The Backside of the Barn

 

August 18 Happiness Challenge

My house is clean! Not clean like I keep it clean, but sparkling. It's really clean.

I have a young woman who comes in about every 5 weeks to do the mopping and heavy cleaning that I'm no longer able to due thanks to the f*cked up surgery I had in my abdominal area over eight years ago. While it sucks to not have the strength to mop and crawl around under the bed cleaning up spider webs, I'm very happy that we can afford to have this young woman come in and help me every so often. With the heavy cleaning under control, I can manage to dust occasionally and run the vacuum to keep the dirt down.

Today was cleaning day. I'm very thankful that this young woman is available to help me out.

And very happy to have the spider webs gone.

Each day in August you are to post about something that makes *you* happy. Pretty simple. And, it doesn't even have to be every day if you don't want it to be. It's a great way to remind ourselves that there are positive things going on in our lives, our communities, and the world.

No One's Child

This is a song I have been working on for a while. The chorus came to me first, and the rest of it eventually fell into place.

This is a ballad (I guess). I am using an electrified acoustic guitar along with a Boss loop station. A loop station (also called a looper) allows me to add stuff to the song like lead guitar playing while strumming. You will see it toward the end.

I only got the looper this weekend so I'm still learning how to use it, and I think I go flat on the first line because I'm still sniffling a bit with my sinuses, but I needed to get this recorded before I forgot the tune.

So here is No One's Child.

Here are the words to the song:

No One’s Child

By Anita Firebaugh

My momma she was a broken tree upon a rocky shore.

My daddy was a drunken sea, a storm when I was born.

Between the waves and the killing tree

There was never hope for me.

There was never hope for me.

And I am no one’s child. I run eager, free, and wild.

And I drift along like deadwood in a stream.

I was born to bleed

To always have this ache and need.

With nightmares in my sleep, I do not dream.

With nightmares in my sleep I do not dream.

My sister was the silver moon, she fed me fruit and grain

My brother was a thunder boom, he brought me wind and rain.

Between the thunder and the moon

I grew up too soon.

Yes I grew up too soon.

And I am no one’s child. I run eager, free, and wild

And I drift along like deadwood in a stream.

I was born to bleed, To always have this ache and need.

With nightmares in my sleep, I do not dream.

With nightmares in my sleep, I do not dream.

(Guitar solo)

Whispered: No one’s child.  I am no one’s child.  No one’s child. Etc.

August 16 Happiness Challenge

It rained some more! The fields are a lovely green now. The cattle are looking quite content and everything has lost the coating of dust and grime that had settled on the tree leaves and grass.

We are expecting more rain which could end up with flooding, but after having this months-long drought, I am not going to complain.

See how green?

Each day in August you are to post about something that makes *you* happy. Pretty simple. And, it doesn't even have to be every day if you don't want it to be. It's a great way to remind ourselves that there are positive things going on in our lives, our communities, and the world.

Barn Swallows

 

Sunday Stealing

Sunday Stealing

1. What subjects lead you down a Wikipedia rabbit hole?

A. Most anything I have any interest in can do that. Religions, other cultures, mythology, music history, magic - whatever I look up.

2. How do you like to spend your birthdays?

A. With my husband doing something fun. This rarely happens.

3. Something you might take a little too seriously?

A. Myself.

 

4. Describe a time you made a good decision for yourself.

A. I took work at a job that I absolutely hated and I quit it to go back to college.

 

5. Something you’ve improved/gotten better at.

A. Hopefully just doing this thing called life.

 

6. What dish would you bring to a summer potluck?

A. I'd bring a thing of chicken parts from Kroger, soft drinks, and chips. Yes, I am that person who doesn't cook up the great potato salad or whatever.

7. What do you miss about Winter?

A. Not much. Snow is good occasionally but the older I get the less I like it.

8. Share a summer memory.

A. Summer lovin', had me a blast! Summer lovin', happened so fast! Met a girl, crazy for me! Met a boy, cute as could be! Summer days, driftin' away, but oh! those summer nights! . . . Sorry, channeling Grease there for a minute. A summer memory of my own? One year we went to Myrtle Beach and had a grand time. No hurricane! We had cash for once and could do things besides pay for the room, so we raced cars, shopped, rode rides at the Pavilion, went to the Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum. It was probably our best time down there.

