Be Happy!

Well, there is not a lot to be happy about but I am going to ignore all the gloom and doom and talk about some happy stuff!

Mr. Indi works with a very nice Irish chap named Daniel. Daniel comes from a very large family and someone is always getting hatched, matched or dispatched and so Daniel flies home to Ireland about 4-5 times a year. Daniel always comes back with a present for ME! Sometimes, if it is near the first of the year, I get a beautiful calendar of wonderful pictures of the beautiful Irish countryside. At other times, I get Irish tea bags or fabulous biscuits (cookies) and after a recent trip, Daniel bought me some Butler's Chocolates. Now, I had never heard of Butler's Chocolates but let me tell you - they are, without a doubt - some of the very best chocs I have ever eaten for breakfast. Yes, I had a couple for brekkies yesterday and they set me right for the rest of the day. Butler's Chocolates are made in Dublin and can be ordered over the net:

http://www.butlerschocolates.com/

More happy stuff! We have a wood pile down at the side of the garden along the cinder block wall. We used to burn wood in the fireplace most winters but for the past few years the pile has become home to various and sundry animals - possums - skunks - and kitties! Yesterday morning when I went out to water the back garden, I spied Mama Kitty and 4 tiny kittens rolling in the grass. She had laid her kitty eggs in the wood pile and, judging by the size of the babies, they had hatched about 4-5 weeks ago. Ahhhhhh!

We went down to the Lamppost Pizza and visited with Brian for a little while - the conversation took a turn to "What ever happened to so and so?" I asked him about D and A - the last time we saw them A had just given birth to a lovely little boy named Austin. Well, ehem! Austin is a star athlete in high school and has just been awarded a scholarship to university! Yikes - I thought he was only about 6! Where did those 17 years go?

While at Brian's, Mr. Indi tried one of the beers from the micro-brewery - the Oktoberfest Ale. He really enjoyed it and I must say it was very good - almost like a Newcastle Brown Ale. And - while visiting with Brian and drinking good beer - we all decided that we are not going to look at the stock market again this week! We are going to drink beer and be happy!

The picture is of the cactus garden at the Mission San Gabriel. The cactus flower was growing about 30 feet in the air!