Friday, April 26, 2019

Happiness is a good deed

How far that little candle throws his beams!
So shines a good deed in a naughty world.

-- William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act 5 Scene 1

Sunday, April 21, 2019

Happiness is John Gay's chosen epitaph

 
 
 Life is a jest, and all things show it,
I thought so once, and now I know it.

-- John Gay (1685 – 1732)

Friday, April 19, 2019

Happiness is a sweet song

 
 
 Thy songs are sweeter to mine ear,
Than to the thirsty cattle rivers clear,
Or winter porridge to the lab'ring youth,
Or bunns and sugar to the damsel's tooth.

-- John Gay (1685-1732)

Wednesday, April 17, 2019

Happiness is the birds of spring

 
The painted birds, companions of the Spring,
Hopping from spray to spray were heard.

-- John Dryden

Monday, April 8, 2019

Happiness is a glorious spring day in Grand Rapids, MI

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
I didn't do a dang thing I was supposed to do. Instead I raked the leaves away from the fence line and from under the deck, and started a fire to burn them with in ye olde fire pit, using the old twigs and branches from last fall and winter. The birds got fresh water in the bird bath. The wind was gentle, the sun bright and the temperature was just oh so right. It was a glorious three hours. And now I'm tired. Good and tired. And a little bit sun-fried.  

Sunday, April 7, 2019

Happiness is episode one of McHale's Navy, the sitcom, from October 1962

In which we learn that before the war, McHale [Ernest Borgnine] was the captain of a camp steamer in the South Pacific and is in possession of a deep familiarity with "Taratupa" and all its fictional surrounding environs, which won him a commission as a commander of PT-73 once war had broken out with Japan.

Friday, March 29, 2019

Happy Birthday to Evángelos Odysséas Papathanassíou, electronic musician and composer, popularly known as Vangelis

Older fans know the Academy Award winner for his soundtrack to 1981's film "Chariots of Fire", which includes a memorable rendition of "Jerusalem", and to Carl Sagan's "Cosmos" on PBS in late 1980. 

Happiness is Freddie "Classy" Blassie singing "Pencil Neck Geek"





Sunday, March 24, 2019

Happiness is vegan grifter world on youtube going boom after famous vlogger caught eating fish

 








Turns out based on this story that the hypocrisy is everywhere.

 The Weird World of Vegan YouTube Stars Is Imploding:

 Last Sunday, a five-second video clip of vegan YouTuber Yovana Mendoza single-handedly brought down the luminous 28-year-old’s entire career. In it, you can see the raw food advocate, who goes by the name “Rawvana,” smiling at a restaurant in Bali as she prepares to tuck into her meal. But in an instant, the health guru’s face changes, as she realizes her friend’s camera is trained on her plate. She moves to cover it, but it’s too late. Internet sleuths watching the 10-minute vlog later would quickly deduce what Mendoza was trying to hide: a piece of fish. 

Tuesday, March 12, 2019

Happiness is the "US Field Artillery March"

John Philip Sousa unknowingly stole the song, it turns out, from Edmund L. Gruber.

My dad was with the US Army field artillery from 1943-1945, serving in France and Belgium, and trained at the Field Artillery School at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. As a child I was fascinated by all things artillery and things that go "boom".

To this day I wake up singing this march to myself, silently in my head, as I make the morning coffee:
For it's high high he,
In the Field Artillery,
Shout out your numbers loud and strong!

Wednesday, February 27, 2019

Happiness is my Carhartt jacket No. 2, vintage 2014 . . . the 125th Anniversary

die Hand in der linken Tasche, rückwärts
No. 1 from the 1990s now looks like a shotgun got it.

Tuesday, February 26, 2019

Happiness is Lou Mitchell's Restaurant of Chicago

Go for the breakfast, stay for the coffee.
But my favorite diner coffee is served at one of Chicago's oldest restaurants. The sign outside Lou Mitchell's (565 W. Jackson Blvd.), opened in 1923, reads, "Serving the world's finest coffee." I wouldn't go quite that far, but compared with most diners, Lou Mitchell's is in another league. Each sip is smooth and well-rounded, without any underlying bitterness. It's exactly the kind of coffee you want with eggs and honey-cured ham.

Why is the coffee good? According to the shop, the coffee beans are ground every morning. Instead of using regular tap water, filtered water is used. The machines are cleaned regularly. These steps sound really boring, but when it comes to making a solid cup of coffee, it's really as simple as that.

Monday, February 25, 2019

Happiness is Ivars Fish Bar of Seattle

Summer of '77 . . . twenty-one and hungry.