(May 2014: For a week or so last summer, I dabbled with writing my Three Beautiful Things posts on Happier. It only lasted a week because I kept forgetting about it then got annoyed that I couldn’t stream my updates to my blog or elsewhere – I don’t like closed platforms. I thought I’d manually copy the updates over here for safe keeping.)

2013-07-23
Lily-dog’s joy at getting out of the shower – drying time! yay! – and her subsequent super soft fur

2013-07-24
Bringing our three kittens home then making one of them, Strange, purr for the first time.

2013-07-31
I scratched “I love you” in the tannin stain on the inside of my boyfriend’s tea cup so the message was revealed when he finished the drink.

2013-07-31
After a week of living together, the most friendly kitten has taught the most aloof one how to enjoy sitting on my lap.

2013-08-04
Without my glasses, the black cats look like spindly and elegant shadows. Backlit by the morning sun, they’re so matte, they look unnatural.

2013-08-06
Bright water droplets on the polished chrome shower controller. Fancy hotel clean.

2013-08-06
P whispers “sorry” to Lily-dog after he is distracted talking to us instead of concentrating on tickling her.

2013-08-07
The sweetness of the golden onions and the “jammy” tomatoes within the egg. A fab quick lunch.

2013-08-07
Just found our lovely neighbour on Twitter because it turns out we like the same singer and she RTed him. A fun coincidence :)

2013-08-07
The washing I left on the line overnight is bone dry after a spell of early morning sunshine. I replace it with bedding: sheets of fresh white & bright dots.

2013-08-08
The veg drawer is disturbingly empty so I go into the garden and pick some courgettes to add to dinner. They’re a little smaller than I’d like but firm & green.

2013-08-08
Courgettes sliced into rings reveal delicate detail – lines and curls – in the pale flesh. They’re like a natural stick of rock.

2013-08-08
Hot after walking the dog & cooking dinner, the glass of cold Dr Pepper is divine.

1. Clearing the snow from the roof of the chicken run is hard work but the lacrosse-style gather and fling, using a long leaf rake, is surprisingly fun.

1b. The chickens seem too big to get properly airborne: there is a lot of flapping and bumpy landings but they get to the snow-free steps in the end.

2. To remember jokes, memes and sayings from our teenage years.

3. I finish the last purple round of my pattern with less than a metre of yarn leftover. This pleases me for two reasons: 1) I don’t have to wait until another (back-ordered) ball arrives to finish the colourway; 2) it means my calculations are correct. I like it when my calculations are correct.

1. The muffled woo-wooing and dull thundering of John playing with Lily on the floor below.

2. The single fat icicle smeared across the greenhouse glass. Then later, the many slim ones hanging from the porch’s gutter.

3. Lines of iambic pentameter mix with laughter – jokes from the text and from all around us too.

3b. The little boy watches on as the lads practise their words. He looks slightly shell-shocked — today hasn’t gone as he thought it would — but I also wonder if he’s not a little awed too: listening to the strange language flowing beautifully from their tongues and seeing himself doing the same in just a few years time.

1. A satisfying crunch as I bite through the slice of pepper.

2. I struggle with a linking sentence before I leave but then on the bus, I pull at it in a different way and it suddenly flows perfectly.

3. To have a bad day but to feel that that’s all it is: just a bad day, not a deeper blueness.

1. The buds look like french knots tied to branches. Heavy drops drip onto the snow below.

2. After three years of wanting, I finally get a little shelving unit for my side of the office. The files, books and seed boxes that have cluttered up my desk for the interim time fit perfectly into their new home: they’re still accessible but I no longer have to worry about being buried under a paper avalanche.

3. Lily sniff-sniff-sniffs the air, the ground and the usual hiding spots until she finds her treat.

1. She runs around in and out of the water, amongst the wild garlic and other early shoots, while I stand on the grassy knoll and chat.

2. I’d wanted flat purple felt but the grey Swaledale shows through. I moan and grumble about it until I realise I prefer the resulting marl.

3. The sweet tanginess of the chilli sauce. I mop it up with a chunk of naan.

3b. We spend so much time punning and mocking each other’s antics that we don’t have time to watch the film. I don’t mind in the slightest.