9. What words do you misspell or misuse the most?

A. I have to look up the lie/lay thing.

 

10. Name things you love to do that can only happen in summer.

A. Go fishing in the pond.

 

11. How would you describe your sense of humor?

A. Sarcastic and over rated.

 

12. Have you ever quit a job or career?

A. Yes.

13. What are your favorite features of your cell phone?

A. Texting.

14. What scents always make you hungry?

A. Cookies baking.

15. What are you working on right now?

A. Answering these questions. I'm also thinking about what to fix for dinner.

_______________

I encourage you to visit other participants in Sunday Stealing posts and leave a comment. Cheers to all us thieves who love memes, however we come by them.

August 14 Happiness Challenge

Today I am happy that it rained last night. We are so dry. Everything is much greener today, but the rain forecast for today hasn't materialized. So I will be grateful for yesterday's rain.

I am also happy I live in a small home with air conditioning, because it is well over 90 degrees outside with high humidity. I would be toast without the A/C and probably having an asthmatic fit from the air.

I am also happy that my sinus infection seems to be easing. Whew!

Each day in August you are to post about something that makes *you* happy. Pretty simple. And, it doesn't even have to be every day if you don't want it to be. It's a great way to remind ourselves that there are positive things going on in our lives, our communities, and the world.

Saturday 9: Smelly Cat

Saturday 9: Smelly Cat (1995)

Unfamiliar with this song? Hear it here.

 

1) Poor Smelly Cat lives with negligent humans who refuse to take it to the vet. Who is the last doctor you spoke to (vet, MD, dentist, PhD . . . )?

A. I had a teledoc with my doctor's PA on Monday.

 

2) This song was introduced during the second season of Friends. Were you a fan of the show?

A. I don't think I ever watched an episode of it.

3) On the show, the song was performed by Phoebe Buffay (Lisa Kudrow), an amateur folk singer and a professional masseuse. There  was a debate on Reddit about massages -- some loved them because they are relaxing and therapeutic, others think it's "creepy to be undressed and handled by a stranger." How about you? Do you enjoy massages?

A. I do enjoy a good massage, but I haven't had one in quite a long time.

 

4) During the run of Friends, Phoebe was roommates first with Monica and then with Rachel and finally with her true love, Mike. Tell us about one of your roommates.

A. I never had a roommate. I have a husband. Is he a roommate? I guess so. He's a retired fireman, very loyal and sweet fellow (at least to me). He likes me.

 

5) Phoebe often performed for tips on street corners or at her favorite coffee shop, Central Perk. Where is your favorite place to go for a cup of joe?

A. I don't drink coffee.

6) This song was originally called "Smelly Dog," inspired by a pooch named Gouda. The childhood pet of Friends writer Betsy Borns, poor Gouda could have smelled better. Is there an odor you'd prefer to never smell again?

A. Skunk and nursing home smell. I could do without smelling either of those ever again.

 

7) 35% of American households include a cat. Are there any pets at your house?

A. I have a herd of cattle. They aren't at the house, they're out in the pasture.

8) In 1995, the year Phoebe first performed "Smelly Cat," Steve Fossett became the first person to make a solo flight across the Pacific in a hot air balloon. Have you ever ridden in a balloon?

A. I have! It was in 1986 or 1987. I wrote an article about it for the local newspaper and won a Virginia Press Association Award for it. I think it was one of the first ones I won.

 

9) Random question: Looking over your romantic history, have you broken more hearts, or had your heart broken more often?

A. I expect it's about even.

_______________

I encourage you to visit other participants in Saturday 9 posts and leave a comment. Because there are no rules, it is your choice. Saturday 9 players hate rules. We love memes, however. 

I Want To Ride My Bicycle

My first bicycle was a present from Santa when I was five years old. It was baby blue, and Batgirl was sitting on the bike seat when I woke up Christmas morning.

It had training wheels at first, but by summer's end, my father took them off and, holding on to me, or so I thought, sent me off down the road. By the time I realized he was no longer holding on, I'd gone a long way on my own. I didn't need the training wheels anymore.

Generally speaking, I did not ride my bike at home as much as I rode a bicycle at my grandmother's house. By the time I was 8 or 9, we were all riding bikes, even my brother who would have only been 5 or 6. I guess the bikes belonged to my departed uncles and aunt, maybe even my mother, I can't remember.

In any event, when we stayed with Grandma over the summer, she shooed us out the door, and inevitably, we'd take a bike ride.

