A late Victorian painting of a girl knitting in a room with a cat under her chair. Title A Girl Knitting Date 1874 Medium oil on panel Measurements H 64 x W 36 cm Accession number BORGM 00880 Acquisition method bequeathed by Miss Emmeline Young, 1940 Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum Bournemouth

Sunday's pleasure was making good progress stitching together the panels of the jumper I have spent (ahem) a year knitting.

Hopefully done today!

Yesterday also include good craik, and some excellent biscuits.

#mentalhealth #mindfulness
#dailyblessings #countingblessings #ablessingaday

A medieval image of one peasant digging the ground, and another with a load on their back https://sco.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_Ages

Saturday's good thing -

Getting a vast amount of Stuff to the tip and the charity shop.

My mojo is coming back. It's pleasing but a little disconcerting too!

#mentalhealth #mindfulness
#ablessingaday #dailyblessings #countingblessings

Jack Sprat is an English rhyme first published in 1639. “Jack Sprat could eat no fat, His wife could eat no lean. And so between them both, you see, They licked the platter clean.” In the 16th century, the name "Jack Sprat" was used of to describe people of a small stature. Illustrated by Frederick Richardson (1862-1937), Mother Goose, 1920.

Monday's good thing.....

Bright sunshine again - never underestimate the effect of the weather on mood.

Eating a bit less, and not thinking much about it.

#mentalhealth #ablessingaday #dailyblessings
#mindfulness

The Grape Harvest (also known as Autumn), an oil on canvas painting created by Francisco Goya in 1786

Sunday's pleasures included the crisp, fresh taste of Vinho Verde.

#mentalhealth #mindfulness
#ablessingaday #countingblessings
#cheers #drinkresponsibly

A late medieval image of five men and a pack of hounds; three of the men appear to be grooming the dogs, two appear to be guiding them with sticks.

Thursday's enjoyable moments involved friends and dogs.

#mentalhealth #dailyblessings #ablessingaday

A late medieval image of the construction of the Tower of Babel. A crowned man stands next to a half-built tower. Builders are on scaffolding at the top of the tower, and are lifting stones by crane. Unknown artist German, Regensburg, about 1400–1410 Tempera colours on parchment

Wednesday's enjoyable moments.

A sneaky peek at Grand Designs before Lighthouse Hubby came home. A long blether with pals on WhatsApp. And good weather.

My equilibrium is coming back, at long last.
(Shame the world is fucked, but you can't have everything).

#mentalhealth #ablessingaday

White and purple scented stocks in a vase of water

Tuesday's good things.

I did enjoy my bath, watching Pottery Throwdown, and drinking hot chocolate

#mentalhealth #dailyblessings #ablessingaday #countingblessings

A random photo of scented stocks, taken during lockdown.

A panel of six medieval (or medieval-style) images of doctors and their patients.

Some good health news for Lighthouse Hubby.

A huge relief.

#mentalhealth #ablessingaday #dailyblessings #countingblessings

Venus, Mars and Cupid by Piero di Cosimo, a Cupid lying on Venus clings to a white rabbit. A man and a woman, both naked apart from strategically draped cloths, loll in a landscape with a river and mountains in the backgrounds. The woman holds a naked toddler, and a white rabbit appears to be nibbling the toddlers fingers. Everyone looks very cold and very uncomfortable.

Thursday's good thing ----

Looking back, it was a productive day, and I saw rabbits grazing through the window of the room I was in. Not, it has to be said, on naked people. It was sunny, but FAR to cold for that sort of thing this far north!

#mentalhealth #ablessingaday #dailyblessings

George Stubbs Print: Bay Horse and White Dog Fine Art To be fair, the white dog is clearly NOT a golden retriever, Stubbs was painting some decades before the breed was established.

Friday's good thing was our darling pup behaving BEAUTIFULLY on her walk when horses went by.

Having good treats helped!

#mentalhealth #ablessingaday #dailyblessings

Diagram of the Vitamin D molecule, from Wickipedia

Saturday's good thing - is harder to remember, because my time is pretty flexible and days tend to be similar, but...

I am calling it out for the much better weather. It's cold, but it's bright, and ye gods the sunshine makes such a difference.

#mentalhealth #ablessingaday #dailyblessings

A painting of a drawing class by Nicole Eisenman https://www.artic.edu/artworks/209580/the-drawing-class The artist breaks the fourth wall by showing her own sketch book in the foreground, and the model and other artists in the mid ground.

Sunday's good thing

Was my happiness and involvement at my drawing class. The last time I went I was stressed and prodromal before a migraine. This time brought me joy. Though the few skills I have drawing have left me.

#notmydrawingclass
#mentalhealth #ablessingaday #dailyblessings

A close up of a jumper knitted with bright rainbow-multi-coloured chunky yarn

Tuesday's good thing - was wearing this jumper

Wednesday's - was knitting while catching up on The Great Pottery Throwdown

#mentalhealth #ablessingaday #dailyblessings

A painting of snowdrops

Monday's delight - Snowdrops!

#mentalhealth #ablessingaday #dailyblessings

The wall of a ruined castle, with a doorway blocked with fencing, and a modern sign saying "Danger! Keep out, Dangerous Building"

Saturday's good thing ---
was this sign at a Scottish castle.

