The Simple Things

On Saturday I had lunch with friends. One of them I met at secondary school (not today nor yesterday!) and the other one came in from the flat next door to borrow an egg thirty years ago. It was a lively meal with good food, company and conversation. That evening I met my family at my Dad’s anniversary Mass. It was great to catch up with everyone and I drove home smiling in the torrential rain at having the pleasure of both family and friends in the one day. Today I got some work done in the garden. Harry Three Paws came to supervise the work and fixed me with a furry gimlet eye to make sure it was being done right. I was delighted when I saw that the cucumber seeds I had planted two weeks ago had sprung up. Some of you may have read an earlier blog (Greenhouse Gas of the Light Variety) about my unsuccessful attempt with a plastic greenhouse. Today I assembled an altogether more robust one from Ikea, galvinised shelves with a polyamide cover. I was very pleased to be able to put my seedling trays in it, especially as the temperatures are dropping at the moment. I was aghast to feel autumn in the air this morning, but that was offset by the improvement in health of a 22 year old cat I am minding for the animal sanctuary Dog’s Aid. It struck me in the last few days that I am completely unlike Mick Jagger. As a teenager I headbanged with the best of them and wielded my air guitar to “I can’t get no…satisfaction..!” But clearly Mick had not the benefit of being anchored by family, friends, pets and garden. Plenty of satisfaction to be had, all in the simple pleasures of life. 🙂