It's 'happies' time again, week forty six already! How the weeks fly! Here goes with my four happy things for the last week. The following four plus a new series of Borgen on TV are some of the things that have made me smile recently.
1. Cake and Pudding - for that seasonal event coming shortly!! The cake was made a couple of weeks ago and this is its second 'feed' of brandy. It smells so rich and spicy. The pudding too has been stirred, steamed and stored.
2. Lapwing - on the edge of Carsington Water. it wandered around for ages whilst we took photos. I love its colours and the tufts on its head. Lapwings or peewits as we used to call them as children in the small Derbyshire village I grew up in have been designated 'red status' by the RSPB as their populations are declining. We saw a small group of them from the Wildlife Centre at Carsington. Apparently a group of Lapwings is known as a deceit. This possibly derives from the fact that at nesting time the lapwings, whilst guarding their vulnerable young, will feign injury themselves to divert the hunter or predator into taking them instead of their young. It could also be from the words of Geoffrey Chaucer who wrote 'false lapwynge full of treacherye' in his poem The Assembly of Fowls.
3. Stag - hiding in the long grass across the River Trent from the lakeside at Trentham, he looked quite ethereal in the pale grass and morning mist. Seeing him made me smile as I remembered years ago, when I lived in lodgings at Wollaton in Nottingham, I was with some friends walking back in thick fog from an evening out, we heard a snort and looked up to see antlers and flaring nostrils - we thought we'd come face to face with the devil himself - but it was a stag from the herd at Wollaton Hall staring at us through the railings, he ran off - just as startled by our presence as we were by his.
4. Reading - two really good books from the library to read in the evenings when there's nothing much to watch on television and two lovely magazines to flick through with my morning coffee. I don't usually read two books at the same time as my elderly brain can confuse the stories but as one is fiction and one non-fiction I really can't conflate the two.
Linking up with Little Birdie where '52 weeks of Happy' started. Each week you find just four things that have made you happy to share.
I love Christmas cake especially when it has been enriched with brandy! The stag photo is stunning and if it were my photo he would be turned into Christmas cards Absolutely beautiful! x.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Simone - we used to make cards when we had the desk top pcs and a good printer with waterproof ink but haven't since we had the laptops, something to think about:)
DeleteI love all your happy moments this last week and also your story about the stag in the mist! Some good reading there! I often dip into a non fiction book at the same time as reading a novel although at the moment I'm on a run of interesting non fiction which I'm reading straight through as page-turners.
ReplyDeleteSounds as if you have some interesting books to read, Linda! The stag in the fog is something I'll never forget:)
DeleteOh the smell of Christmas, nothing beats it. I've got some mulled wine spices and keep sniffing them, so lovely x
ReplyDeleteMmm.... mulled wine on a chilly evening by the fire - lovely:)
DeleteGreat pictures of the stag in the grass, and the lapwing so cute with those tufts on its head.
ReplyDeleteIt took ages to get him at the angle to be able to clearly see those tufts - the stag was so still watching us watching him:)
DeleteWhat lovely photos of the Stag. How wonderful to see one like that. I can imagine there would be something very pagan about coming across a Stag in thick fog! The Lapwing is lovely, too - I love to hear them calling as they fly overhead.
ReplyDeleteI've heard about the Richard III book; it looks a very interesting read.
And Christmas cake baking here soon!!
Yes, it was quite an strange experience coming face to face with the stag in the fog. Good luck with the cake baking:)
DeleteI can almost smell the cake. The two books look really good to, I will look them up and probably add them to my ever growing pile.
ReplyDeleteBoth books are page turners in their own way - I was fascinated with the search for Richard III and also the descriptions of Paris in the early 20th century, the artists' ateliers, the clothes, the streets - it was a good mystery too:)
DeleteSOme lovely looking reading matter there. I think I would have died on the spot if I had come face to face with "The Beast"!! Save me a piece of that cake!!! xxxxx
ReplyDeleteIt was quite startling to see the stag - I guess we yelled out and then it looked startled too, reared up and ran off! Will do:)
DeleteI love the aromas at this time of year - cinnamon, mixed slices, cloves, satsumas - Mmm. I haven't fed my cake yet but not long to go. Loved your stage photo Rosie. Lovely post.
ReplyDeletePatricia x
Thanks, Patricia - I love those seasonal smells so evocative aren't they?:)
DeleteThe Paris Winter sounds like a good read. Jx
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed it so much, Jan - the story itself and also the descriptions of Paris in the early 1900s, the artists' studios and the streets, the weather and etc. I'm now looking for more of that author's books:)
DeleteOooh, your lapwing and stag shots are fantastic! How lucky to get so close!x
ReplyDeleteThanks, Kezzie I was so lucky in both cases that the subjects of the photos didn't just run or fly away but stayed where they were:)
DeleteGreat happies again - except for the christmas part, for me, don't like the cake or the pudding, hehe! I like your photos of the stag and the lapwing. I like reading two or three books at once, but I usually read very different books for variety so I suppose that's why I've never got mixed up! I got the same Morrisons deal on Landscape, but haven't started reading it yet - I'm hoping to spend some time on the sofa with it this week :)
ReplyDeleteNothing like a lovely glossy magazine and a good book when you want to take some time out when you don't feel well. I was lucky to get the lapwing and stag photos - I enjoyed the process of making the cake and pudding as I haven't done it for ages:)
DeleteAlways good to see some Happies. Stags, Lapwings and Archaeology would be on mine too - I like Christmas cake but prefer the eating stage!
ReplyDeleteThanks, John - the Richard III book is fascinating and the later finds in the car park are in an article in the magazine but nothing more than we knew from the talk given by Richard Buckley at the museum a few weeks ago. I enjoy the cake eating too - all through January probably:)
DeleteSome very nice happies- your wildlife pics are lovely. I am quite envious of the cake and pudding making too.mmm I can just imagine the aroma- very Christmassy. I like the selection of reading matter too- and like you I have a couple of books on the go too:)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Amanda - the smell of the cake - and even more so the pudding - cooking was wonderful. One of the books is now read so I'm back to one at a time again:)
DeleteLovely things to be happy about. The cake looks so delicious. My cake? It was delicious and there are crumbs left!! Yes, I couldn't wait.
ReplyDeleteHave a wonderful week.
Thanks, Chel - did you make two cakes one to eat and one to save? Hope you too have a happy week:)
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