Happiness is Some Sun

~ Jenny

Finally, it’s sunny here. The light makes the snow gleam (so much snow) and the sky blue and even warms thing up a little. I think the sun is like opposable thumbs: all too easily taken for granted. Which I will not do from now on.

What made you happy this week?

61 thoughts on “Happiness is Some Sun”

  1. Michigan has sun too and at this time of year, it comes through the crystals hung in window next to my front door and makes rainbows on the wall. I would get this effect more often if I put them all in a different window, but I like them there, and it does have a special impact since it only happens for a few days.

    Feeling thankful for so many things in my life – not least among them people I love, heat and light, and a job. And chocolate.

  2. Friends from our church, a refugee couple from Iran, had their second hearing this week which will decide whether they get their permanent permit of residence in Germany. So far, it looks like they made it! Also, a Syrian woman was finally allowed to leave Istanbul to be reunited with her husband and small son who were already living in our town. Good news!

    Also, we have beautiful spring weather up to 20° Celsius (the snow is long gone). The weatherman told us that while 20 degrees in February only happened 3 times in the years 1960-80 as well as 1980-2000, between 2001 and 2021 it happened 8 times already. (Global warming doesn’t make me happy, but I like to see that there’s all kinds of proof to show climate change deniers that something must be done.)

    And finally, the red kite is back from hibernating in the South, which always makes me happy.

  3. We are finally get a break from the rain. Everyone else got snow, we got lots of rain. Hopefully we get to dry out for a little while.

    I got a trail camera for Christmas and this week I got photos of a fox and a raccoon cutting through the backyard. I’m irrationally tickled by this.

  4. I’m happy to have heat and power again although Houston is still under a boil notice. Two days of shivering in bed under pile of blankets gives you appreciation for that. The only thing that worked was my kindle so I read six or seven books one of which was Charlie All Night. So I’m grateful for that too. Thank you, Jenny!

  5. I suppose I’m happy for the dotter. She borrowed my car again yesterday (chauffeuring me to and from work) so she could visit her new secret boyfriend (I wonder if he has a car?) and again today for Busch Gardens mit all der kinder. It’s a Ford Fiesta. There are four GK. *shudder*

    She’s had passes on three previous weekends that were variously rained, snowed, or thunderstormed out. So Yay! for sunny, (relatively) warm days!

    Shopping and Dining Sunday will once again happen on a weekday. Happily.

    1. I am! I am happy for the dotter! Well, mostly. I now know the identity of the secret boyfriend. He is mostly acceptable (but no, he doesn’t own a car, either.)

      Yesterday’s Busch Gardens excursion was sunny, windless, and still cold (40s F) and the two eldest GKs declined to participate in the outing. The twins wore jackets, not winter coats, and no gloves. Dotter claims they inherited all the Canadian blood (or sap) in our family tree.

      The shopping was at Publix. I mentioned something I read about the owner donating to Trump’s legal defense and Dotter exclaimed, Dad! You know I’m Es Jay Double-u. We’ll have to shop here less often!” All I could think was, “What does the woman’s branch of the Society of Jesus have to do with this? Is she a papal Inquisitor?” We’ll figure it out.

      Dinner was from Outback. I got the tenderest ribeye and a baked tater. Mah-velous.

  6. I got to have my Irish dance class (masked and smaller size) in person this week, which means I got to do hardshoe actually in my hardshoes for the first time in months. There’s something about how loud and precise you get to be that I love. Then me and two friends picked up breakfast from a food truck and ate in a nearby park.

    Growing up in Portland, I don’t think I take sun for granted. But I definitely take rain for granted. I missed it when I lived in DC.

  7. My main happiness this week is that the husband (with an assist from moi) got through his thousands and thousands of cds to decide which ones to sell, to rip and then sell, or keep. He was in the music industry for years, so it was a lot. And we have a buyer for the whole shebang (local record store), so one more thing off the list.

