2026 Happy Blog Challenge

 Happy Sunday!  Here are some happy things from my travel day: This morning I took a long walk.  I wanted to be certain to have my steps done before getting on the plane for home.  I went through neighborhoods and along a trail that goes by Walnut Creek in Austin.  In a neighborhood, a bunny hopped across the street from one yard to another.  The following are a bunch of pictures from the walk. For the last few days I've been helping TF to clean out her pantry closet.  We didn't finish due to time and energy.  It was a huge start and is now down to a point that I think she can manage herself.  She took some pictures and told me I could share them. TF and I drove out of the city to pick up Gideon and visit with Gideon's grandfather and his spouse.  It was a lovely visit before heading to the airport.  There were some swallows and hummingbirds flying around.   I think I was able to get a picture of a hummingbird.  Not a...

 June 29th The summer has just begun and I feel so busy already that I'm going to miss it.  Here are some happy things from today: This morning Keziah and I went out for breakfast.  She told me that she sold around 80 pieces at the Market Days event last weekend.  I'm so happy for her!  When we got home we started going through boxes.  SO MANY BOXES STILL.  A dump run was made and a donation pile now exists too.  Progress was made.  I'm not sure what to do with this souvenir from my childhood.  It was probably Mom's, but I remember parts of our drive along the Mohawk Trail when I was a kid.  I don't remember the tower from that side of the glass, I do remember the Bridge of Flowers and some other things.   I wish I knew if that glass is dishwasher safe or if the paint will go away. Before bed I finally finished mowing the yard.  Well, technically Bel did the last few passes because they helped fill the tank after it r...

 June 20th Here are some happy things from today: Part of my room is neater.  I'd love to say that I got rid of a bunch of things.  Mostly,  I organized my headboard. I'm hoping for the energy to do more tomorrow.   When I moved a puzzle that I was given over the holidays I decided to open it and see what I might be up against.  The wooden pieces are very unique.  Some of them have some kind of design on both sides.  I look forward to doing this someday.  There was archery practice at Stephanie's today.  The very first arrow I shot hit the gold.  Unfortunately after that first round things went a little downhill for my shooting.  At some point I realized my arm was sore.  It was fun.  Some of the new people were there, but it wasn't as busy as the last time I went. The first round. My first shot with the other arrows removed. A picture of the ceramic piece I wrote about yesterday. ☮ Continued listening to: Paladi...

  Happy Juneteenth! For some odd reason (like I want to make more money) I worked about three hours this morning.  It was nice to be able to help out, but I was happy to get back home and go back to sleep while the sun rose. Today marks five years for being at that job/with that company. Here are some other happy things from today: Driving home from work the predawn sky was lovely.  Keziah had some boxes for me to sort through.  Bel helped and I was able to put some things into a box to donate as well as throw away some things.  Yay downsizing!   I don't remember where I got this. It was still in the box. I've decided to keep it and enjoy it for a little bit for now. I'm looking at it as a symbol of letting go of things. Keziah art from when she was twelve. She earned a third place ribbon at the Deerfield Fair. My mom used to work at Ames.  I placed this over Keziah's pottery area she is creating in the Firehouse building on the property. I paint...

 June 14th Here are some happy things from today: One of the NY Times games that I sometimes play is called Letter Boxed .  I'm not going to try and explain it all right now.  However, the goal is to create words with the letters provided.  In this case it suggested trying to finish it in six words or less.  I finished it in two words.  I'm pleased with that result. One of the people in our household turned 17 today.  To prepare for the birthday gathering I tried doing more cleaning of and around the pool.  In the process I spotted a frog.  Another household member helped me to re-home the little guy to a tree.  That seemed appropriate since Google Lens identified it as a tree frog. There was also a lovely butterfly fluttering around.   There is purple cow vetch growing near the tree where we put the frog. Most of the rest of my day involved cleaning or relaxing.  I didn't attend the party for very long.  I'm trying t...

May 24th  Somehow, Sunday came too fast. Here are some happy things from today: After some procrastinating, I went to the laundromat to take care of that recurring task. I was able to go longer between washing and had garb to wash from last weekend. It was probably three loads at home. I sorted it into two loads for the laundromat. Being able to do it all at the same time was worth the trip. I’m happy that it is done.  Some general kitchen cleaning took a lot of my time. After that, I made time to tackle one of the boxes in my room. There is still a very large amount of things that I need to go through, sort, find a place for, or get rid of. It needs to become a priority again. There was a shirt or two that were the beginnings of a new donation pile. I did find my marbles in today’s box, so that was good. 😅  It is important to have one's marbles. There was rain today so I went on the treadmill for steps.  That makes a 223 day streak. ☮ Continued listenin...

 April 6th Some happy things from today: There was a conversation with Gideon around the breakfast table about favorite words.  I don't remember his word but it was the German word for potato.  I revealed my favorite anatomy word in high school was Sternocleidomastoid.  Then started our conversation about names of bones.  It was fun. Keziah and I met at the old house to go through some boxes.  We made a lot of progress identifying which boxes go to the new house, which to the studio, and some to donate.  For some reason I thought there would be more things to donate to DIY Craft & Thrift, apparently I did most of that already.  Huh. TULIPS!! Sorry (not sorry) for my excitement over growing these inside in water. My taxes are done and sent.   In order to try to get some of the Exchequer things done I looked at spreadsheets and emails and took notes.  I also wanted to get my step count in so I walked along the driveway and around ...