Simple Pleasures

For a very long time, I was on a quest for happiness and joy. I would read books, watch PBS programmes, find out what made people genuinely happy... In the end, I figured out that joy is a high, the same way sadness is a low, but it is the in between in which we spend most of our time. That in between can be described as contentment. There are many, many times that I am truly contented, like a fat upside down cat in a sunbeam. So many things make me contended, but usually it is just the simple things.

Tonight, I was out on my back porch, feeling the nice warm temperature of the day, looking around at the gorgeous thick green of everything, turning sausages on the barbecue and the delicious smell of that, a decent work day done, birds singing, things just "good". Not ecstatically joyous, but just good, contented. I think if we can strive for contentment on a regular basis, we can live a pretty good life.

Here are some more things that made me smile:

This is my first oriental poppy of the season. I saw it from down the road as I was driving toward my house, it was so eye catching.  Gorgeous.

I don't have many lupins, but I do love them. They are in their prime right now. Want a closer look?

Look at those colours! Isn't nature amazing?

Have a lovely, contented mid-week, all.