Starting the week by writing the Happy List is something I’ve been doing for the last few years. It’s my chance to sit down and reflect on the things that made me happy in the previous week, as well as to record some of the adventures we have as a family.

Five Happy Things {Week 520}

Pumpkins have been appearing in the local food shops. I picked up a couple of the mini munchkin ones to decorate our home but hopefully we will have time to visit a pumpkin patch this autumn. In previous years we’ve visited The Pop Up Farm which always have a great selection of pumpkins to choose from.

I re-discovered a sweet embroidered pumpkin pattern which I never got round to completing. The pattern is from The Stitchy Bee and is called ‘pumpkin bloom’. I’m definitely finishing it this year!

I haven’t felt much like reading lately so I picked up a small novella called Cheerful Weather for the Wedding by Julia Strachey, my copy is a beautiful one printed by Persephone Books. I thought the story sounded quite amusing but it was really strange, all about a young woman on her wedding day who drinks too much and the appearance of an old flame who wants her to call off the wedding but isn’t able to tell her so. It was published in 1932 and although Virginia Woolf thought it “very cute, clever”, I thought it was awful. The novella has been turned into a film so I might try and watch that and see if it’s any better.

Over the weekend we popped into our local National Trust property, Hughenden Manor. We always enjoy a walk around the grounds and a cup of tea afterwards. They have brought back the Pooch Passport so we got our first stamp (only 5 more to go before we get a bag of doggy treats!).

We’re getting ready to decorate for Halloween and I couldn’t resist making Halloween ghosts from paper doilies. They were easy to cut up and we made a whole family of spooky ghosts. I’ve been sharing some of our previous Halloween crafts on Pinterest, so don’t forget to take a look.

Let me know what’s made you happy this week.