Sunday, October 31, 2021

Tuesday, October 19, 2021

Happiness is savory with sweet


On smoaking lard they dine;
A sav'ry bit that serv'd to relish wine. 

-- John Dryden

Saturday, October 9, 2021

Happiness is The Five Reasons Why Men Drink

 


 
If on my theme I rightly think,
There are five reasons why men drink:—
Good wine; a friend; because I'm dry;
Or lest I should be by and by;
Or — any other reason why.
 
-- Henry Aldrich (1647-1710)

Friday, October 1, 2021

Happiness is the one thousand year old oak tree

The King Oak of Denmark may date as early as the first century AD

 
 
 
The monarch oak, the patriarch of the trees,
Shoots rising up, and spreads by slow degrees;
Three centuries he grows, and three he stays
Supreme in state; and in three more decays.
 
-- John Dryden

Friday, September 17, 2021

Happiness is grill smoke


If from adown the hopeful chops
The fat upon a cinder drops,
To stinking smoke it turns the flame.
 
-- Jonathan Swift

Thursday, September 16, 2021

Happiness is nutbrown ale


Young and old come forth to play,
Till the live-long daylight fail,
Then to the spicy nutbrown ale.

-- John Milton

Sunday, August 15, 2021

Happiness is a pleasant, productive Saturday

✓ The humidity dropped into the 40s and the temperature into the 50s.

✓ The windows were opened and the oven cleaned.

✓ The wheel bearing job on the old car was finished.
 
✓ Weeds on the sidewalk were torched.
 
✓ Groceries were sorted and frozen.
 
✓ Pizzas were made from scratch, as usual.
 
✓ Jeeves and Wooster provided the entertainment with a cottage set ablaze.
 
✓ The internet and the phone came back.
 
✓ Power was restored after four days without.
 
✓ And the generators finally fell silent.
 
 


Sunday, August 8, 2021

Happiness is seeing The Four Lads perform their 1953 hit "Istanbul (not Constantinople)" live in 2014

Featuring left to right Frank Busseri, Harry Duvall, John Hasselback, and Don Farrar.

Only Frankie, who died in 2019, was an original member of the group.

 


 

Friday, August 6, 2021

Tuesday, July 20, 2021

Happiness is the master-hand


Musick resembles poetry; in each
Are nameless graces which no methods teach,
And which a master-hand alone can reach.

-- Alexander Pope

Sunday, July 18, 2021

Happiness is a cleft tree



The cleft tree
Offers its kind concealment to a few,
Their food its insects, and its moss their nests.

-- James Thomson (1700-1748)