things up by giving me a box of chocolates, all for myself (thereby undoing the Weight Watchers effect, but appreciated none the less).
I didn’t win lotto, didn’t get taken out to a flash restaurant, don’t own a flash car and certainly haven’t got money to burn, but the sun shone and I had a happy day.