This might be the most selfish and self centered blog post in the world. Then again isn’t selfish and self centered at the heart of blogging in a way. I mean the internet has given us a voice so we go for it. Am I wrong? Is it a bad thing? I don’t think so. Also, the interwebs are full of grumpy people talking about what makes them grumpy. That is political blogging in a nutshell. The community of photobloggers though are pretty much about telling us what makes them happy and I’m good with that.

So now that I’ve justified my selfishness lets give it a go.

My family makes me happy, my bride of many years Heather our special son Logan. Rascal the Pomeranian makes me happy as well but near as much as the other two.

Then here is them two again and me. Make note of my expression. That is my big wide rarely seen smile.

Here is Lizzie, our diffident, fat little toad kitten. She probably isn’t a kitten more technically and she isn’t that loving generally but she makes me happy. She rules our household of three humans, one other cat and three dogs.

And beautiful landscapes make me happy. This is Woodward Park here in Tulsa. We have azaleas, dogwoods, and who knows what else going on here.

And Tulips make me very happy. The more the merrier, and the more colors, the better. I don’t care if they are a bit past prime like these, I love them all the same.

And I’ll take single tulips or tulips in a bunch.

And Azaleas, and how they are so lush and overwhelming.

And some more Azaleas.

Iris’s may be my favorite flower. The tissue like delicate petals are sublime.

And Wisteria, wisteria makes me very happy.

The Gilcrease Museum gardens are open at no charge seven days a week even though the museum is closed. They have this huge wisteria.

And baseball, baseball is shut down and it is killing me. Being there live is the thing. Nothing more boring than baseball on television. Well there is one thing. At my MIL’s house we were watching “The Greatest Story Every Told” the old movie. Of course the story is great but the movie puts seven R’s in Borrrrrrring. Low energy. They needed to cut in half and put in a chariot race. Oh yeah, they already did, its called Ben-Hur. Now that’s a good movie.

I hate the virus that has its grip on the world but I love the medical people who are risking their health taking care of the virus’s victims.

And art, love it. This is a sculpture at the Gilcrease Museum Gardens called “Twins” by Jay O’Melia. I think this is perfect.

Another scene from the Gilcrease Museum Gardens. It’s easy to maintain social distancing because nobody else is every there!! By the way, can we call it “Physical Distancing?” I don’t want to be socially distant. Sorry.

And here’s Heather again. I love sitting out on our patio with her.

And I love challenges. Heather got me a fancy drone for my birthday. It’s kind of cool. It has a GPS built in so when you tell it to stop somewhere, it maintains its position. I’ve two other learner drones and they just kind of did whatever they wanted to do. I want my technology to do what I want it to do. So anyway I put it up in the air, told it to stay and fished my camera out of my pocket and took a photo.

And I had it take a photo of me.

And then moved it a little closer and took another pic. And then it started to rain. I was trying to figure out how to do video and I think I have it but it is very rainy and windy. So it might be a few days before I can try it again.

I’m happy that my fellow citizens are helping to flatten the curve by following the guidelines. It feels un-natural and weird but we have to do what we can do.

Know something else that makes me happy is how people responded to this crisis. For example as I write this post, Mary Chapin Carpenter is singing a song from her house on facebook, lots of artists are doing similar things. Exercise instructors are doing Zoom workouts. Restaurants moved quickly for takeout options. It has been amazing how creative and resilient people are. It’s been amazing to see. Kudos to them.

So, there are tons more things that make me happy, but I’ll stop. What makes you happy?

In the meantime, stay home, and flatten the curve.

Hop on over to Our World Tuesday and join the fun.