Just a Quiet Week at Willow's Cottage

I've been pondering this today:  where did the week go?  I had big intentions to photograph all the baby hats I've made in the past three weeks.  I thought I'd post a couple of times but then--I didn't.  However, I did work almost every day outside on that ongoing garden project.  (That's not in my faves, but I am pleased at the progress I've made especially since it involves digging rock and dirt, sawing roots, moving heavy edgers and pavers, and using a plumb line.)  Even though it seems like I didn't do much this week, I still find lots of blessings, things that make me smile and make me happy.  That's what I'm sharing for Friday Fave Fives. Five things that made Willow's Week.

1.  I am loving these early autumn slow days!  The weather is noticeably a bit cooler. At least twice this week, I've stayed home ALL DAY.  That never happens.  I've decided to be intentional about being home this year, the first year in decades that I haven't had a pile of responsibilities pushing me out of the house almost daily.

2.  I'm not really a foodie kind of person; mostly I eat to live.  But this week I did have some yummy meals.  Burrito from my favorite restaurant: it includes black beans, brown rice on a whole wheat tortilla, cilantro and green salsa.  Then I made an Indonesian dish called gado-gado:  homemade peanut sauce, various veggies both cooked and raw (cucumber, spinach, broccoli and potatoes) served over rice.  I also made three batches of my granola recipe.  Mostly I love having the cooking and baking finished so we can contentedly consume our meals without alot of fuss.

3.  A high school classmate messaged me on facebook to ask me some questions about people from our class as she is evidently on a committee to put together a class reunion in 2018.  It was a treat for me to reminisce a bit and the result was my digging out my old high school annuals and thumbing through them.  I loved reading all the notes and seeing all those old photos.  Also I found my grades from my senior year.  I don't remember getting an F in study hall...

4.  Back in May, I mentioned that I had some handspun wool from Canada that I was planning to use to make a shawl for my niece who lives on Vancouver Island.  I finished the shawl in June and it was delivered to my niece by her mom in August. But I never took any photos of it.  (Silly Willow!) This week on facebook she posted a photo of her wearing the shawl.  So now I have a picture of the shawl and more importantly, her wearing the shawl.

5.  I have had some crazy, funny conversations this week about BUGS like spiders and ants.  First, my cousin's daughter who with her husband is visiting his grandparents here in Southern California.  She mentioned finding black widow spiders in the garage.  So, yeah, here in SoCal black widow spiders are everywhere.  You just deal with them.  But she didn't know because she doesn't live here.  No, you don't vacuum them up with a shop vac.  Poison them or smash them!  In the end, we decided that if you vacuum them up and feed them growth hormone, you can use them on Halloween to scare all the kids who come to the house to treat-or-treat.  (Really you shouldn't even let her own a shop vac or medicines.)  Then, I told my daughter that we have ants in our microwave, and I'm not sure how they're getting in.  BUT.  They don't die when you run the microwave.  WHY?  We think they're mutants and will grow into giant radiated ants that will take over the world.  And they all started in my little microwave.  Maybe you shouldn't have conversations with me about weird stuff. (But it makes me laugh.)

What made you happy this week?  What made you laugh?