    I celebrated by doing one (final?) closet purge, and got rid of 1/4 of my wardrobe (yes, I counted). I was aiming for 1/3, but that was a bridge too far, it seems.

  8. Feeling happy about spring arriving on Wednesday, when I took a delivery of new plants into the back garden, and suddenly it was mild and shoots and flowers were all around. Actually did some gardening today, and am excited about all my new plans for the garden now I’ve junked my over-ambitious shed conversion. Realized today I could actually plant my dreamed-of dwarf apricot tree this spring, if I can get hold of it. It’s a belated house-warming present from a friend, but couldn’t be planted until the shed was sorted.

    Feels like everything’s moving: more friends have had a vaccination; there are new work possibilities; the year’s turning.

  9. Happy for the sun on the snow, just enough snow to make the old now pretty again. Happy for work possibilities on the horizon, and teaching some voice lessons over Zoom. Kind of tricky because of the lag, to say the least, but we work it out.

    Saw a big woodpecker flying over the road to change trees, maybe a Hairy Woodpecker? Anyway, a flash of black, white, and red.

  10. We live just outside Houston in a rural area, which means wells and aerobic systems, which do NOT like freezing weather. We lost power for 12 hours but were one of the really lucky ones who got it back quickly. We lost the BRAND NEW AC/heater unit in our horse trailer, which was our back up for heat (we have a generator) if we didn’t get power back and had all the pipes in the living quarters freeze up. When we got power back my husband put an electric heater in there and hoped the pipes would slowly thaw without breaking – we will see.

    My daughter is here because I was put on hospice last week. I am now developing leukemia, which is evidently pretty normal with ovarian cancer. I am in no pain, but there is no more treatment to be done. I spent 9 days in the hospital getting blood and platelet transfusions. My platelets went from something like 260,000 to 5000 in a week and I was very weak. Actually, feeling pretty darn good since I got home. Just living every day for the day and so far, things are good. Wonderful having my daughter here no matter why 😊.

    Warmer weather is now in the forecast, along with a ton of finger pointing and fault finding. If things go as usual, by summer everything will have ceased being urgent and will be back to normal – worrying about rolling brown/blackouts due to excessive heat.

    1. Oh, Ranchgirl, words fail at times like this. Yes live every day for the day. So glad your daughter is with you. Sending love 💕

    2. May you have a beautiful spring, filled with all the love you have given being returned to you a hundred-fold.

    4. I’m so sorry to hear you now have to deal with leukemia. Your grace and strength are amazing. May you and your family find comfort in each other.

    5. Oh my. So sorry you have to deal with this but grateful there’s no pain. I hope the blessing of having your daughter home helps. Your strength and attitude are inspiring. Big virtual hugs.

    6. I’m glad you got your power back so quickly and that the transfusions are making such a difference. May you enjoy the fact that your improved condition and your daughter’s visit coincided. I am glad that you are pain free and hope that hospice helps you to hang on to that feeling.

    8. Oh no, I’m so sorry. I’m glad you’re enjoying having your daughter there and that spring has come. I hope the coming days stay good for as long as possible.

    11. I’m so sorry to hear your news, RanchGirl (and that you had to deal with this horrible weather on top of it). I hope you stay comfortable and have many good days. Sending love and hugs.

    12. I’m so sorry to hear this. But also very glad you have your daughter with you. And with the warm up, spring will soon be upon us, and you’ll have a wonderful view of bluebonnets! Sending love!

    14. I am a breast cancer survivor & a platelet donor. Best Wishes for your comfort and the visit with your daughter.

    16. Dear RanchGirl, dear one, keep on keeping on feeling pretty darn good every day for the day. And may the days add up through a perfect spring, on into summer and on and on.

    18. I’m late, so I don’t know if you’ll see this Ranch Girl. But I echo what all the other Arghers said. Sending love and light and good times with your daughter.

    19. Thank you all for the kind words. As I have said before this group is such a morale booster and support group and really the only ones that I share with. I’ve always been such a private person but you all make me feel safe! Things are still going well. So well that my daughter is going home 😢 but she has a whole life she needs to get back to. Hoping she does not have to come back any time soon.

