Happy Days

Several things of late have made me feel happy. Simple things like snow, my son's rosy cheeks after hours going AWOL with friends in the park (this'll be a winter to remember I think)...and some serious cooking to brighten up January.

I cannot extol highly enough the virtues of a home-made chicken and ham pie. And whilst you're at it, make an apple pie using double the pastry recipe. And, if you're feeling really homely, try home-made apple juice. Now that, my friends, really is a winner. No sugar, and up to a litre or so of juice from two bags of apples. More expensive than carton juice, but cheaper than the posh stuff and much nicer.

Cut up lots of apples (about 6lb) and put in a large saucepan into which you have poured four inches of water. Heat on high with the lid on til they're bubbling, reduce to medium and turn off when soft and fluffy. Let them cool a bit. Strain through a sieve lined with cloth for clear juice or just a sieve or colander for cloudy. Delicious.

Other sources of happiness are:

• Being occupied with mild study...more on the OU soon
• Pootling about with some desktop publishing projects - and more on that soon too

In fact, in the past two weeks or so, only one thing has caused me consternation, and even then I got over it pretty quickly. I declared myself on the right road in therapy this week, which must have made my therapist chuckle as two weeks isn't much to go on. But I see each episode of contentment, each measured or balanced response to adversity, each glow of real happiness as evidence that the bastards didn't get me down. Not forever anyway.