Happiness is the temperate feast of life

 Calmly he look'd on either life, and here

Saw nothing to regret, and there to fear;

From nature's temp'rate feast rose satisfy'd,

Thank'd heav'n that he had liv'd, and that he dy'd.

 

-- Alexander Pope

Happiness is a lazy man's raised-bed-garden planter

 

To the aliens we're basically West Garfield Park in Chicago

 

Memorial Day 2024: Lee Brice, I Drive Your Truck, 2012

 

Happiness is the voice of Steve Perry of Journey in 1979's Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'

 

Happiness is global warming

 

 

 The Thames frozen twice in one year, so as men to walk on it, is a very signal accident.

-- Jonathan Swift (1667–1745)

Happiness is Sunday morning baking two dozen triple wheat muffins

 OK I ate two.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Triple Wheat Muffins

1.5 cups wheat germ

1.5 cups all purpose wheat flour

3.0 cups wheat bran

1 T baking powder

1 t baking soda

1 t ground cinnamon

 

2.5 cups milk

2/3 cup brown sugar

2 eggs beaten

1 cup apple sauce

 

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees F.

Mix dry ingredients in one bowl, wet in another.

Whisk dry into wet gradually.

Add 24 baking papers to tins.

Use a 1/3 cup measure to scoop batter into the liners.

Bake about 20-22 minutes.

Cool in the pans on the counter for 20 minutes.

Serve with butter and jam. And coffee. 

Happiness is Sebn-Up

 

Happiness is taking one day at a time

 

  Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. 

-- Matthew 6:34

Happiness is . . . Neil Sedaka - Laughter in the Rain (1974)

 I remember.

Happiness is not taking your tax return too seriously

 It's for the government after all, so just make sure it's . . .

 

 

Dublin Ireland is a pretty cool place

 

Those old Germanic month names can really play havoc with your poetry

 

Eosturmonath showers bring Thrimilchi flowers.

Happiness is The Tide is High, Blondie 1980

 

Happiness is Mr. Richard Feder from Fort Lee, New Jersey, who quit smoking according to Roseanne Roseannadanna, SNL Nov 18, 1978

Last Thursday I quit smoking

Now . . .

I'm depressed

I gained weight

My face broke out

I'm nauseous

I'm constipated 

My feet swelled

My gums are bleeding

My sinuses are clogged

I got heartburn

I'm cranky and I have GAS.

-- Mr. Richard Feder, Fort Lee, New Jersey, who declined precipitously

 

Mr. Feder lived somehow to write another letter in Roseanne Roseannadanna's King Tut routine:

 

 

Happiness is the original survivalist's song A Country Boy Can Survive, Hank Williams Jr, 1982, 2007

 

Happiness is the Richard Lewis and Larry David mantra shtick

 The conclusion is very naughty, but the heart of gold starts at 1:58:

He's had a few . . .

 . . . bottles.

My current tomatoes come from Parma

 

My current olive oil comes from Puglia

 Harvested, pressed, and bottled in Italy.

My current bottle, almost empty, is best by Sep 12, 2025.

 

Peak happiness is butter, by a large margarine

 

Happiness is a be good to my dogs country song from September 1983 by John Anderson: Black Sheep

 

Happiness is The Marvelous Toy by the Chad Mitchell Trio 1963

 

Happiness is The Many Expressions of Xi Jinpingpong

 

Happiness is George Thorogood "It Wasn't Me" (Chuck Berry cover 1978)

 

Happiness is probable caws

 

Bon Appetit: Best frozen french fries are from Lamb Weston

Our house agrees. We prefer the shoestring cut.

The Standout: Lamb Weston Hand Cut Style Fries

The old story was recycled today on Pocket, and my store which carries these was nearly cleaned out as a result?

 

Happiness is lighting your feast on fire

 I used the recipe by Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins in The Silver Palate Cookbook (New York: Workman, 1982), p. 136f. There are 21 ingredients.

In step 6 of 10, you light the cognac on the lamb in the skillet with a match. Very fun.

Life is short: Celebrate the New Year with a spring feast of Navarin of Lamb.

Happiness is four black birds on the fourth day of Christmas, December the 28th

 

 

  "Colly" is derived from "coal", a word at least as old as Shakespeare. "Calling" birds is a later alteration. Use of coal for domestic heating in England became more widespread in the 1500s when the wood supply came under pressure, but the Romans were mining it there already in the 100s.

"The Twelve Days of Christmas" dates to at least c. 1780, as shown here from "Mirth Without Mischief", perhaps but vaguely recollecting the traditional drunken revelry of Christmastide which English Puritanism had long attempted to mute. This work was for children, who were in any event prone to mischief after school.

Happiness is a breakfast of blueberry mascarpone toast

Blueberry Mascarpone Toast

1 slice toasted whole wheat bread

Drizzle with honey and spread to cover

Spread mascarpone cheese over the honey

Dot the toast with fresh blueberries

Yeah, that was me

 Record: MACY'S Parade Is Most-Watched Ever...

I haven't watched the parade in years, but I spent a half hour for some reason, unknown even to me, clicking on at least five different livestreams this year on YouTube looking for the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, and all I got was the Pillsbury Doughboy.

One man can make a difference.

Happiness is Dwight Yoakam Gone 1995, but maybe not for him

 

Happiness is the power of the herbalist, formerly called a simpler or simplist

 Medicine is mine: what herbs and simples grow

In fields and forests, all their pow'rs I know.