      2. Oh, I’m so glad for you. And of course things will go well, it’s spring (close enough) and everything gets better in the spring.

  11. Just happy. Settling into the new normal. All numbered companies are done and sent off to CRA. Now onto personal taxes. Have done more thing’s I’ve wanted to clean/purge, so that’s great. Getting a nice pile of clean good clothes to donate set aside. Decided we are staying right here for now. DH is making delicious breakfasts. This sharing making meals is very good indeed.

    Making lists of what needs to be done when the spring/early summer is here. New deck on balcony is a must.

    Cousin has moved and happy and x is realizing he is truly not able to be vile. She has grown so strong. Truly happy for her and the new woman emerging from the shadow. Yeah, she is back better than ever. She is a fabulous artist. Expecting very good things coming her way.

    Good week and not so much rain.

  12. Sun and high enough tempuratures to melt a bit of the snow pack. I don’t think there will be significant snow accumulation in the next week.

    Dog’s responding well to her Cushing’s medication.

    I went to socially distance political event today. It was good to elbow bump a few people.

    Taxes done!

  13. We’ve had a winter of challenges, like everyone else in these pandemic times. I’ve noticed that I’m going through things that many people mention in passing — the living in pajamas and fuzzy slippers, the Blursday sense of time vagueness, missing my friends and family, and the general faint level of irritation that comes from feeling cooped up and out of direct touch with people outside the household.

    And there’s been days of snow and freezing rain, and ice all over everything, but for the past few weeks, several times every day our faithful chirping robin friend Fatso has showed up, peering through the windows until we rush out with chopped dried cherries. We’re getting very short on our stash from the winter of 2017, but over the past week or so I’ve been mixing them with reconstituted dark cherry bits and chopped raisins, and he now takes every bit of all three. So it’s a bright spot every time he visits our wintry otherwise robin-less landscape.

  14. Chocolate made me happy 2 different ways this week. I had been trying to deliver a box of truffles to my friend, Maria, for days on end, but the cold and snow made it impossible to get there during the reduced hours that her store is now open. Yesterday I decided to take the bus so that I could avoid the unknown state of the sidewalks between the train station and her store. The only problem was that I forgot about how high the snowbanks are and how bad my boots are for picking your way through uneven footing. It was hard and scary, because I had to stand in the street because the bus stops are almost all plowed in, but I am happy I made it without breaking an ankle or being hit by a car. And Maria was happy to see me because her business has dropped off a lot after Valentine’s Day.

    Although I didn’t buy any marked down chocolate after the holiday, I still had a lot in my stash so I was able to give boxes to three of my friends’ stores and still have several boxes left for myself. I am enjoying it greatly.

    After I dropped off the candy, it was time to pick up all the packages that were waiting for me at Dave’s store. Since I have been amusing myself with online shopping (which I do not particularly enjoy) I had an entire tower of stuff to take home. One of the purchases was an entire case (12 bottles) of salsa. I fit everything else in my backpack and one of the bags I brought with me, but the salsa will have to wait until I can take my little rolling cart with me. I had planned to stuff the cart with a few large towels and a pile of old newspapers and do that today, but I decided to wait until the trains are not on the Sunday/holiday schedule. Although I may kick myself when I attempt that on Tuesday, because it is supposed to snow again tonight.

    Have I mentioned how overjoyed I am that the temperature has risen? This is the third day in a row I was able to skip the long underwear! I think we made it past 20 degrees(F) yesterday and it felt like being in the tropics.

    One of the mail orders I retrieved yesterday was 2 boxes of Demotivators note cards. I haven’t been writing very much (read at all) lately but I hope that having 2 boxes of snarky cards will inspire me. I also told my brother when he called me ( another joy, even though my internet went down in the middle of the call) to check out the Despair, Inc. website, which I’m sure he will love. Thanks to Jenny for turning me on to this source of diversion.

