Hello, beautiful friends! Hello, new friends! (You’re receiving this email because you signed up for my weekly newsletter — I’m Catherine Greer, author and BAKER OF SUNDAY DESSERTS).

But now our youngest son is on a journey of bodybuilding while he completes his Bachelor of Science in Sport and Exercise Fitness at uni. His girlfriend is a Latina boxer (always trying to ‘make weight’ for fights) and a Dental Assistant. So, last weekend: no dessert.

And I was so sad!

There is nothing better for me than baking up the love. 🩷

I know it’s not social media beautiful, but I restrained myself and made a quick watermelon cake with what I had on hand. Fresh watermelon and a few navel oranges and mint from the garden.

Was it delicious? Sure. But I’d much rather have had….

• This best chocolate cake of all time.

• This cake with fresh rosemary and greek yogurt: my personal favourite for afternoon tea.

• This Orange Cardamom Cake that I need to make again.

I don’t know how you approach your weekends, but I try to make ours a bit of a celebration: a Sunday dinner with the extended family, a tablecloth and lots of candles to light, a special dessert, fun music blasting through the kitchen, a jive on the kitchen dance floor with my husband. Chasing the dog around the house (yep, you’ll see we’ve still got her baby gates up but Evie is one year old now, so time to take them out! Hooray!)

My quick list for bringing joy is this:

• Turn up the music

• Set the table with everything you love — the good dishes, the napkins, flowers from your back garden

• Light the candles (be excessive and generous — more is always better)

• Make a cake

• Gather some people you’ve been given to love: good friends or neighbours, family or partners, all ages is even more fun

• BE the joy yourself

I am so far from perfect. I’ve been tired and stressed, the floor needs to be scrubbed, my watermelon cake last week was ho-hum, some people were in a bad mood BUT we can choose to be the joy in any room, no matter what is going on in our worlds.

We can turn on a dime.

We can set aside the worries.

For just one meal, or one hour, we can appreciate all we have and shine our light for people who need to catch the glow and feel a little happier.

I hope you have a beautiful weekend — and that something surprising and delightful happens to you unexpectedly! You deserve it.

Love, Catherine x

P.S. The Fun Stuff!

• Celine made me laugh so much in this video (but I’ve heard her documentary is heartbreaking).

• Wow, this chicken looks delicious.

• So beautiful if you love pretty rings like I do.

• Watermelon Sugar to listen to…