Small happinesses

As I came back home from somewhere the other day I saw this beautiful little echidna at the gate. To my mind they are one of Australia's cutest little animals and we see them here very rarely. Actually I think we spotted the same one a day or so previously crossing the road. Anyway, it lifted my heart to see it and I jumped out of the car to take some photos. It resolutely turned its back and pushed its snout under the gate and into the leaves, so I didn't get many good photos. This is the best of them - heavily cropped - I certainly couldn't get that close.

I think on the same journey home I also saw a pair of galahs - those beautiful pink and grey parrots sitting at the side of the road and this too strangely made me happy. Maybe this is because I grew up in England where parrots are only seen in zoos. Indeed I can still remember my first sight of the terribly common, and pest like sulphur-crested cockatoo in Australia - it was in the Carlton Gardens in the city. They are quite large and quite striking - I was blown away and when a flock of them flies over our property - in the morning and then again at night making a huge noise - they caw in a somewhat unattractive way - I still feel the same magic.

Which got me to thinking about all the little happinesses that make up my life and, indeed, make it worth living.

The big happinesses are gone. First love, true love and marriage, the birth of your children, maybe your first home, an academic or work achievement or two, though I don't think these really compete with my first short list. I should add the birth of one's grandchildren of course. Although for me it was more the joy and pride of seeing the happiness of my own sons as parents, than for the grandchildren themselves - that comes later I think. If you are an exceptional person it might be an outstanding achievement - an Olympic medal, climbing Mount Everest - that sort of thing, but we ordinary mortals do not experience these towering achievements. These things are ecstatic - and there are a few others to remember - certain kisses - I remember one on a Cornish beach with the sun bursting behind my closed eyes, moments of joy when the one you love says something complimentary, and a few others too. But on the whole our happinesses are on a smaller scale.

But they do exist and everyday if you should care to look around you.

First of all there are the beautiful things. There is always something beautiful to see. I tested this out on my walk this morning. Mostly it was easy - beautiful flowers, beautiful trees, and even in the most ordinary patches of ground, if you look closely you may find something tiny and beautiful - a seed pod, the sun shining on a drop of water, a butterfly. And failing this - look up. They do say when you are a tourist exploring a new town you should look up and look down. The best is often not in front of you. Today as I passed the back of the supermarket, where the smokers gather I was looking down and saw just ugly concrete, cigarette stubs, rubbish and cars, so I looked up and away and there was a cloudless blue sky and a beautiful tree. The sky is ever present, ever interesting (well maybe not when just grey) and completely awe-inspiring. I confess my mind cannot grapple with the universe and everything - the immensity is just too much - but if all else fails look to the sky.

When we go on holiday we often choose to be in beautiful places. With a view. I used to deride people who went on about views. But our house in Adelaide had an amazing view, down the hills and out to sea, over which the clouds drifted in and out. I could stand in my kitchen and see it all and it soothed my soul every day. Similarly the houses we have rented in Italy and France have often had amazing views. I find it difficult to take pictures of them - but here is one from our last holiday.

Amazing is it not? There have been similar places with similarly awe-inspiring vistas. The beautiful world laid out in front of you. And yes, only the moderately wealthy can experience these things. Am I not lucky? And I have just thought that this, of course is not strictly true - the only the moderately wealthy bit - because this particular place was outside a very small village inhabited by not very wealthy people - some indeed were most likely very poor - but they saw these things every day. Which is perhaps why they stayed there.

Then there are interesting things. Cities are particularly good on the interesting things. Keep an open mind, ask questions, be amazed at how the world develops. I guess one could get depressed by cities, and I sometimes am, but generally you can find a strange, exotic or interesting something to make your day. If I learn something new every day it makes me happy.

And then there are just the little heart-warming things. Small children saying silly things, the smell of a sausage sizzle. The grandchildren are an enormous source of this kind of happiness for everyone. I had to babysit two of them the other night. We watched television together and they snuggled up (they were both a little under the weather with a cold). It was beautiful.

And what has all of this got to do with food? This is supposed to be a food blog after all. Well one of the small and constant happinesses of my life is preparing a meal at the end of the day out of this and that. I take pleasure in thinking about what I can fabricate out of what I have got, and then in cutting up the vegetables, stirring it all together - and finally eating it. Sometimes disappointing I confess - my idea does not always turn out to be what I thought it would be - but never mind - there is always tomorrow. Unlike a painting a meal disappears from view once consumed. Cooking is a very therapeutic exercise. If you are angry you can bash your anger out on the meat, if you are sad you can hide your tears in the tears you shed slicing onions.

My life is gradually coming to an end - not yet but there are many fewer years left to me than when the big happinesses occurred. I have had a very fortunate life. I do not live in Aleppo, or darkest Africa. I am well off and live in a beautiful home. I have a growing and loving family. I still have the same husband. But the world is not a happy place. Sometimes I feel I should do more to change it, but I confess most of the time, I bury my head in the immediate, like the echidna at the gate, and concentrate on my small happinesses. They are endless like the sky.