Posted in Five Friday Happy Bringers

Five Friday Happy Bringers (6/14/13)

I’m Hot but Happy.  98 degrees yesterday here in Savannah (heat index way over 100); 95 today.  Whew.  But unless I’m having heat tremors, here’s what I’m happy about today.

1.  Seeing Love listed as an ingredient on a product label.

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But kale?  KALE??  Seriously?

2.  The surprising, intricate beauty of looking up in Savannah.

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3.  My good buddy Riboclavin

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… without a thermometer.  Okay, so maybe he doesn’t seem to be enjoying his food 100%, but still, he’s sitting in the sun, getting a vitamin D boost.

4.  As some of you know, my grandkids call me “Abu” (Cuban/Hispanic shortened version of grandfather) because I thought “grandfather,” etc sounded entirely too paternally old.  Well, six-year-old Daniel and three-year-old Gabriel are WILD over Skylanders.  If you don’t know what I’m talking about, DO NOT try to figure it out.  It’s far too complicated.  But the Skylander franchise is basically taking over the world, of kids.  Anyway, I recently told D and G that a brand new, exciting Skylander figure had just come available on the market, AbuForce!

The three-year old bought it for minute until the six-year-old exclaimed, “No way, Abu.  You’re joking again.”

“I am not,” I lied.  (Why does that trait come so easily to me?)

“Prove it, then,” smart-mouth Daniel challenged.

“Okay I will,” I responded, having no clue how to do so, or even what I meant.

“When?” he asked, a little smart-mouthier.

“Tomorrow,” I easily answered.

Sometimes, angels come your way.  I told my friend Robert about my dilemma.  He laughed and said he might be able to help.  It seems the U.S miltary has a program called Huggs-to-Go, providing dolls for children of service men and women deployed.  The figures have a place at the face for pictures of dad or mom, etc.  Since Robert is retired Army and currently works at Hunter Army Airfield, he somehow managed to get me two of the dolls.

I presented the AbuForce figures to Daniel and Gabriel the next day.  Both, in shock that there really was an AbuForce, melted my heart with their excitement over my little joke.

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And the following day, they brought unparalleled joy to my heart when they both told me that they slept with AbuForce.

5.  Beautiful paths to walk down.

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Look for some joy this weekend.  You’ll find it.

Posted in Five Friday Happy Bringers

Five Friday Happy Bringers (5/17/13)

Happy happy, bo-bappy.  Banana fanna, fo fappy. Fe fi mo mappy.  Happy!   (Did I do that right?  I’ve spent about 45 minutes, trying it out with every relative’s name I can think of.  I keep messing up.)

Friday.  Happy  Here’s Five:

1.  A little bundle of joy.

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(Grandtwin Madison)

2.  This funny ad about rum.

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“When you hurry through life, you just get to the end faster.”

3.  Corn bread.  Here’s some I made to go with cabbage and sausage the other night.

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4.  This great quote about talking your JOY.

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5.  Grandtwin Matthew feeding Tyler.

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May your weekend overflow with joy talk and joy walk.

Posted in Five Friday Happy Bringers

Five Friday Happy Bringers (5/3/13)

It’s Cinco de Mayo weekend, so let’s be happy!  Here are five more reasons I’m smiling.

1.  Ships

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2.  Getting good deals at the Dollar Tree.

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(And being patriotic at the same time.)

3.  Grandson Daniel trying to get Grandtwin Matthew to patty cake.  (Wait a sec, is it pat-a-cake?)

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4.  Learning (great emphasis on “learning”) to go with the flow, instead of fighting against it.

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5.  Grilling pork chops the other night and creating a NealEnJoy Marinade with apple butter and Dale’s Seasoning.  Yum, yum, yum!  But I ate them before I thought to take a picture to show you.  I considered snapping a quick photo of my belly, but I couldn’t stretch my iPhone out far enough for the reverse camera thingy to get my midsection so bloated.  So I thought to myself, “You know, you could probably ‘Google image’ (I just created a new verb!) a pic that would pass as your NealEnJoy marinated pork chops, and, really, who would know?”  But after the Googling, I was bamboozled by all the pork chop pictures that came up.

This could be a picture, for example, of my chops …

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… except they are in a frying pan.  But that frying pan does look like one of mine.

And don’t these look good?

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And thick:

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And these remind me SO MUCH of how my mama used to fry pork chops for supper.

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Then the Internet surfing got weird.  Here’s a man grilling pork chops with his standing dog watching.

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And I discovered that Republican politicians absolutely LOVE pork chops.  Here’s Mitt Romney eating one.

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And Texas Governor Rick Perry.

