Happy Things

We had a "chill" day planned for ourselves. I had a yen to bake something. While packing up canned goods before leaving on our trip, somehow a jar of apple pie filling and one of cherry pie filling fell into the box with the rest of the pasta sauce and applesauce. And, what can I say? I was in the mood for a Dutch apple pie. So I started my morning by baking a pie. I was using Pillsbury pie crust and jarred apple pie filling, so this is a pretty quick job. Plop it in, dump it in, cover it with streusel, bake it. It's about a 10-minute job...longer if you count the time I have to wait for the pie crust to warm up enough to be unrolled.

While I was waiting for the pie crust to warm up, I took the first stitches on Basket #6.

After breakfast, we got out for a walk. I finally did something I've been meaning to do for about a year. If you follow my friend Kate's blog at Life in Pieces, then you've probably seen her weekly photography challenges. Her hubby got a deck of these photo challenge cards for Christmas a while back, and they've been doing weekly challenges as a family for quite some time. You can see their latest one right here. It's fun to see how different members of Kate's family interpret the week's theme, and they are all good photographers. 

So when I saw that, I said, "Hey, I needs me that!" and I bought myself a deck. That was quite some time ago, and I finally remembered to pick a card yesterday. Sheesh...mind like a steel trap. I was doing something similar when we came south last year, but without the deck of cards. It turns a walk into a photography scavenger hunt. So here's the card I pulled at random yesterday:

And okay...here we go. It's a little chilly...you might want a jacket. There's lots of stuff in this RV park that makes me happy. For one thing, at the end of every row of RV's there is old mining equipment, and old wagon wheels, and stuff like that. It's interesting stuff. I believe the cart below was used in mining, but it might also have been used in the building of Hoover Dam.

Here's an old wagon. We recently watched a new Tom Hanks movie...new to us, anyway..."News of the World." It was a good movie, and a lot of it was spent with him driving an old wagon down a bumpy road. Can you imagine how sore your rear-end would get riding in something like this over many miles?

But look at the ground below the wagon. Now this makes me smile...so I figure it makes me happy too.

A little to the left of the ladybugs were these owls. Some people are so clever.

At the entrance to the park is this saguaro cactus. I've seen it blooming in years gone by. 

To its left was this little palm tree.

The color play on their fronds has always intrigued me.

Moving on, it makes me happy to see how long this wagon has been here...long enough for the cactus to grow through its wheels. I think that cactus is a type of cholla.

Prickly pear cactus.

Old wagon wheels.

This little turtle.

How'd you like to share your RV with your horse? I'm probably not up for that...it's challenging enough to share with cats, but this might be the fanciest horse trailer I've ever seen.

One of our RVing neighbors has this sign at their site. No sign of the dog, however.

Here's something that makes Mike happy...a new C8 Corvette. The license plate makes me smile.

We were actually out for two walks yesterday, and I collected pictures on both walks. When we got back to the RV, I noticed Mike's hat, and that makes me happy. He got it when we visited Angel's Camp, California, two winters ago. I loved that place. I'd like to go back.

He got this t-shirt there too. It's where Mark Twain was inspired to write his short story, "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County."

Okay, and cats make me happy.

They're obviously bored with all this happy talk.

But I'll tell you, Sadie's tail is the happiest part of her.

Since I've been dieting, apples have become a mainstay for my lunch. I usually have something with some protein too, but an apple really satisfies me. My favorite apple for the time being is the one called "Envy." I can usually find them, but I wasn't able to on our last grocery shopping trip. I decided to give a try to this one that is new to me, called "Sugar Bee." 

It was on par with my beloved Envy apples...just slightly less tart, but still good. And so that makes me happy. Now I have another one I can choose. And let me just say I know people have strong feelings about their apples, so I'm not trying to start an argument here. That would not make me happy.

While I was eating my apple, I noticed a hummer perched outside in the tree.

One of the happiest parts of our day is our after-lunch cup of espresso. And these little Oregon espresso cups make me happy.

It makes me happy when Mike proudly shows me his latest electronic gadgetry...as if I understand any of this. This is something he rigged up on the back of our TV that will make it easier for him to switch from cable to DirecTV to some streaming service. Before he did this, it meant physically moving cables around, unplugging, and replugging. Now, it's a push-button affair.

And let me just add that I'm happy he knows how to do all this stuff because it makes my life a lot easier.

Seeing how the kitties are entertained by the hummingbirds makes me happy. They've made peace with the fact that the hummers are impervious to their pawing at the window. It does keep them entertained though. They sit here by the hour...waiting and watching. It helps them remember their function in life: being cats.

Finally, the pretty sunrises here make me happy.

For bonus happy points, the hills behind us light up red with the rising sun.

Okay, and so it's a new day with new challenges. I believe Mike will go for a bike ride today, and I'll stay in and sew. We'll both be in our happy places. If I decide to go out for another walk, I'll give myself a new challenge. And I'm happy that tomorrow is February 1st, and the long wait to reveal my latest art quilt will be over.