Day 3785: What makes me happy

What makes me happy includes

• my family,
• getting to do work I love,
• living near the water,
• being healthy and pain-free at my age, and
• friends like Barbara.

Yesterday, it made me happy to spend the day with Barbara in my old stomping grounds of Belmont, Massachusetts. Barbara and I shared what makes us happy — including our both making it to age 70, realizing it’s okay for us to coast after working so hard in our lives, and appreciating that we are both in each other’s inner circle of important connections after over 65 years of friendship!

Can you see what makes me happy in my other images for today?

Migratory birds make me happy, including snowy egrets.

Here’s what I find on YouTube when I search for “what makes me happy.”

What makes you happy?

Thanks to all those who make me happy, including YOU!

Day 3768: Organized

Today is Get Organized Day!

If left to my own devices, the spaces I inhabit do not seem organized. For years, I judged myself for that because of messages like these:

Then, when I was in my late 20s and dissatisfied with my job as a writer in high tech, I got organized enough to take a battery of helpful aptitude tests. Among other life-changing information, I learned that I didn’t need to keep my environment organized because I have an unusually organized mind. Since then, I don’t judge the ways I’m organized.

Now it’s time to get the rest of my images for today organized for you.

It looks like the Daily Bitch has organized her recycling.

Here’s what I find when I search for “organized” on YouTube.

Now I’m thinking about all the time I’ve saved by NOT being that organized.

I also like the way the universe is organized so that I’m posting this photo from our vet’s office on Administrative Professionals Day:

Thanks to all who help me be organized enough to organize this blog every day, including YOU!

Day 3707: Cause and effect

In the notes I write for my Coping and Healing groups, the topics often include “cause and effect.” What causes me to do that is that people often like to identify relationships between events, even when that relationship might not exist.

For example, when I noted yesterday that our ailing Bonsai tree was doing better, my usually very logical husband Michael replied that my saying that out loud was going to cause problems for the Bonsai tree. I don’t believe in that kind of cause and effect, so I’ll just keep speaking my mind whenever I choose.

Do you see cause and effect in my images for today?

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The fact that today is National Dance Day is going to cause me to effectively ask my husband to dance with me later.

A patient telling me she loves the group Bleachers is causing the effect of my choosing this song for our dance tonight:

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Here’s what I find on YouTube when I search for “cause and effect.”

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I wonder if my asking for comments about this cause-and-effect post will cause you to leave one, below?

There are many causes that contribute to the effect of my expressing gratitude to you, here and now.

Day 3646: Comfort

Last night, at a family Christmas Eve celebration, I saw this:

Because I feel so much comfort (and joy, which I’m just noticing now) in the presence of loved ones, I comfortably thought, “‘Comfort’ is the title of tomorrow’s blog post.”

Do you see comfort in my other images for today?

Puns are a comfort to me (although not to everyone).

Here’s Annie Lennox singing the Christmas song with “comfort” in it:

I find comfort in Nat King Cole’s version …

… and in this one by Simon & Garfunkel:

I also find comfort in the line “let nothing you dismay.”

Thanks to all who give me comfort every day, including YOU!

Day 3516: Great endings

Last night, after watching a great ending for a favorite TV series, I tweeted this question about great endings:

It’s great that the answer works for real life and the great TV series, too.

Let’s see if there are any great endings in my photos for today.

I’m celebrating National Massachusetts Day because that great state is where I had my beginning and plan to have my ending (which I hope will be great).

Here’s what I find on YouTube when I search for “great endings.”

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I’m thinking my blog posts have great endings because I end with gratitude for YOU.

Day 3487: Ataraxy

Ataraxy, as I found out via email yesterday, means “a state of serene calmness.”

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Attaining ataraxy is difficult in today’s world, but do you find ataraxy in any of my images for today?

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I shall do my best attempting ataraxy on National Get Gnarly Day, because what else can I do?

Here’s what I find on YouTube when I search for “ataraxy.”

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Maybe they didn’t get the email.

I’m hoping for ataraxy for all, including YOU.

Day 3386: National Name Yourself Day

Happy National Name Yourself Day!

Here’s the description of this day from the National Days website:

Because my name is constantly misspelled and mispronounced (e.g., “Anne Caplow”), I will take advantage of National Name Yourself Day to try on another name today and maybe a new personality!

