Reasons to be Cheerful

In response to shortening days, darkening skies, and general doom and gloom in the news and elsewhere,  Penny over at Planet Penny has started what I think is a lovely tradition: a "Reasons to Be Cheerful" linky party. Readers are invited to contribute, via comment or blog post, three Reasons to Be Cheerful every week. (The party is open from Thursday to Sunday.)

I was planning to use this weekend's ride, with its 3 Great Things, as my contribution - but the riding season is nearly over, and I can't be sure I'll even get on the road this weekend, after Wednesday's heavy snow. (But I am keeping my fingers crossed and my tyres pumped. What, Blogger, you don't like the way I spelt "tyres"? Or even "spelt"? Haven't you ever heard of the Queen's English? Hmmm - future post idea there. But I digress.)

So in deference to the dodgy state of Wisconsin weather, I will make no assumptions about a possible bike ride tomorrow or Sunday, and instead will write a dedicated post of "Reasons to Be Cheerful" this week.

Reason #1: After sitting tepidly in the porch all summer, doing nothing more than drop leaves and drink water, my geranium, which I brought inside about 2 weeks ago, has rewarded me with a burst of cheerful bloom. (Perhaps if I fed it occasionally it would bloom even more.)

Look at the delicate shadows made by the pistils ...

... and the light shining through the petals, and the fuzzy stems.

So beautiful. So cheerful!

Reason #2: The perfect marriage of yarn and stitch. How rarely does it occur, yet it happened to me this week. I fell in love with this yarn:

A humble acrylic yarn, of modest price, but its colours cried out "Christmas!" and I simply had to buy it. I envisioned mini bunting, or perhaps a throw pillow cover. But variegated yarn can be awkward to work with - the tints that look so beautiful all swirled together in the skein so often look bizarre when knitted or crocheted.

So after a few hours of pleasurable but fruitless messing about with yarn and hook, a flash of crochet inspiration came: Tunisian simple stitch! And it was perfect.

In no time at all I had not only a stitch, but an entire slipper (the pattern for which I will share next month). This is really a double Reason to Be Cheerful, as Tunisian crochet was new for me - I've learned something.

Reason #3: You. A little over eight months ago, in fear and trepidation, I wrote my first blog post, not knowing if anyone would ever care to read what I had to say. And now I have friends all around the world. I can't tell you how precious that is to me, or how grateful I am for all of you who read this blog and leave kind and thoughtful and funny and helpful comments.

It seems that simply thinking of Reasons to Be Cheerful causes them to multiply. So hop on over to Penny's blog sometime between now and midnight Sunday (UK time), and add some cheerfulness to the list. Thanks Penny!

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