The Happiness of Something Classic

Leaving for Germany in the next few days, I'm unsure as to how much contact I will have with the American world. This is fine- I'm in no way dependent on my facebook or blog! I will miss my friends here, however.
This evening, a group of friends managed to come together for a spontaneous picnic. It was fantastic! A proper wicker basket, frisbee, strawberries and sugar cookies. Who could ask for more!?
We later saw bats! Bats! The sky was beautiful, the weather held, and I am leaving Rochacha on a high note. In three weeks, I will return, hopefully to nothing less classic than the night I just had.
Revisit an American pasttime and find yourself laughing at how much happiness it actually does bring. One would never think that some kids could possibly hang out without video games and getting into trouble... We laugh and roll down hills instead!

The Happiness of a Great Find

While shopping with Paloma today, we both found some fantastic things! Having been saving my money for Germany for the last six months, the occasion that I do spend some is rare. However, I find a little happy feeling (still!) after finding a cute dress, or perhaps spotting a sweet pair of shoes.

We later found a great cupcake shop! Talk about sweet. Both Paloma and I enjoyed a little ice cream and a larrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrggggggeeee cupcake. No complaints there! After all, it is market research for Paloma's freelance cupcake blog!

Explore a little:  shop somewhere new and scour the racks, check out that little cafe down the road that opened last year, but you never have found yourself in. What's to come?  A little sweet happiness!   ~  Beth


With Beth, a little summer dress on super sale and a not-so-little cupcake, decked out with mocha chip ice cream from Pittsford Farms Dairy.

With my step-son, Sam, my 25th year of viewing "Ferris Bueller's Day Off."

In between?  Work for both Beth and I.

But, you know what?  It's about where to concentrate your emotional energy and what you are going to choose to allow to define the narrative of your day.  ~ Paloma

The Happiness of Breathing

Painting by Monet (detail)
Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester

We all know what it feels like to work hard at something that we really want to accomplish.  This can be the most difficult situation within which to keep our cool.  Even when we tell ourselves the time-honored truth to control what we can control and leave the rest, we grow impatient, frustrated, disappointed, and, sometimes, downright grumpy.

I decided on Friday evening to take the weekend off from worrying about some pending proposals for work projects.  For me, this was no small feat.  Two out of three mornings I took long walks to quiet my mind.  The other day, I did an extended yoga session in my backyard, throwing self-consciousness to the wind as to what the neighbors might think of my Warrior I!

I managed to consciously bring myself more into focus with my family for these three days of the Fourth of July weekend, and to share several special moments around sailing that will be lasting memories.

Ideal 18s at sunset
Sodus Bay, NY

I lucked out, too, because when I got home on Monday evening to put in a wee bit of work to be ready for Tuesday morning, there was one of my project proposals - from May 28th, no less - awaiting me with an approval.

Who know why this and not that?  Who knows why one this day and not that one?  What I do know is that I am happy that I breathed.

The Happiness of Fireworks!

Sodus Point, New York

Happy Fourth of July America!

The Happiness Found in a Technological "Whoopsie"

I swear, I set up mobile blogging. The past two days, while out and about enjoying myself with friends, I had taken a few photos on my cell phone, thought I had sent them to Blogspot and proceeded to delete them afterward. Whoops! Something went wrong. Looking through a folder for photos that I'll end up substituting into the subsequent posts, I did find some smiles.

I made this littler sculpture in art this year. I am not a 3-d person, I am a painter. It was a feat. Now, it's somewhere in a trash receptacle, but only because I never thought I'd have to see it again! Maybe I don't mind so much, bringing the little things back.

Is there a sweet bliss or two from your past times that bring a smile now, even if they didn't then? A story you would tell your children, or with which to console a friend? Persevere, finish the project. There's always a little perk.

The Happiness of Expression

I think often of Monet.  How he allowed his brush to defy the rules of what was the painting establishment of Paris, and did so because of compulsion to express rather than intention to be negative.

Monet painted because he had to.  He saw beauty and life in what was around him and he wanted to express what he saw and felt in what he considered to be its truest form.

I came upon this scene by making a wrong turn out of disappointment, and then making a k-turn to go back.  The day I took this shot, I was chasing another one - one that I didn't get.  But, it was here that I found a field of poppies alongside a road behind the Chateau de Chennonceaux in France.  I turned my car around to go back to snap this frame because I had to.

Please join me at the Corn Hill Festival on July 9 & 10 to share this and other images that I had to have and hold and share.

 I've got friends who seem to 'think' in video. They are able to make an entire story in motion. I'm not so successful. But this expression, that face at the end. That is some serious content. Capturing something keeps me happy. Are you always camera in hand? Paint brush? Pen and paper? ~Beth

The Happiness of Purple

Can a color be enough to make you happy?  It's worth considering.  What if simply adding a favorite color to your day can improve your happiness quotient?

I love colors, especially royal colors from royal purple, to royal blue, to royal red.

And it's the narrowing of the range of the color palette in the winter that presents a challenge for me.

So this summer, I'm being strategic.  I'm capturing my favorite colors through photographs that I'm turning into decorations for the rooms of my office and my home.  After all, we still have more than 320 days to go for our challenge!

Blue! Where do you see this blue? Is it only in the skies; in a Hollister shirt; in a baby's eyes? Nothing could please me more than such a pleasant day at Seabreeze with two of my best friends.

They're wonderful girls. It was a wonderful day. 

I couldn't ask for anything more. Remember the things you adore, and you will always appreciate them. In photos, in the paint of your office, in the sand grains found three months later in your car, there are smiles. Always.