I know what I want my first name to be on National Name Yourself Day — Ace. I’ve never had a nickname and I’ve written before that I’d like that one. Why? “Ace” is close enough to “Ann” (starts with “A” and is three letters), it won’t be misspelled, AND it expresses pride in my own abilities (taking a break from any fears of seeming conceited).

For a last name, I’m momentarily stumped. I could choose something like “Writer” or “Blogger” or “Tweeter” or “Therapist” to further brag about myself, but I don’t love those names.

I could convert my real last name “Koplow” (pronounced “Cop-lo”) to something close. As annoyed as I can get with the constant misspellings and mispronunciations, my husband Michael (who might call himself “Mike” today but never “Mickey”) has suggested that I embrace the most common of those: “Kaplow” which is pronounced like a comic book noise (ka-pow!).

I’m ambivalent about that, because I still remember overhearing two female telemarketers years ago laughing hysterically about what they thought was my name.” “Can you believe that this woman’s name is Ka-PLOW?!” they said, before I let them know that I could hear them and they’d lost the sale.

Well, it’s only for one day, so “Ace Ka-plow” it is!

Ace Ka-plow wants to share these images with you on National Name Yourself Day:

Today is also my friend Jeanette’s birthday, whom I cherish and who is no antique, because she’s ten years younger than Ace Ka-plow.

Here’s a song Jeanette and I have heard in concert many times together, performed by a huge name in jazz — Pat Metheny:

How are you going to celebrate National Name Yourself Day?

No matter what our names are today, I’m grateful for all of us, including YOU.

Day 3365: Awkward Moments

I hope it’s not awkward that I’m letting you know that yesterday was National Awkward Moments Day.

We’ve all had awkward moments and I believe we feel less awkward when we realize we’re not alone. Therefore, I asked this awkward question on Twitter last night:

While I truly appreciate reading everyone’s responses to that, nobody has asked about my memorable awkward moment. Awkward!

The one that comes to my mind is when I was talking to one of my parents’ friends about movies and I thought I asked him if he had seen “Wait Until Dark,” a thriller with Audrey Hepburn and Alan Arkin which had scared the bejeesus out of me and my parents’ friend said, “Yes, I did and that was soooo funny that I couldn’t stop laughing,” and I awkwardly didn’t know what to say or do so I said, very awkwardly, “Well, I guess it was a little improbable” and then much later it occurred to me that I had said “A Shot in the Dark” by mistake, which was a hilarious Pink Panther movie with Peter Sellars.

Awkward!

And I feel awkward admitting that I spent so many moments, since then, feeling awkward about this trivial incident. I’m realizing, though, that I’ve felt considerably less awkward since I shared this story in a blog post here several years ago.

I guess any awkwardness shared can become less awkward.

Do you see any awkward moments in my images for today?

One of the awkward moments shared on my awkward-moment Twitter thread was a person saying something negative about somebody not realizing their microphone was on during a ZOOM call. Awkward!

Here’s what I find on YouTube when I search for “awkward moments.”

Feel free to share any awkward moments in the comments section, below. (Whenever I use the phrase “feel free,” I remember somebody telling me about an awkward moment when a friend of hers, who was a waitress, misspoke those words to a customer and said “free feel!” instead, and the customer said, “Thanks, but no.”)

Thanks to all who have awkward moments, including YOU.

Day 3350: How are you going to live each day?

How are you going to live each day amidst so much injustice, pain, brutality, loss, and uncertainty?

How are you going to live each day to make it matter?

How are you going to live each day balancing other people’s needs with your needs?

Each day I live, I look at the news and all the images I’ve captured on my phone, and that’s why today’s blog post title is “How are you going to live each day?“

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Here’s what I find on YouTube when I search for “How are you going to live each day?”

While that video says we should live each day like it’s our last, in this video Leana Delle says the opposite:

I live each day with gratitude for all that I have, including YOU.

Day 3317: Whatever it is, you’re not alone.

You’re not alone in

• reading this blog,
• dealing with the pandemic,
• weathering storms,
• experiencing emotional and/or physical pain,
• being mortal,
• experiencing happiness, sadness, anger, fear, and all your other feelings.

You’re not alone in seeing my images for today.

You’re not alone if you’re wanting a croissant, an escape, non-violence and peace right now.

Here’s “You’re Not Alone” by Saosin.

You’re not alone if you have thoughts and feelings about this post you’d like to express in the comments section, below.

And finally, you’re not alone in being grateful that there are wonderful people out there like YOU.