A-Z of Joy: B is for Books, Blogging, Birds(song), Bill, Billy Bragg and Brackets

I know I am greedy, having more than one thing for each letter, but honestly, each of these brings me joy and I cannot decide on just one!(or rather I choose not to.)

1. Books. I am inspired by Ruth to follow her example and blog about my books and work spaces, but that will be for another day. Enough(for now) to say that books, book shops, libraries, book reviews, other people's book collections, old books, new books, have always brought me huge joy and still do! My new e-reader is adding to the joy, I love the fact that new and undiscovered writers can much more easily be enjoyed this way. One of the first e-books I read since Santa brought my reader, was "The Wise Child" by my blogging friend  Morning AJ. It was great to discover that she had written a novel, and then to be able to access it so easily, before the paperback version was available, was such a joy. The world of books is such a wonderful place to play, don'cha think?

2. Blogging and Bloggers. I seem to have a love-hate relationship with blogging, but after a break away last month, I realised just how much joy it does bring me. It is one of my favourite things to do just lately. Reading blogs and commenting, are all part of the joy of blogging, too!

 3. Birds(song).When I was a Girl Guide of about 10 or 11, I told my foster mother one day (whilst ill with chicken pox and banished to my bedroom), that I was going to learn to recognise all of the birds by their song and their flight pattern. I remember hanging out of the bedroom window, during this one very hot (and itchy) summer, watching the birds and trying to recognise them by just the way they flew. Sadly I did not ever achieve my badge, but I do feel most joyous when I hear birdsong or see birds around. I recently found this book which was calling to me still, after all these years!

4 and 5. Billy Bragg and Bill Bailey! Conveniently(for this post) together in this video.  Bill never fails to make me howl with laughter. Billy never fails to get me all fired up about the things that matter. Two of my most favourite, and joy bringing, human B's.

6. Brackets. These punctuation marks often feature in my writing(or they do today!). It brings me great joy to add what could be seen as, unnecessary details to my sentences. I wouldn't want to miss out anything important. (I will ignore what Wikipedia has to say about how overuse of parentheses is usually a sign of a badly structured text!)