Friday, 4 November 2011

Reasons To Be Cheerful: the search for optimism

It's Reasons To Be Cheerful time again and I'm discovering that for me the end of the week is not the optimum time for optimism! I've had a peely-wally Miss Mouse off school yesterday and today so a lot of my time and energy has been taken with that. But there are always reasons, so here we go:

1) Things we'd forgotten. My brother recently got a slide scanner and has been working through a box of colour slides (remember them?) that our parents re-found among their stuff. They'd thought the slides were long lost so were delighted, but as their slide projector was long lost they'd no way of seeing what there was. So most evenings my brother scans a few slides and bungs them in Dropbox for us to look at. Here's a classic:

These are old pictures that haven't seen the light of day for decades (that's me in that picture). Some of the slides have quite a bit of damage to them - see the purple spots on that one? But just to see them at all is fantastic!

2) A bit of silly telly. New season of The Big Bang Theory - yay!

3) A smidge of sunshine and a coffee outside is better than nothing. I like being outside but sometimes there's not much opportunity. I've borrowed this idea this from The Philosophy of Lists, another Making Winterer, who has decided to try to have a cuppa outside every day. I know I won't manage it every day - the climate and my garden are against me - but every half-decent day I'll make the effort. Today I sneaked out into the garden while Miss M was watching Numberjacks and bloody blissful it was too (stir crazy? me?). I did the same thing yesterday and it was somewhat less blissful. Cat2 discovered she could climb up the old bit of trellis (remnant of a piece of fence) in the corner and get up onto the garage roof.


Getting down of course was less easy. It all got a bit farcical - Miss Mouse was feverish and asleep so I was tiptoeing around trying to extend a ladder quietly* while hissing at the cat. I got a ladder up but she was having much too much fun scampering about the roof to come anywhere near me. Eventually she made her own way down but I don't know how. Teleportation most likely. This cat has ladder phobia - the noise of ladders that is. Every time there are window-cleaners are in the street she runs round the house growling out of all the windows. Maybe this has cured her! What's funny about the growling is that our other cat, her brother, has picked up the habit from her and now thinks that ladders are a legitimate threat!

So, yeah, peaceful cup of coffee in the fresh air!

*Not possible.

3 comments:

Mrs. Micawber said...

I like the idea of coffee outside (only it would be tea for me) but when true winter comes to my neck of the woods it would be rather uncomfortable. That cat picture is priceless. They always do seem to find a way down.

When I was little, my dad took thousands of photos and always had them made into slides. After a family trip or event, we would all sit in the darkened living room and have a slide show. I wonder where those slides are now? Thank you for bringing up the memory.

Planet Penny said...

It's lovely to find long forgotten memories in a box like that. The purple spots can be cured with Photoshop, and if you've got any specials you'd like to print out as presents I'll happily have a go at tidying them up for you. I'm giving coffee in the garden a miss this morning, it's hammering it down, but I agree it's a lovely idea! Thanks for joining in with Reasons to be Cheerful, it's definitely cheering me up anyway!

Peeriemoot said...

I've just realised how slack I've been with my replies! Mrs Micawber, yes coffee in the garden is only really suitable for the milder kind of winter :-D - you don't want your coffee freezing in the cup!

Penny - thanks for the offer :-). My brother is having a go with various bits of image tinkering software, but if he struggles I may take you up on that!