-- John Dryden

Happiness is Old Hippie by the Bellamy Brothers 1985

 

Happiness is Shelley Fabares' 1961 Johnny Angel

 

Happiness is the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare's First Folio of 1623

 

Happiness is Jackson in the Valley

 

 

 

Jackson in the Valley · 2nd South Carolina String Band Southern Soldier ℗ 1997 2nd South Carolina String Band Released on: 1997-01-01

YouTube here.

'Twas back in the summer of '61, Stonewall Jackson's fame was won. McDowell marched across Bull Run, And went back runnin' to Washington. 

 

Come the spring of '62, Down the valley Old Blue Light flew. At Kernstown there he picked a fight, And gave Old Abe a fearsome fright. 

 

Rebels in the Valley, Lincoln cries alarm! Jackson's in the Valley, all fear to his harm! Jackson's in the Valley, Stonewall is on the loose! Jackson's in the Valley, all hell's a breakin' loose! 

 

Down the valley and back again, Stonewall's boys did fight and win. For two long months and maybe more, We marched and we fought and we marched some more. 

 

Now we'll raise a rebel yell, And we'll send them yankees straight to hell. We'll give them grapeshot, buck and ball, We'll march and we'll fight for Old Stonewall. 

 

We're marching though our feet are torn, And it's true our clothes are worn. Still we'll keep our muskets bright, For Stonewall's Army is full of fight. 

 

Banks and Shields and Frémont too, From our Valley they all withdrew. Jackson swept the Valley clear, And now he marches on McClellan's rear. 

 

Jackson's in the Valley, Stonewall is on the loose! Jackson's in the Valley, all hell's a breakin' loose! Jackson's in the Valley, Stonewall is on the loose! Jackson's in the Valley, all hell's a breakin' loose!

Happiness is Gussie Fink-Nottle telling off Madeline with "I shall now eat a ham sandwich"

 

Happiness is mercy

 

 The quality of mercy is not strain'd;

It droppeth as the gentle rain of heaven

Upon the place beneath. It is twice bless'd;

It blesses him that gives, and him that takes.

-- William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act IV, Scene I

Happiness is three synonyms for a simpleton

 Have you no more manners than to rail at Hocus, that has saved that clod-pated, numskull'd, ninny-hammer of yours from ruin, and all his family?

-- John Arbuthnot, History of John Bull, (1667-1735)

Happiness is knowing how to tell the age of sheep

 When sheep is one shear,

they will have two broad teeth before;

when two shear, four;

when three, six; when four, eight:

and, after that, their mouths break.

 

-- John Mortimer (c.1656-1736)

Happiness is Talking Heads' Once in a Lifetime 1980

What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done; and there is nothing new under the sun.

-- Ecclesiastes 1:9

Meteorologist Donald Trump on Hurricane Hilary

 

Happiness is The Vapors' Turning Japanese 1980

 

LOL of the day

 

Happiness is a bed of leaves

 Within a thicket I repos'd, when round

I ruffl'd up fal'n leaves in heap, and found,

Let fall from heaven, a sleep interminate.

-- George Chapman (1539-1634)

The best thing about COVID-19 was . . .

. . . I could not work at home, instead of not working at work.

Happiness is at least seven people coming to your funeral

 Because only six came to Thomas Paine's.

Happiness is the advantage possessed by age and guile over youth and innocence

 

Unlike The General Lee, this one DUI lol

 

Happiness is still living rent-free in England's head

 

Happiness is Jack Schitt's profile at LinkedIn

 

Happiness is foraging for edible mountain herbs and greens in Cisalpine Gaul

 

Happiness is a vacation to Puerto Backyarda

 

Happiness is an oldie but a goodie

 

Happiness is clover when you have no manure

  

 Clover is the best way of improving clays, where manure is scarce.

-- John Mortimer (c.1656-1736)

Happiness is Radio Taiso Snow Edition

 

Happiness is a toasted plain bagel for breakfast, with ricotta cheese and jam

 

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Happiness is Granny Hawkins: I say that big talk's worth doodly-squat

Decoration Day

 

 Embrace again, my sons! be foes no more;

Nor stain your country with her children's gore.

-- John Dryden

Happiness is Vera Lynn, 1917-2020, "the Forces' Sweetheart" and the Briton who best exemplified the spirit of the 20th century

Read all about the amazing woman who bested the Beatles, and Bob Dylan, here.

Vincenzo's Plate got me to try Mutti Passata from a jar, available at my grocery: What a revelation of tomato sauce goodness

 

Happiness is fresh spring air

 Gentle gales,

Fanning their odoriferous wings, dispense

Native perfumes, and whisper whence they stole

These balmy spoils.

-- John Milton

Happiness is a Neapolitan coffee pot: La cuccuma napoletana

 

Happiness is a Bud Light meme, unless you are Bud Light

 

You don't have to be rich to biddy biddy bum

 

Otherwise, I putz in my yard. I do a bit of writing. Once in a while, I have small get-togethers at my apartment. I’m kind of embarrassed by how deeply satisfying and comforting my simple routines are, and by how much I care for my cats. 

More.

Happiness is Dave's Good Seed Bread

 Especially toasted with butter and cherry jam, accompanied by scrambled eggs and coffee.

What a breakfast!

 

Happiness is Teenager in Love by Dion and the Belmonts 1959

 

Happiness is being born again

 

Happiness is Wanda Jackson singing her 1957 Fujiyama Mama which was a #1 in Japan for six months in 1958

 

Happiness is a brick collection

 

Happiness is a map of the many cheeses of France

 

Happiness is the nearby hu-hu-hu sound of an owl on a winter evening