More That Makes Me Happy...

Kathleen put out the challenge and here I am, still blogging those things that make me happy ...

This is our dining room/lounge area - taken a few moments ago.  There's a lot of happy here.

I love the colours Gert painted it, partially inspired by Monet's kitchen in France.  We loved the yellow there.  Then you can see Amedeo's painting resting between my two photographs taken in Istanbul.  I adore that painting because it was gift from Amedeo, because he's hugely talented and because he painted me a photography shop there in the city of Genova.

Most of the furniture you see in the photograph is secondhand.  Gert and I are divorce orphans.  Our divorces pretty much took everything we had accrued over our 12 and 14 years of marriage and voila, later, when we met each other, we had to begin again.   

Children, stay married, or get pre-nups because divorce can be a vicious beast if you end up on the wrong side.

Anyway, I love the oak table pictured, found for 70 euro at our favourite secondhand shop here in the city.  I introduced Gert to secondhand treasures and he quickly succumbed to its curious charm.  The chairs were 65 euro for the lot and the red couch in the background ... it was something very reasonable that I fell for too, writes this woman who is easily made happy with treasure found secondhand.

Oh! And, there on the big wooden cabinet, are flowers by Dieter.  We really like Dieter because he's a lovely man and makes the best flowers arrangements.  I changed this one a little because I was rushing but, truly, his arrangements are beautiful artworks.

 

Something else that makes me happy ...

Whenever I leave Genova, I go through a withdrawal as I leave the source of some truly superb coffee, found at Caffè degli Specchi.

I know there's a shift to make ... from the sublime back to the-best-I-can-find-here.

This was my answer to the spotty quality of coffee found outside of Genova.  A small machine, the most I could afford and yes, it makes me happy.

The small cup is just the perfect size.  An exquisite gift from the mother of my first husband, given to me when she came over and spent a couple of weeks with us last summer.  Thank you, Valda :-)

Happiness is ...

The other day my lovely friend, the talented soprano Kathleen Berger, had this idea over on facebook ... she was going to post a photograph of something that made her happy, every day.

I liked the idea.  There's been so much doom and gloom lately, so much chaos. 

I have spent this year following the poet, Amy Turn Sharp, as she creates a poem every day through 2012.  I love her poetry.  I love those daily poems.

To begin ... one of my favourite things is surely my deep red bookshelves, the ones that hang next to me, here at my desk.  They are loaded with my treasured books and dvds.  And there are little gifts too.

The painting from and by artist, Karla Verdugo, the red cardinal from the lovely Lisa Ferreira.  The beautiful tile with the perfect message, from Raquel

I have a new laptop ... a Dell XPS Laptop

I have this new laptop and it has been a revelation in 21st century technology for me .... as I had no idea that photo-processing could be done at the speed of light. 

I have gone from my HP Pavilion dv2000, which started out life as a recall model that ran at boiling point, melted the second new battery invented to angle the base and allow extra air through, constantly required a cooling pad, and had a dodgy screen.  It was a laptop that had really just limped though this last year with multiple crashes and failing health.

Yesterday a fast and fabulous Dell XPS was delivered.  And no, they’re not paying me for this.

Frederika Flintstone is no longer pedalling the stone car ... Frederika is, in fact, flying a fighter jet at the speed of sound and is bemused by her wonder and awe.

Lorenzo Jovanotti is singing Bella as I write this ... it seems entirely bouncy and appropriate.