On the bright side (honest!)

Lest I become consumed by my virulently anti-W attitude...

Home-made ice cream!
I try to find an excuse to make French-vanilla ice cream (a Betty Crocker recipe) at least twice a year. So far my first and only excuse this year was July 4 - a family get-together at my sister's place. (Most of my extended family lives in town; none of us is a native.) Now, French-vanilla ice cream requires egg yolks, implying that I'm always stuck with a lot of egg whites. A few years ago I discovered a raspberry sherbet recipe requiring egg whites: now when I make French-vanilla ice cream, I also make raspberry sherbet! [... please, before inundating me with comments, note that I've tried meringue, & found it a less-than-satisfactory solution!]

Neighbors!
Our neighbors to the West are, well, neighborly, and take it upon themselves to entertain the neighbors every once in a while. Last weekend they hosted "Dessert Sunday"... and they provided the desserts! The featured dessert was Henry's justly-famous key-lime pie... but there were at least a half-dozen choices. This is a very pleasant excuse to chat with folks who are, in fact, neighbors! Thanks, Henry & Moira!

Marriage!
I've been married to Teresa for 27 blissful years. I describe her as "my charming wife" whenever a written description is called for. Once someone asked me, "Why 'charming'?" I had an immediate response: "Well, it's been 27 years, and I'm still enchanted!"

Friends & family. When it comes to the important stuff, I've really nothing to complain about. Loyal friends. Loving family.

Sing a song!