Here is our route, as seen today from Google Earth with mark-ups:

The green line is the bike route. We'd start off from Grandma's house, go to the right from this picture, and ride around that circle. The squiggly lines on the left-hand side indicate the maze of a path we created in the pine trees that the Forestry Department had planted behind their building. All of us kids around there rode our bikes through the pine trees, sometimes for hours as our bikes turned into steeds and we chased after one another.

This is where we were supposed to ride, in that circle. Sometimes we'd dare one another to ride up to the green line on the right, where there was a rickety old empty house. We called it the haunted house, so riding up to it was an important dare.

As we got older, we rode around the big building labeled "Mom's Office" down in the lower part of the picture. We weren't supposed to do that because we might run into a vehicle or have a car back into us or whatever reason the adults could find, but we would do it occasionally anyway, whizzing past my mother in her front office in hopes she didn't see us. Mostly she didn't. Sometimes she did. Oops.

When we were even older, say 10, we could take our bikes across Apperson Drive to the Orange Market so long as we used the stoplight. And on Fridays, we could ride our bikes beside Grandma while she walked up to Aunt Neva's to do her hair. That was always hard because we weren't supposed to cross Apperson at that location (no stoplight) unless Grandma was watching and of course she was walking so we had to ride up and down and up and down and do circles around her until we reached a safer area.

The yellow squares I added are where there were once houses or buildings. The remaining house on the right hand end of the block belonged to my grandmother's brother, Uncle Curt, and his wife, Aunt Elsie. My two cousins, Tim and Pam, lived there and sometimes they played with us but Aunt Elsie didn't let them out very much. Other kids - mostly boys - lived around the block, too, and we'd all ride around together at various times. I remember a Journell boy and I think a boy named Dennis (?) lived behind my grandmother's house. I'm not sure that's right. My brother might remember.

The river back then was lined with trees all the way up to the road. That was a tangled jungle we were also supposed to stay away from, but somehow there were paths that led down to the water for fishing or wading. I can't imagine how they got there.

At home on the farm, bike riding was complicated by the dirt road and gravel. A wipe out there was actually worse than one on the asphalt at Grandma's, because the gravel would embed itself into your knees or elbows. 

My blue bike died a violent death when my father backed over it with a truck. My brother had been riding it and left it there. I received a whipping for "not taking care of my things" even though I'd been out with my mother and had no idea my brother had left it behind the truck. I'm sure I deserved many of the whippings I received, but I definitely remember the unfair ones, which that one was.

That bike was replaced by a green three-speed that I didn't ride much. I started driving when I was 13 - a beat up ol' Jeep that was manual transmission - and I guess bikes lost their allure after that.

The very last bicycle I owned was a purchase I made in the early 1990s. I had decided I should take up bike riding for my health. I rode it around the exterior of the house a few times, parked it, and asked my husband to take it back to the store. It terrified me. I was too high off the ground. I had no balance. Whatever riding a bicycle in childhood had given me, by the time I was in my 30s, it was gone.

Thursday Thirteen

Childhood games and toys! I doubt many of these are still played or played with these days.

1. Hide and seek.

2. Dodge ball.

3. Red Rover

4. Jacks (or Jax, I've sometimes seen it spelled)

5. Hop Scotch

6. Lite-Brite

7. Rock 'em Sock 'em Robots

8. Silly Putty

9. Spirograph

10. Freeze Tag

11. Kick the Can

12. Mother, May I?

13. Battle Ship!

Others: Lincoln Logs, Barrel of Monkeys, Operation, Slinky

_______________________

Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here if you want to read other Thursday Thirteens and/or play along. I've been playing for a while and this is my 718th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.

August 11 Happiness Challenge

Last night we had a little shot of rain. We're in a drought, so we desperately need some of Mother Nature's tears to bring the pastures and the hayfields back to where they need to be.

I am happy it rained.

Each day in August you are to post about something that makes *you* happy. Pretty simple. And, it doesn't even have to be every day if you don't want it to be. It's a great way to remind ourselves that there are positive things going on in our lives, our communities, and the world.

August 10 Happiness Challenge

I have spent the day alone. Being an introvert, I like my alone time. It has been a good day for me to do relaxing things and continue to try to overcome this sinus infection.

I certainly don't want to go out in public sounding like a froggy! (Which is what I sound like now.)