    1. I love Demotivators and Despair, Inc! My particular favorite was always the Giza Pyramids with ACHIEVEMENT You can do anything you set your mind to when you have vision, determination, and an endless supply of expendable labor.

    1. My mom and her boyfriend got their first shots this week! I’m still anxious that her second one has not been scheduled yet, but RiteAid got busted for not doing so in the news, and a friend of hers who went there got a call a week later, so hopefully they call her soon. Various elderly friends are getting theirs too.

      It’s depressing to think that it’s going to be most of a year before I can get one too, but obviously I don’t deserve it nearly as much as other people who have HAD to be in house jail, as opposed to the likes of me who has chosen house jail despite being “young and healthy.”

  16. I’m happy that I had a bit of a wake-up call reminding me to live in the present. I needed to remember to choose to act positively.

    Happiness is it’s still summer here and I have been able to do daily yoga. It’s so odd to feel the good changes in my body as I get stronger.

  17. The weather here has been nice the last few days. Hung out with friends online. Read a good book for the book post next week. Finished a Bernie Sanders doll.

  18. My happiness is in seeing my cousin again — had to collect checks for the tax attorney; we have sixty days after January 1 to get the returns done. We watched a bunch of back episodes of NCIS and NCIS – Los Angeles, and she was very pleased at my inspiration that the whole Missing Will and All the Heirs family history research will be an excellent basis for the next logic puzzle; I just need to migrate it to the fantasy universe.

    I am also happy — though slightly puzzled — that my mysterious g-g-g-grandfather has actually turned up in an official Genealogy, published in 1939. I know I looked at that book years ago, either in Salt Lake or at the Sutro Library’s genealogical collection, but never identified him. Now I know why — all his signatures look like “Stephen A. Payne” and that’s how the Virginia Chancery indexes him, too, but this book says he was “Stephen Hansford Payne — it’s supposed to be an “H”; and instead of naming his first wife as Elizabeth Ferguson / Guilliams, she’s “Mrs. Huff,” and says he died d.s.p. [descessit sine prole; died without issue], whereas I’m evidence that he certainly didn’t! And while records that he raised his daughters to adulthood are definitely missing, their grandparents, aunts, and uncles on both sides certainly knew they existed and knew where they were; they’re mentioned in the Will squabbles.

    I am also happy that my next project will be transcribing the juicier bits for my surviving aunt, who will be 99 in April. These are her grandfather’s mother’s family and she knew her grandfather very well.

  19. I am enjoying Wandavision. Marvel universe from me pop culture TV styling for me. I invited my father in law for dinner Friday. One year anniversary of my mother in law’s death. A Friday during lent so waffle bar. And homemade cinnamon rolls. How much starch can one meal have?

  20. CologneGirl’s and RanchGirl’s separate news hurts my heart — as if it’s stretching my heart in all directions. I’m in awe of the way you two are embracing life and lives.

  21. I’m happy that the sun is back here in upstate NY too. Also happy that the massive push to promote my upcoming first book in the new cozy series is almost done and in theory I will be able to get back to actual writing soon.

    The shop I run got a facade improvement grant over two years ago, but screw-ups by the city (who was administering it) and then Covid and then weather and workmen issues have kept the project stalled out. They finally started working on it two weeks ago–which involved removing the large display windows at the front of the store in 10 degree weather…and despite even more cock-ups, it should finally be completed sometime in the next couple of weeks. (It was supposedly a 2-day project. Don’t ask.) The shop front will look much nicer, but mostly I’m just happy it is finally going to be DONE and off my plate.

    Then we get to do a massive computer update. Sigh.

    1. Just saw a nice plug for your new book from Jim C. Hines on his blog. Sounds interesting! Will be ordering! Congrats!

  22. What’s been making me happy since August is our zoo’s baby panda. At least once a day I turn on the webcam and watch him for a few minutes. There are also very enterprising volunteers who apparently record hours of his activities every day and reduce the footage to 30 minutes of adorability, so when he’s sleeping (as he does a lot), I call up YouTube on the tv and watch those.

