Grateful Friday

I haven't posted for a while. Sometimes life gets busy; sometimes I have little to say. Both are true this week, but I am still grateful for:

1. Pu'erh tea recommended by a friend and quite possibly a new favourite. Pu'erh is fermented tea that improves with age. I'm currently drinking organic five-year-old pu'erh from China (obviously!) and it's delicious. It makes a reddish liquid and tastes a bit smoky.

2. A morning cycling through West London tomorrow. I have promised myself a good two hours in a bookshop, long overdue, and I can't wait.

3. A good start to 2009. The end of 2008 was a little rocky and best forgotten. Fingers crossed, apart from one trip to A&E (not for me I hasten to add), the start to this year has been calm and full of quiet reflection.

4. Finding Happiness by Abbot Christopher Jamison. I would never usually pick up a book with such a title, believer as I am in the subjective nature of happiness. But, that's what this book is about, using the monastic traditions to explore the true nature of happiness - in the internal world, rather than looking to external circumstances to dictate contentment. It's one to savour and digest, rather than devour.

5. Dinner tomorrow evening with ten lovely people. I can't wait.