Additionally, I learned that a friend who was hit by a car (!) in a parking lot is going to be ok. Very battered and bruised, but ok. I am very thankful for that.

I am also happy for my friends who called today to see how I was feeling.

Additionally, I am happy that I have a husband to call when suspicious pick up trucks decide to put in unwanted appearances.

Each day in August you are to post about something that makes *you* happy. Pretty simple. And, it doesn't even have to be every day if you don't want it to be. It's a great way to remind ourselves that there are positive things going on in our lives, our communities, and the world.

August 9 Happiness Challenge

 

Today, I am have spent the day doing very little because I have a sinus infection.

My doctor saw me with a teledoc call. So I am happy today that I have good health care, a caring doctor, and the time to take to heal.

Each day in August you are to post about something that makes *you* happy. Pretty simple. And, it doesn't even have to be every day if you don't want it to be. It's a great way to remind ourselves that there are positive things going on in our lives, our communities, and the world.

Legacy - My Paternal Grandparents

My father's parents moved to California before I was a year old. They took with them my father's two older brothers and their young families, and his younger sister.

I don't know why my father stayed. Perhaps my mother didn't want to move. In any event, this meant that my paternal grandparents were not people I knew very well.

They existed for me for a long time as a voice on the phone into which I blew kisses at my mother's urging, strange Christmas presents under the tree that I generally did not play with (which in hindsight is terrible, because I suspect these presents were a bit of a hardship for them to send along to my brother and me), and people my father talked about. To me, they were like ghosts.

Finally, they visited when I was about 10 or so. I don't recall much about that visit, or even another one after that. They were here. One of my uncles came with them (I think, I may be mixing up visits) and brought his young daughters with him, so I had playmates to think of, not older folks who sat around playing guitar and talking.

My grandmother talked very fast and very loudly. She loved to cook, I do remember that. She would have dinner waiting when my mother came home from work. She was good in the kitchen.

My Grandpa Joe played the guitar and told stories.

These visits did not last long.

We drove to California in 1976 to visit my grandparents and my father's family. I don't recall much about seeing them. My cousin had run away from home, and there was much concern about her, I remember that. She was a year older than I and she was a constant source of trouble, from what I had overhead my parents say. I remember much ado about her being missing, some guitar playing, a trip to a vast flea market where my mother bought a lamp with an orange shade with fringe on it, and that's about it.

My grandparents came to visit again in 1981, around March. They came in a camper and said they would stay until my graduation in June. I was quite excited about this. But my grandmother, after about two weeks or so, said she missed her dog and they left. I had words with my grandmother about this; I remember that. When I apologized as they were leaving, she said I didn't hurt her, only her feelings.

I think she might have had some health troubles going on at the time, but I didn't know that and still that's a guess. I only felt that I had been lied to and that people I wanted to love and to love me had let me down.

The guitar that I'm playing now came to me at this time, I think. Grandpa Joe gave it to me as a sort of graduation/consolation prize, I think.

After I married, I began corresponding by mail with my grandfather. I felt a kinship with him that I did not feel with my father's other relatives. He sent me stories that he wanted preserved because he thought I would keep them (I still have them). He wrote me poems, and he tried to give me life advice, but not much, really. I guess he thought I'd learn whatever I needed to know.

They visited again about 1988, and my grandfather died a year later. They were pleased to see my house, happy with my husband, and glad that I seemed settled. 

I did not see either of them again, although my grandmother lived to be 97. She died in 2017. After I bought a cellphone, I called her, and until her hearing went, we talked monthly. But after a while she thought I was the cleaning lady or some other person who visited her, and I stopped calling. I sent her cards with notes in large print so she could see them. One of my cousins told me she kept every one of them and had them when she died.

Going out to visit her was never an option. My husband wouldn't leave the farm or his job for very long and I didn't want to go by myself. My uncles smoked and drank a lot of beer, and I didn't want to be in that kind of atmosphere without my husband to ensure my safety. They would not have hurt me, but I can't take a lot of yelling and arguing, and if there is one thing members of my father's family can do, it's yell and argue. I think to them it's conversation, but to me it's nerve wracking.

Anyway, describing these two people is difficult for me because I did not know them. I cannot paint a word picture of them like I could my maternal grandmother. All I have are scattered memories and my grandfather's words on paper.

This was my loss. Maybe it was their loss, too.

