Open-hearted joys 開開心心 № 02
Capturing the tiny details of my everyday mundane and the moments that weave poetry to my days.
Happy Friday, my loves!
This post comes to you from the confines of a train carriage as I trundle towards London, where I’ll be working today. I can hardly believe it’s October and yet all the signs are here: rain-splashed pavements (and hair and umbrella and poorly chosen shoes), leaves whispering as they fall, pumpkins out for the picking, hearty comfort meals selected for dinner.
There’s a lot to be said for appreciating the smaller, not necessarily finer, details of the everyday mundane. Here’s to another list of petite, open-hearted joys, the moments that’ve brought and woven poetry to my days, this week:
一. Making dinner after work with my boyfriend in the autumn light. Well, me making dinner with my boyfriend as a sous chef, since he had achy arms after travel vaccines! We cooked gyros using a meal kit and they were delicious. Unconventionally, we made sweet potato fries as a side.
二. Slowing down. I had to queue two hours for an EV charger on Sunday. It wasn’t ideal and I’d already finished the book in my bag, but two hours to do nothing but sit and wait and idly chat on the phone was a surprising little joy.
三. The sheer kindness of strangers. I had a tricky encounter with a bullish, racist and misogynistic person the other day and a bystander was kind enough to check on me, wait until I felt okay, and reported the incident to the relevant people. Forever grateful.
四. Seeing my words in the wild for the Halloween and Christmas campaigns I’ve been working away on at work since the summer. I’ve been working in this field for over 10 years, and seeing your work live in the real world really never gets old.
五. The cosy comfort of my car when it’s pouring down with rain (and I’m wearing inappropriate shoes).
六. Lighting a crackling 13 Soy Candle from & Chai while I write/journal/cook/potter.
七. A blue jay perched on the window while I worked from home on Monday.
八. Celebrating my friends’ achievements. From new qualifications to new jobs, I’m so proud of our girl gang lately. Well, I am all the time but especially this week!
九. How great a cup of English breakfast tea with a splash of soy milk tastes after the morning dog walk. Preferably enjoyed with said dog sat on your feet.
十. A sneaky solo lunch at the office. I typically love spending time with my team, but it was really peaceful to eat my homemade gnocchi and sink into a few chapters of my latest read on my Kindle. (The Restaurant of Lost Recipes by Hisashi Kashiwai, if you’re wondering.)
Share a joy from your week in the comments, and I’ll see you again next Friday.
Adore this Michelle, it was like a warm hug. There's so much magic in the little things, isn't there?
With that said, I'm really sorry about the encounter you had. I'm glad there were some good people around to look out for you – the world can be awful sometimes.
A joy from my week was watching The Great British Bake Off (a fave) at Aidan's parents with their fire lit. Ultimate cosiness for an October evening.
This was a lovely read - and so sorry to hear about the negative encounter you had, I hope you're doing ok. A joy from my week would be having a much needed soak in the bath with my bath salts and scented candles while listening to my audiobook (Tales of a Monstrous Heart)