    Saturday on the way home from my mom’s, I drove past a perfectly fine cheap dresser on the side of the road. I love when the universe provides something I need. I will be painting it and changing out the knobs, but it’s perfectly serviceable now.

  23. Hmmm… yesterday it was sunny so I pulled on my hiking boots & went for a walk.
    Now it is snowing like crazy here in southeastern PA.

  24. I ran into the bottom woodwork of a large ottoman, wearing only socks, and now have a large purple pinky toe. It’s sore, and I’m not sure if it’s broken or bruised. Had my second vaccine that morning and was a little wonky. I was so cold, and tired. Might have slept for two days. Anyway, I’m treating it with arnica gel, wearing only sneakers and socks for support. It will heal, but it’s darn annoying.

  25. On Saturday we were able to have lunch in a restaurant (okay, it was a 5 Guys but still) with our friends in Edmonton. I think technically we were supposed to sit at separate tables but we decided to risk it. We took our masks off to eat and as soon as we were done we put them back on. When we were all done eating, we went outside into the sunshine and continued our conversation out there. It was our first time eating in a restaurant/place where they serve you food in public with other people since I think October when we did our dinner theatre night with them.

    I made some more progress on drywalling the laundry room and the paint colour I thought I was going to like is amazing and totally perfect so I’m happy about that.

    Mom got her quilt and totally loves it. I’m so glad the Argh Quilting Team talked me into putting a border on it, it looks really good. The boarder is just bias binding but I think it pulls the whole thing together.

  26. Happiness was publishing a novella collection, finishing alpha draft of a novel, chatting on the phone with my BFF and then my mom, watching a stream of Matthew Bourne’s Romeo + Juliet, and eating pizza with the man last night before watching ‘I Feel Pretty.’

    Also my cute little 1-lb. bale of sphagnum moss arrived, so as soon as I get ambitious I can re-re-pot the least-happy orchid.

  27. My daughter just sent a 10 second video of her kitten playing soccer with an avocado. The kitten is clearly a natural forward.

    Also I figured out that I can use a kudo board for $6 to get all my DH friends to wish him a happy 60th.

  28. 3 things: the Sandhill cranes are back, the Chinook winds came up and melted our foot plus of snow so it left as suddenly as it arrived, and friends sent me flowers.

    1. I love the Sandhills cranes! I was working in eastern Saskatchewan this past fall and they were all around. Chinook winds are finally getting rid of snow here by Calgary. Yay spring!

  30. In case it doesn’t sound like it, I’m very, very happy.

    Made a COVID vaccine appointment for my husband today — had already made one for myself. (Making appointments is based on luck in my state.) So, good news.

    I’ll have to drive an 1.5 hours to mine, my husband faces 2 hours one-way.

    The big deal is that the vaccine rollout in my state is ludicrous. It’s biased towards people with plenty of free time, fast 24/7 internet connections, cellphones, and cars, not to mention calm, patient personalities. It’s incredibly unfair. I wrote my state representative I was so annoyed — I want to encourage her in the work she’s doing with other state reps and senators to push the governor on better vaccine delivery.

    Okay, I’ve had my say. I’m relieved and thrilled to have my first shot scheduled.

    1. Glad for you, but that really is dreadful, Elizabeth. Even here, in the UK, I suspect it’s those of us with our own transport who are getting done first – for example, I was invited to come the next morning, a Sunday, and was thankful for my car – though I could have walked if necessary; it’s only a couple of miles away. Everything is of course complicated by the fact that you’re not meant to be giving anyone a lift, due to the risk of infection.

  31. I got my taxes done, didn’t owe anything, and it was the fastest and easiest process in decades. There’s a lot to be said for being divorced and having kids who aren’t at home.

    Speaking of kids, my youngest was accepted to her college of choice for the fall. So that’s another thing that made me happy.

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