Sunday Stealing

Sunday Stealing

1.  What is the nearest book to you?  Your Kindle does not count.

A. Legacy Questions: 867 Prompts to Start Your Memoir. I'm using it for prompts for blog posts.

2.  When was the last time you took a "me" vacation?

A. I do not recall ever taking one.

3.  How many telephone numbers do you have?

A. Two. Three if you count my husband's.

4.  If you could fix one thing in the public school system, what is the one thing you would do immediately?

A. Mandatory civics classes? Uniforms? I don't know. I'm not in education.

5.  What's your favorite Olympic event?

A. Ice skating.

6.  Do you watch the Olympics?

A. I watch the winter Olympics more than the summer Olympics.

7.  Who is your favorite sports team player?

A. I don't watch sports. I do like Chase Elliott in NASCAR, but only because he's Bill Elliott's boy.

8.  If you could travel in a spaceship to any planet, which planet would you like to visit and why?

A. Some unknown Class M planet in the Delta quadrant, preferably uninhabited.

9.  When was the last time you sat in a church?

A. Probably about two years ago, because, you know, Covid.

10.  Are there any aspects of blogging that annoy you?

A. I don't like spam comments.

11. Have you ever gone to a party and snooped in the medicine cabinet?

A. I haven't gone to a party and done that, but I have looked in other people's medicine cabinets in the bathroom, yes. Usually I was looking for a Tylenol.

12. Do you watch reality TV?

A. I watch Survivor and Deadliest Catch, and my husband watches lots of car shows. Sometimes we watch American Pickers. We started watching The Voice last year. My husband also watches Forged in Fire and Swamp People. I am usually reading a book when these things are on.

13.  How many people can you call who have known you since you were in school?

A. Not many.

14. Who, when, and where was your first kiss?

A. I think it was in the second grade on the playground, and the boy's name was Jamie.

15. You just got thrown out of your country.  Where do you want to become a citizen?

A. Finland is rated as the happiest nation, so I will go there.

_______________

I encourage you to visit other participants in Sunday Stealing posts and leave a comment. Cheers to all us thieves who love memes, however we come by them.

August 7 Happiness Challenge

Today, I went to the shoe store with my husband and we found him a pair of boots. (We were all masked up but other people were not. It is nerve-wracking to be in public anymore.)

I think it is very important to take care of his feet since he had his ankle fused together. If it were up to him, he'd wear his shoes out, but for once he listened to me!

Each day in August you are to post about something that makes *you* happy. Pretty simple. And, it doesn't even have to be every day if you don't want it to be. It's a great way to remind ourselves that there are positive things going on in our lives, our communities, and the world.

Saturday 9: The Curly Shuffle

Saturday 9: The Curly Shuffle (1983)

Unfamiliar with this song? Hear it here.

1) This song is a valentine to The Three Stooges. Are you a fan?

A. No. I do not enjoy slapstick comedy as a rule, especially the kind that involves hitting and other forms of "innocent" violence.

2) It was released to coincide with the Three Stooges getting a star on The Hollywood Walk of Fame. That's the Hollywood in California. There are 23 other Hollywoods in the United States and two in Ireland. Have you ever visited any of these 26 Hollywoods? If so, which one?

A. I may have been through Hollywood when I went to California in 1976 with my family, but I am uncertain about this since I was 12 years old and I don't remember everything about the two-week trip. Otherwise, I have not been to any other Hollywoods.

3) The inspiration for this song was Jerome Horowitz, aka Curly Howard of The Three Stooges. He had many signature phrases, including "nyuk, nyuk, nyuk," "woob, woob, woob," and "sointenly." Give us a movie quote, and be sure to tell us who said it.

A. “I would rather have thirty minutes of wonderful than a lifetime of nothing special.” ~ Shelby in Steel Magnolias.

Bonus: "All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us." ~ Gandolf, Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Rings

4) Curly's older brother, Moses Horowitz, was better known as Moe Howard. Moe was convinced that Lou Costello of Abbott & Costello developed his screen persona by stealing from Curly. It turns out he was right! Lou Costello was previewing early prints of Three Stooges films before they were released to the public. Tell us about a time your gut instinct told you something that turned out to be true.

A. In 2010, we went to the beach and I knew before we left that we should not go. As it turned out, we had problems with our room, yada yada, and ended up driving back home that same night (it's a long way to Myrtle Beach, SC from where I live). I wish I had been able to convince my husband that we shouldn't make the trip.

