Oh Happy Day

Yesterday really was an exceptionally happy day - just because it was! You know how it is like that sometimes.....  The beautiful sunshine got it off to a good start and then the Posty arrived with the other set of hooks I had ordered!

They had come all the way from China which is why they had taken a bit longer than usual. They are made from some kind of resin I think, I'm not sure, which means that they are VERY light and flexible too. I love the colours with little air bubbles in! I have only used the 4mm one so far but it is so easy to hold and use, it flexes really well and I can crochet super quick with it!! I don't know how long they will last but they only cost me £2.30 with FREE P & P too!! A real bargain, which you can find here if you are interested. I have just ordered a second set as a little surprise pressie for someone..... So now I have aluminium hooks, wooden hooks, muli-coloured aluminium hooks with wide, comfy grips and these new lightweight ones!!

Anyway, Posty also delivered three new crochet books Beyond the Square Crochet Motifs, 100 Flowers to Knit & Crochet and Around the Corner Crochet Borders. BLISS! So, I had a little while perusing these new gems before getting on with the rest of my day which included my regular swimming session at the local pool where I am a member, which means I often get to swim for an hour in an EMPTY pool during the day!! Although not yesterday because there were three other people in there at one point.

I usually go twice a week and yesterday, to add greatly to my happy day, I did a Personal Best of 34 lengths!!! My previous PB was 32 and I usually only manage 30 - which is still fantastic when you consider that, firstly, I have just turned 61 and, secondly, a year ago I couldn't swim more that two strokes without having a major panic attack, having been water phobic since the age of 11 after a near-drowning incident in my local pool!!!

To add even more to my happiness, as I left the pool, I popped in from the members area to the public side and placed in one of the empty cubicles a copy of the book Random Acts of Kindness, in which I had written an anonymous message and placed a nice new £5 note, for someone to find.........  Last Saturday, my birthday, I had done something similar with a slightly different miniture version... Why? Because it makes me happy! And hopefully makes someone else happy too!!

Coming out of the pool to a GORGEOUS hot and sunny afternoon I decided to call at a nearby garden centre to look for a birthday present for my dear friend J. I was looking for some nice planters or decorative pots of some kind for her patio but was not really grabbed by anything and, as always, I gravitated towards the living and colourful things! After a little while of enjoyable pottering I had a trolley full of the most beautiful plants - some for her birthday, albeit rather too early, and the rest for me!!!

These beautiful, exotic red ones for my conservatory






and this scented freesia plant which is not only amazingly beautiful to look at but also has a heavenly fragrance

Surprisingly the freesia plant is hardy, according to the care label and so can go outside in the garden which is a bonus too! Eventually I am going to plant it near the patio so I can smell it when I sit out there. But for now it is still in its pot in my conservatory where I sit on summer evenings so that I can enjoy its beauty and fragrance to the full. I just LOVE them all and my conservatory is now even more than ever my favourite place to be!!

 When I got home I phoned my friend J to say I had already bought her birthday pressie (not revealing what it is of course) about 10 days early and offering her the opportunity to have it now to enjoy for longer or to wait for the day itself. She very excitedly jumped, without hesitation, to having it now to enjoy for longer, so I went around the corner to hers with both hands full of gorgeous colourful and sweet-smelling plants. She was thrilled - and I was delighted! She loves freesias and often buys them as cut flowers but, like me, she had never before seen a hardy plant able to go in the garden. And she also loved the other more exotic ones for her window sill in her little conservatory. We then got a small glass of wine and went out into her lovely garden to have a good catch-up in the sunshine - even more bliss!!

After an hour or so I came home, followed not long after by P who had been out for the day, and we enjoyed a home-made moussaka with potato salad eaten in the evening sunshine..... And once the washing up was done, I settled down with my new hooks and ONE OF my latest projects ( yes, I have even more of them on the go now!!) for a bit of hooky heaven!! Unfortunately I don't think these pictures do this one justice for some reason! The colours look much better than this in real life, the centre squares are more vibrant green with turquoise, and then purple with orange and yellow

 and the border, which is not finished yet, is a lovely lemon....  I have done a few rows of UK double crochet, (single crochet for USA etc) as a foundation and then I have chosen a border from my new book! But, since I haven't tried it yet and don't know how it's going to turn out, you'll have to wait a while for more news and pics of that!!

After a few hours of happy hooky while watching TV I went to bed VERY contented and thankful for my extremely happy day - and determined to have another one as soon as possible!