Wonderful Wednesday #180

{'saving' summer in as many ways as possible! }
Well oh well how do you do?!  I'm like the most broken of broken records i know but how the bobbins are we careering through this year so flippin' floppin' fast?!  I'd like to say i've got lots to show for the fact, or a great feeling of accomplishment bubbling away in my little tummy but, well; i havent.  It struck me all at once this morning, juuust as i was about to sleepily add cinnamon to my porridge.  Something inside of me went 'PING' and all i could think was 'no, no don't do it.'  Because what?  I add cinnamon to my porridge for the first time since - maybe February - and before i know it the central heating thermostat will be crancked back up from zero degrees and i'll be knee deep in buying Christmas cards!  I feel like it's only August at the same time as feeling a 'golly-gosh it's AUGUST already' and both with equal excitment/terror/when did time speed up quite so much?!
 
 
 
So without further ado, time to    s-l-o-w   down and count some little happy gems - before i forget them entirely for another week and already it'll be 2017 and OH.  THAT.  Well that doesn't bear thinking about yet.  Not quite yet anyway.....  Time to happy list....
 
 
1.  Sour blackberries.  Not fresh from the hedgerow i'm afraid - as much as i would love to say that they were.  The wild birds are far to 'on it' up near us and get to them before we even get a look!  But there is something just as lovely about a sour blackberry or two, as there is a ripe and juicy sweet one.  When i was little, as soon as we'd been blackberry picking my mum would wash the fruit in a big colander, tip it into a huge bowl and cover it with sugar.  Then it would sit in the fridge overnight and the next day, you were treated to the syrupiest, sticky-sweet blackberries that you can imagine.  We piled them onto everything but usually snatched them straight from the bowl.  Which you could never getaway with since as you could always spot the purple ring around your lips and stained tongue a mile away!  But sour blackberries...?!  Somehow they feel like even more of treat since they were such a foreign concept until recently.  This weeks' have been mashed up and swirled into honeyed porridge or piled upon toasted ryebread and creamy cashew nut butter.  The perfect balance of sweet and sour is a joy in itself, don't you think!?
 
 
2.  Helping someone.  I mean i probably do it quite a lot during my working day anyway.  So much so that it just feels...well normal.  I get paid to afterall.  But seeing someone struggle, in the supermarket and helping them reach and then carry said things to the till - all the while chit-chatting to them about their day?  It felt LOVELY.  We should all look up, take notice and help more often.  I'm making my own mental note to aswell.
 
 
3.  A misty morning.  The first of it's kind in....well i can't remember the last so there you go!  There's something lovely about a misty morning.  A quiet misty morning where your only company is a hot cup of tea, a big bowl of blackberry porridge and a large side order of silence. 
 
 
4.  Dried hydrangeas.  I've heard there's some kind of 'art' to drying hydrangea flowers.  For me it's the art of luck.  Utter luck!  This years' first try has proven a success but i have no idea why.  Last year i tried at least three times and failed miserably.  All i did was keep the flowers in water until they started to slightly wilt.  Then tipped said water away and left them in an empty vase.  Et voila!  A simple {ish!} way of preserving one of the prettiest parts of summer!  See photo attached for effect ^^^
 
 
5.   Courgette and chickpea 'burgers.'  The bees knees, elbows and armpits as far as i'm concerned!  A quick 'mash up' -type supper served on a huge pile of peashoots and spread with a big spoonful of {more than was probably acceptable} spiced yellow split-pea and turmeric hummus and topped with toasted seeds and baby tomatoes.  In all honesty?  I could have eaten it twice over.  It was THAT GOOD.  
 
 
6.  A new tv 'fix.' I'm not a massive TV watcher and if you can get me to sit, and pay attention through the entirety of a whole film then, well consider yourself LUCKY.  But i do like a good TV series.  We recently finished watching the third season of Fargo which - how can i put it?  I didn't mind.  I just found it hard work and felt as if i didn't understand a lot of it.  The Mr though?!  It's the first time either of us have watched it and he LOVED it.  So much so that over the weekend he announced he wanted to watch the last season.  I wasn't particularly excited but i thought i'd give it a go.  Oh MY WORD i'm HOOKED.  SO much better than season three!  We've watched {and had to 'ration'} two episodes a night we're both so hooked!  It's all i can think about and i don't want it to end! What can i watch when it does?!?  Send over any recommendations to keep me going until the new season of Stranger Things comes out in.....October?
 
 
7.  Baby new potatoes with dill, lemon and salty butter.  Can i eat them with everything please??!  No really?!  I've been trying to 'work' them into as many meals as i can before they're no longer in season.  The YUMMIEST!
 
 
8.  The thought of two days off in a row!  Sometimes {and proabably} better than the days themselves SO i'm relishing the 'looking forward-ness' and feeling that i'll get from actually feeling just a little bit rested in amongst the chaos of busy sale time at work.
 
 
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And just like THAT!  I'm done listing for another week! Don't forget to hopscotch right on over to Jo, Helen, Michelle, Sarah, Kate, Cat, Sam, El , Kerri's, and Peta's blogs and sneak a peek at their very own #wonderfulwednesday lists.  Because if there's one thing you can never have too much of...it's a good thing! 
 
 
Happy mid-week lovely ones!