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And would you believe it?  Here’s John McCain eating a pork chop too.

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Not to mention Rudy Giuliani.

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I started to call somebody to report my findings about partisan pork, but I didn’t know who.  Then, lo and behold, guess who popped up chowing down on a chop?!

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And a pork sandwich.

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Fifteen minutes and gobs of chop pics later, I started to smell more pork.  Then out jumped an advertisement of Miss Piggy hawking her line of perfume called … yep, Pork Chops.

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Enough of this foolishness.  May we all flow into a beautiful weekend ahead.

Posted in Five Friday Happy Bringers

Five Friday Happy Bringers — 4/26/13

Friday, Friday, Friday.  Do you connect it with happiness?  Here are five reasons I do.

1.  Aspiring to being an optimist (even though I was SO SO ready to start a Depression Blog the other day when I tore a fingernail.  Sad but true.  I’m fine with optimism and happiness and contentment as long as I don’t feel any actual pain.  But let me hurt, and for some immature, sick reason, I spiral down.  TMI?)

2.  Faith.

3.  Oatmeal with real butter.

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4.  Susan Boyle singing “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.”

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Yes, I’m a Boyle fan.

5.  Playing ball with Gabriel:

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And you have a ball this weekend!

Posted in Five Friday Happy Bringers

Five Friday Happy Bringers (4/12/13)

Friday, Friday, thank you for heralding happiness this week.

1. Driving back up on Wednesday to Statesboro and Georgia Southern University for the annual Retirees Recognition Ceremony. Retirees who have given ten years or more service to GSU have their names on plaques that are put on the wall at the Builders of the University Terrace.

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And here I am with fellow retirees and good buddies Linda Arthur and Phyllis Dallas:

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And who said there’s no such thing as a free lunch?

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(Okay, maybe I put in a few years for that lunch. But the ham was good.)  What a beautiful day!

2. Aspiring (great emphasis on “aspiring”) to live the rest of my life by this quote from the novel I’m currently ready–The Light Between Oceans: “It isn’t safe to put off what matters.”

3. Walking down stairs …

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… without falling.

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4.  The incomparable aroma of onions sauteing in olive oil.

5.  Attending SCAD’s 15th annual International Festival in Savannah’s beautiful Forsyth Park.

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With a couple of former students, Alejandro …

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… and Cash

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Have a world of fun this weekend!

Posted in Five Friday Happy Bringers

Five Friday Happy Bringers (3/29/13)

Happy.  Five reasons why.

1.  Being able to feel all my emotions, even when they don’t feel so good.

2.  This drawing of me hanging in a New York museum.  Okay maybe it’s not me, but grandson Daniel said it looked like me.

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3.  Plantains

4.  Seeing both a perfect sunrise and a perfect sunset this week.

5.  The Promise of Easter

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Posted in Five Friday Happy Bringers

Five Friday Happy Bringers (3/22/13)

It’s Friday again, and I’m in New York City with daughter Amy, son-in-law Orte, and grandsons Daniel and Gabriel. That in itself is reason enough to be HAPPY. But here are FIVE more reasons:

1.. Still filled with memories of last weekend’s beautifully fun St. Patrick’s Day.

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2.. Finding this cool driftwood-and-found-objects ship sculpture at Habersham Antiques and Collectibles in Savannah.

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3.. Realizing that so much about being joyful in life is a result of CHOICE.

4.. Flying to New York with a five- and three-year-old.

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5.. It’s freezing here in Manhattan, but here I am last week down on Amelia Island

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Have a great weekend and take care of business while I’m away.

Posted in Five Friday Happy Bringers

Five Friday Happy Bringers (3/15/13)

Top of the Friday morning, to you. Here are Five Friday Bringers of Happiness:

1. This cool pic of blooming almond trees in California sent by my new buddy Don Simmons. Don is good friends with Rick and Linda, the couple who moved to Savannah from Wisconsin. One fabulous day they gave me the tour of the “Joy in their own back yard”.  Here’s what Don said in his accompanying email:  “Since you mentioned almonds in one of your post, as something that brings you joy–I wanted to send you one of the great views that I have here in California’s San Joaquin Valley, where most of the world’s almonds are grown–it’s time for our ‘blossom trail’ and the almonds are certainly giving us a beautiful show–as well as the Sierras!” 

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2.   Finishing up a great Winter Quarter at SCAD (Savannah College of Art and Design).  My two classes:

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3.  Savannah azaleas (near Forsyth Park):

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4.  The promise of SPRINGTIME:

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5.  Fresh pineapple.

Have a Lucky St. Patrick’s Day Weekend!