![\"bird](\"https:\/\/www.stormtiger.com\/collie\/bestiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/bird-of-paradise-flower.jpg\")
<\/a>I don’t know what these (below) are, but they’re a lovely cream, gold, and pastel purple. Anyone know their name? Later edit<\/em>: turns out these are industrial irises — thanks, Shannon & John!<\/p>\n \u2026and here’s one of my favorite flowers — for their beautiful golden sunshiny glow: daffo-down-dillies! ;)<\/p>\n Also happy-making, even though taken last year: pale gold little apples on our apple tree:<\/p>\n Finally: I don’t know what this succulent is either, though I love the richness of its deep purples. Later edit<\/em>: my florist friend thinks this is echeveria — thanks, Shannon!<\/p>\n Let’s see, what else makes me happy\u2026 ah! Well organized kitties that know Mandelbrot comes before Tesseract in the alphabet! ;)<\/p>\n \u2026and seeing deer along our road! Last year there was a doe with twin fawns that hung around on the hillside behind our house. We saw her and the fawns repeatedly during the summer — I’m a sucker for those lovely, awkward, leggy, spotty little fawns! They remind me of how adorably surprised by life foals are. I’m hoping to see more fawns this year, in fact. I’ll probably see the twins as well, though I don’t know how to recognize them now they’re adults and likely wandered off from their mother.<\/p>\n Best of all: tired happy Goldie in the shade, flopped out after running her li’l paws off chasing her (disgustingly dirty!) favorite squeaky-ball! ;)<\/p>\n Oh, that reminds me! Goldie has helped me figure out the source of Celtic knotwork! If you don’t know what that is, here’s an example:<\/p>\n See how the three hounds are all intertwined, with their legs all tangled with each other, and their tails in the mouth of the following hound? When I was in the SCA I used to tease my friends with Celtic personas that their artwork was a sign of the doubtless disturbed minds of Celtic seamstresses. :) But Goldie has taught me otherwise, which the following photos demonstrate — though I must apologize for how dark they are. Her sleeping cushion is under my desk, which means I had to adjust the brightness and contrast for clarity:<\/p>\n I don’t even know how she can tangle her paws like that, and still sleep so peacefully! So yeah… to all my Celtic SCA friends of that time: I was wrong — sorry! :)<\/p>\n Let’s see, what else makes me happy… shared dinners with people I love! Went to Red Lobster with my housemates the other day and had an amazingly delicious dinner! Mmmm… their cheesy rolls are a guilty pleasure of mine — SO yum! Also, I’d forgotten how long it had been since I’d had really good mussels, shrimp, scallops, and lobster tail — and this plate had it all. Reminded me nostalgically of my Mom’s absolutely amazing paella<\/em> when we lived in Spain — wow, I would so love to have that again! Barring importing my Mom here for a meal, this plate was a lovely substitute.<\/p>\n Oh! We also ordered the shrimp cocktail, which I absolutely love and which was served as usual on the edge of a sturdy glass of ice. I had to laugh because some time ago when we ordered the shrimp cocktail we got this… marvelously suggestive creation!<\/p>\n I suspect my amusement, along with that of many other patrons, is part of the reason they went back to serving the shrimp on a glass again. :)<\/p>\n One last thing to share that makes me smile: we’ve added solar lights to the entryway to our house! Ever since seeing something similar on another house I’ve really wanted something like that… and now we have them! They’re a lovely, not too glaring, icy blue in the darkness when it’s just them, as you can see here:<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>