Hygge

Hygge has become a bit of a buzz word recently. There's no English word for it, but this Danish word is best translated as cosiness or living well, and pronounced hoogah. I was curious to find out more so I bought the Little Book of Hygge by Meik Wiking. Even this morning's Guardian is sporting an article in G2 that claims the concept of Hygge is being 'sold by the yard' this Christmas. I have to admit I didn't read much of the article as I couldn't stand the smug attitude of Jess Cartner Morley, who seemed to be mainly interested in the commercial  (particularly fashion) opportunities it presents. I was put off by her slightly facetious tone, and also because the piece seemed to say exactly the opposite of what I had understood from the book.

Hygge can't be sold or indeed bought. Apparently you can have all the candles, log fires, fluffy blankets, handknit socks, hot chocolate and marshmallows, mulled wine, home-made bread, and walks in the country that money can buy, but if you can't take pleasure in the simple things in life, make time for friends and family, or celebrate what you have instead of what you don't have, then true hyyge will elude you.

Several other European countries have their own words for Hygge -  gezelligheid in Holland, Koselig in Norway, Gemütlichkeit in Germany and hominess in Canada. But whatever you call it, really it's just a word to express happiness, finding a cosy intimate nest where you can feel safe. Hygge espouses togetherness, harmony, mindfulness and gratitude, as opposed to selfishness, competition and greed.

So... what I really want to say is that reading about all this was like coming home. Everything I love is in this word, so hence a blog on the things which are making me happy right now over the past few days.

First up is the garden, in all its autumn glory. It lifts my spirits even in the rain, which seems to intensify the dazzling colours and textures.

Jewel colours after the rain a couple of days ago

This one was taken in the same place about a week before the one above

Coffee in the garden yesterday - gotta get it while you can!

Fuchsias, geraniums, and verbena bonariensis still going strong and the
sculptural castor oil plant flowers are in big fat bud just beyond 

The acer on the right is a fabulous burgundy

Next are the cats, Django and Arlo, who are the catification of togetherness... well when they're not fighting that is  😉.

Kitties chilling in front of the wood stove  

Then there's all the beautiful fruits and vegetables. We're still harvesting tomatoes from the garden, as well as using nasturtium leaves, seed pods and flowers in salads. Also pansies are edible and good for a  splash of bold colour too. We're lucky to have several friends who bring us home-grown veggies, this week squash, spinach, beetroot, apples and pears, so the autumn larder is a wonderful feast for the eyes as well as the stomach.

Pumpkin and edible gourds

Conference pears from a friend's tree

I lovr pmomegranates for both their looks and their goodness

Cabbage and purple kale

I'm enjoying my new-to-me Guild F30 guitar that I bought on Ebay from a store in upstate New York. Despite my reservations about distanced transactions across the pond, it turned out to be a very good experience with great customer support.  I'm also listening to a lot of music at the moment. This week the new John Renbourn and Wizz Jones album, Joint Control arrived on the dorrmat -  so poignant as it was the last CD John Renbourn made before he died last year. Also we've got tickets for Loudon Wainwright 111 playing live with Chaim Tannenbaum at The Barbican next Tuesday - I know for some he's an acquired taste, but I've always loved his dark humour. Which reminds me I'm also revisiting my old knitting song More Yarn Will Do The Trick.  I'm working on a pared-down version  - just me and my guitar so that it's easier to focus on the amusing lyric. Hope to be able to post before Christmas...

...And talking of Christmas, which I don't usually like to do in October, I noticed the shops are full of Xmas crackers, cakes, puddings etc, when we haven't even had Halloween or Bonfire Night. When I asked why, I was told that they had to do it to keep up with other stores or they would lose ground in the battle to get the lion's share of customers' cash. Am I just growing into a grumpy old woman or are there others like me who object to receiving Xmas greetings in October? Ooops, sorry to digress into something that I'm not happy about. What I was going to say is that I've been making knitted gifts, small projects from my book, Great Little Gifts to Knit.

Over the past few weeks I've set myself a target to take a walk every day around the leafy backstreets of our neighbourhood. Sometimes P and I walk to the pop-up library café in the local park, where you can either sit in the book tent or at tables outside the caravan"s serving hatch with a large cup of coffee or steaming hot chocolate.

Beautiful old horse chestnut tree

Collecting conkers by the library café in Homestead Park

It's fun to be there, and difficult to stop P from joining the many little ones picking up conkers from a nearby chestnut tree - even if I wished to 😉. I've managed to walk into town too and on that occasion clocked up more than 5000 steps on my phone. So... super pleased, since I got ill, that's a record!

Vitis cogniettiae starting to turn on a walk at Harlow Carr about ten days ago

And finally, here's what really makes my cup runneth over - the grandkids! Izzi and Ava will be over today, filling my heart full of grandmotherly love. We've taught them how to play cards recently, which brings me back to hygge. Board games and cards are very hyggeligt, said to be much better for children than the ubiquitous Playstation or other computer games, as they're interacting with real people rather than virtual ones.

Lovely colour on the foreground maple in the parkland

Sunset in the park today

Would love to hear what brought hygge into your life this week. I've had a bout of the local sniffles over the past few days, but it's a good excuse to have lots of lemon tea with lashings of honey 😉. Enjoy the autumn and thanks for dropping by xo