Back in the day they kept people out with boiling oil and arrows.

'ealth an' safety gorn mad, I call it!

#mentalhealth #dailyblessings #ablessingaday
#history #scottishhistory #castles

The painting "The Card Players" by Lucas van Leyden, created around 1520. Two men and one woman playing cards at a table.

Friday's good things included Jenga, Cluedo and Boggle.

#mentalhealth #ablessingaday #dailyblessings
#boardgames

Japanese print "The Calligraphy Lesson" by Kitagawa Utamaro Showing a woman standing up teaching two women who are sitting down

Wednesday's good moments
- a really enjoyable Uni class. I am getting a lot out of my degree, even though my concentration is shot and I find it hard to read books any more.

Thursday's good moments
- quietly knitting and chatting with friends.

#mentalhealth #dailyblessings #ablessingaday

Friday's good thing --- the pup in the sunshine.

Golden Retriever Energy is a Thing!

#mentalhealth #ablessingaday #countingblessings
#dogsofbluesky #sunshine

1930s or 1930s style image of a woman driving an open-top car

Thursday... and the feeling of tension leaving my body because I was driving, and the sun was out.

It's been six weeks since we saw the sun, and three since I could use the car. In many ways, worse than #lockdown was for me.

#mentalhealth #countingblessings #ablessingaday

A print of three women knitting, two are sitting down and one is standing up. One is is looking at the artist and two are looking at something happening to the right of the artist. Les Tricoteuses. (Credit: Wikimedia Commons: Work in the public domain: PD-1923)

Wednesday....

What was good about yesterday?

I enjoyed my history class, and I have embarked on the sleeve of the jumper I am knitting.

#mentalhealth #ablessingaday #countingblessings #craftiverse

Turner's painting of a storm at Bell Rock lighthouse

Monday.....

The wind dropped. Only for one day. But it did drop.

#mentalhealth #countingblessings #ablessingaday

A 1950s print ad for a TV with the slogan "The New PYE Automatic Picture Control TV" - the advertisement depicts a man's hand reaching out of the tv screen and grabbing a scantily clad miniature woman who is coded as pretty; she is either laughing in delight or screaming in horror. I am screaming in horror, looking at it.

Saturday's rare pleasure

Watching TV with Lighthouse Hubby - not a thing we do together on a regular basis.

#mentalhealth #ablessingaday #dailyblessngs #countingblessings

Picture because WTF???

A 19thC image of a woman with a large dog, either a Landseer Newfoundland, or a St Bernard. Artist: Attribué à Leon Sazerat ( 1831-1891) Period: 19th century Style: Renaissance, Louis 13th

Friday. Better than Thursday. Though Thursday set a low bar.

I loved the pup getting her toys out of her toy box, one at a time. The concentration. The problem-solving. The determination to get The One.

#mentalhealth #ablessingaday #dailyblessings

1920s illustration of two women listening to the wireless

Yesterday was a 💩-fest of a day.

But I do love clean sheets. And Radio 3.

#mentalhealth #countingblessings #ablessingaday

A bathbomb dissolving in a bath

Some times this practice is harder than others. Those are the most important times to do it.

Tuesday - the vibrant yellow of supermarket daffodils

Wednesday - the colour and texture of velvet cushions

#mentalhealth #ablessingaday #countingblessings

Random pic of a bathbomb in a bath

In 1973, I invented a ‘girly drink’ called Baileys We got £3,000 all-in for the creation of the world’s most successful cream liqueur

Ok, so Monday....

Oh dear. It's going to have to be the way that the cream in Baileys wraps itself around the alcohol. A shame-faced pleasure. Oh well.

#drinkresponsibly - I mean this one!

#mentalhealth #ablessingaday #dailyblessings

Here's its origin story.

www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...

A modern "painting" of the Scots and English fighting at the Battle of Bannockburn. The oldest version of this image I can find is two years old, so it may be AI.

Saturday's delights included the joy, endorphins, dopamine, oxytocin and serotonin released by the laughter of playing Stramash.

#mentalhealth #countingblessings #ablessingaday

www.stramashgames.co.uk

Painting of the original HMV logo - "His Master's Voice" showing a terrier looking down the speaker horn of an old-style gramophone.

Friday's good thing....

My shiny new printer. Is shiny. Is new. Is printing!

Also the dogs behaving better in response to consistent training.

#mentalhealth #ablessingaday #countingblessings

A pen and ink sketch of a cat and a dog facing off to each other. The cat is hissing, the dog is growling. Dated about 1490.

.....Monday?

A hard day, much of it in tears from the news, and my concentration is shot.

But.... the dogs were less chaotic when our neighbour came round, and the pup did not chase the cat.

Small mercies, my friend, small mercies.

#mentalhealth #countingblessings #ablessingaday

Bond of Union lithograph April 1956. MC Escher A ribbon in a spiral forms two heads, and man and a woman, bent towards each other.

Meanwhile, I was grounded yesterday by the time that Lighthouse Hubby and I spent together, asking each other how we are, and listening to the answers.

#mentalhealth #countingblessings #dailyblessings #ablessingaday