Happy Thoughts

As I was steeping in my lavender bubble bath tonight and reflecting on my weekend, I recalled the words of Robert Lewis Stevenson from one of my favorite childhood books, A Child's Garden of Verses:


The world is so full of a number of things,
I'm sure we should all be as happy as kings.

That’s precisely how I feel right now as I try to decide which particular happy thing to focus on in my blog.

Owl’s Clover and Yona’s Birthday Hike and Picnic in Foothill Park
Should I talk about today’s hike and picnic with friends in Foothill Park? It was in honor of Yona’s birthday – the second time that we had a get together like this for her birthday. And I hope that we continue to do in for many years to come. Most of the participants are mutual friends, but were a few people that I didn’t know. A young couple that I hadn’t met before was walking along the trail with us and the woman, Rachel, seemed to know the names of all the flowers. She pointed out a flower that I hadn’t paid close attention to before, Owl’s Clover. Bending down for a closer look, I noticed for the first time that interspersed among the purple spikes were small white blossoms with tiny black markings that looked like the faces of miniature white owls.

After the hike we sat at a table in the shade for a potluck picnic lunch with lots of yummy salads, wine, cake, and easy-going conversation. We even got a perk of some free massage from a friend of Yona’s who specializes in acupressure.

Saturday with Torah Study and Babysitting for Gali
Yesterday was another good day. In the morning, we attended Torah study at Beth Am and discussed the biblical theme of the "barren woman", the repeated story about a woman who has difficulty conceiving a child and then gives birth to a son with special abilities. The rabbi referred to a book, The Art of Biblical Narrative, by Robert Alter, who says that it is intentional rather than a case of poor editing when certain stories are repeated in the bible with slight variations.

Later in the afternoon, I drove up to Oakland. I had agreed to babysit for Gali on Saturday night. This was a solo assignment, because Micha had heard about a concert of classical music at Stanford that night and didn’t want to miss it. I still prefer folk music over classical, so it was no sacrifice on my part to miss the concert and babysit for Gali instead. In fact, seeing Gali fills me up with so many happy thoughts that I find myself overflowing with them for hours and days after I see him. My 1 ½ year old grandson is a ball of energy and powerhouse of affection. He loves to run around and around—in the playground, in the yard, and in the house. Round and round he goes, pushing trucks, opening and closing doors, laughing at his own antics and hugging me and his mommy, his daddy, and his stuffed animals. If a campaigning politician could manage to say “hi” with as much enthusiasm and sincere warmth as Gali does, I bet he would win the election in a landslide.