It's been a year

Quite a year.

Seems the days slip by - the time passes and we have another year behind us. This year has come to a crashing end - pushing and slipping and slamming us towards the new year. I'm looking for peace and happiness.

As this year draws to a close I am thinking about what makes for happiness.

Good health, or course, that helps. And since Don's heart surgery, good health has been on our minds more and more. He is in good health and that brings me happiness. . .

The Constitution only guarantees the American people the right to pursue happiness.
You have to catch it for yourself. ~Benjamin Franklin

Family - children and children-in-laws - all spectacular adults leading productive and wonderful lives. Growing and learning and always there to help others when needed. And grandsons - there is hardly a moment of a day that I'm not thinking of things the boys have said, things they have done, photos I have taken, times we have spent with them. And now, next June, another grandbaby - all bring happiness . . .

Happiness often sneaks in through a door you didn't know you left open. ~John Barrymore


Linda - at a sew-in in Anacortes

Friends - I have many friends; long time friends; school classmates that I've reconnected with; new friends; friends nearby; friends far away; friends I talk with almost daily; friends I contact only ocassionally and still, it is like we were together yesterday; friends that care; friends that I care about; friends from around the world that I've met through blogging - friends are happiness . . .

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

Working with my hands - this is when I meditate, when my thoughts wander and swoop and swirl and swoosh far and near. When I can light on any subject and ponder it as long as I want, or for a tiny short moment. Quilting, knitting, crocheting, crafting, gardening, washing the dishes, cleaning our house, painting, dabbling about in new crafts - all bring happiness . . .

Every now and then, when the world sits just right, a gentle breath of heaven fills my soul with delight... ~Hazelmarie ‘Mattie’ Elliott, A Breath of Heaven

Helping others - when a friend hurts, hold their hand; when someone is sad, be their sunshine; if there is a need, fill it; if the path is long and lonely, share the journey - these bring happiness . . .

One joy scatters a hundred griefs. ~Chinese Proverb

Nature - the beauty of the trees; a surprise visit to the bird feeder of a bird we've not seen before; the happiness on a child's face when a deer comes close and eats from their hand; clouds with sunshine bursting from behind them; eagles soaring over the river; dark stormy days when the very air rocks and blasts us; spray from the waves of the ocean; water, smooth or choppy, rippling or rushing - happiness surrounds us . . .

Pleasure is spread through the earth
In stray gifts to be claimed by whoever shall find.
~William Wordsworth, 1806

Time spent with Don, just the two of us. Watching the Alaska ferry depart on Friday nights - listening for the whistle blast as it echos through the hills of Bellingham; walking down the mossy path at the lake - finding a new scene that we've not noticed before; riding for hours - looking for swans, or snow geese, or flotillas of ducks, or pelicans skimming the ocean; sitting in our comfortable chairs, talking late into the night; driving down to the bay at midnight just to listen to the fog horns; waking each other up so we can both hear the owl in the night - happiness multiplied over and over . . .

“The really happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery when on a detour.” — Unknown

And so I find happiness - happiness in the year just past, happiness in the things to come, happiness that makes my heart sing, even after a hard patch, happiness that lasts and I can revisit over and over . . . there is happiness . . .

You can’t buy happiness, but you can buy ice cream.
And that’s kind of the same thing. – Unknown

Happiness and ice cream to you all in the new year!!!