5) The third Stooge, Larry, was Louis Feinberg. Though he became famous as a movie comic, he was also a talented musician. When he was 11, he received an invitation to study violin at a European conservatory, but because of WWI he was unable to go. Tell us about plans of yours that were interrupted because of circumstances beyond your control (weather, the pandemic, etc.).

A. Oh my. We have gone to the beach at least a dozen times and had to leave early because there was a hurricane coming. It became so bad our friends tried not to go to the beach at the same time we did, because obviously if we were going to the beach, a hurricane would turn up as well. (We don't go to the beach much anymore.)

6) As a teen, Larry took up boxing and won several bouts. His father disapproved of the sport and put an end to his boxing career. Did you participate in sports during your teen years?

A. I was in the marching band. That is not considered a sport, but it should be. Do you know how hard it is to hold a flute and march around a football field?

 

7) Today the Three Stooges Fan Club has more than 2,000 members and publishes a quarterly newsletter filled with rare photos, interviews, trivia and a marketplace where fans can buy and sell Stooge memorabilia. Have you ever belonged to a fan club?

A. Not exactly. Back in the late 1990s, I was a big part of the Xena: Warrior Princess fandom on the Internet. It was really one of the first Internet fandoms. I had a C-band satellite at the time, and on Sunday mornings the feed for the show went out to the stations that would show Xena during the week. I would watch the feeds and write up a spoiler for the alt group, and later for a website called Whoosh.org (which still exists and you can find my write-ups there). I started writing for the website with Season 1, episode 19 of the show, and wrote a synopsis for every other episode thereafter, I think. Xena ran for six seasons, 22 episodes a season, so I wrote about 113 synopses for the website, plus I wrote a couple of articles for it. Two thousand word articles, at that. So no fan club, but definitely my biggest fandom.

8) In 1983, Princess Diana was the world's top cover girl. Her influence was credited for reviving Britain's fashion and tourist industries. When you think of Britain, what's the first thing that comes to mind?

A. First, my friend Inga, who lives there. Then London. Then King Arthur.

9) Random question -- Your best friend needs help hanging a picture. Would you be comfortable holding the nail so your friend could swing the hammer?

A. Yes, if I had to. It's not like I've never had a smashed finger.

______________

I encourage you to visit other participants in Saturday 9 posts and leave a comment. Because there are no rules, it is your choice. Saturday 9 players hate rules. We love memes, however. (#400)

August 6 Happiness Challenge

Woohoo! I woke up this morning and didn't have to put my jaw back into place! It popped and cracked, but I didn't have to physically push on my cheek to get the thing back where it belongs. Yay!

Each day in August you are to post about something that makes *you* happy. Pretty simple. And, it doesn't even have to be every day if you don't want it to be. It's a great way to remind ourselves that there are positive things going on in our lives, our communities, and the world.

August 5 Happiness Challenge

 

Today I saw my chiropractor, and she helped my back. I also went to the grocery store and I'm very happy that I no longer have to worry about toilet paper being in stock.

Each day in August you are to post about something that makes *you* happy. Pretty simple. And, it doesn't even have to be every day if you don't want it to be. It's a great way to remind ourselves that there are positive things going on in our lives, our communities, and the world.

Thursday Thirteen

1.  “Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.” ~ Ernest Hemingway, The Garden of Eden

2. “Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.” ~ Marthe Troly-Curtin, Phrynette Married

3. “You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life.” ~ Albert Camus

4. “Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.” ~ Mahatma Gandhi

5. “Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.” ~ Dalai Lama XIV

6. “If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.” ~ J.R.R. Tolkien

7. “They say a person needs just three things to be truly happy in this world: someone to love, something to do, and something to hope for.” ~ Tom Bodett

8. “Take responsibility of your own happiness, never put it in other people’s hands.” ~ Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart

9. “Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city.” ~ George Burns

10. “Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” ~ Marcel Proust

11. "The only way to find true happiness is to risk being completely cut open.” ~ Chuck Palahniuk, Invisible Monsters

12. “I don't think that there are any limits to how excellent we could make life seem.” ~ Jonathan Safran Foer, Everything Is Illuminated

13. “I've always thought people would find a lot more pleasure in their routines if they burst into song at significant moments.” ~ John Barrowman

_______________________

Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here if you want to read other Thursday Thirteens and/or play along. I've been playing for a while and this is my 717th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.