Finding Happiness Part 3 - The Olympics 2024 in Paris

The firt day I began to work seriously on getting my happiness back, I got out of my car in the driveway and I was greeted by the exquisite pink face of a Rose of Sharon blossom. There is a lot to be said about that. First of all, I was opening my eyes to the outside world, not inside my head making a list of grievances and defenses. That pink face was saying hello to me from the plant world. It reminded me of the first plant I ever met as a real entity in its own right - a pussy willow in my Grandmother's yard in Philadelphia.

We didn't have a yard at my house on Warnock Street. We lived a couple of blocks away in the pink brick canyons - asphalt in front, cocrete in back and red brick walls as far as the eye could see. We had one tree and nothing else green. My gentle, sad Irish grandmother told me the name of the shrub in her front yard, "Feel its bud, so soft, like a cat's paw, that's why it is called a Pussy Willow."

fifty years ago, I was one of the generation that made the grand esperiment in psychedelics. I was one of the lucky ones. I experienced the classic psychedilic experience of ONENESS. Perhaps it is because I was tripping outdoors and everyone was careful about making a peaceful scene for those who were tripping. I experienced oneness with the grass upon which I was sitting and the trees and plants and all the creatures. That sense of oneness has stayed with me and colored everything I have experienced since then. It is why I became a vegetarian. Last night I watched an old movie called 'The Perfect Storm' and to my eyes, the gill netting of the swordfish and the gutting and the cutting off of their faces - a horrific mutilation - such that I wasn't surprised when nature sent a giant wave to topple their boat and drive it to the bottom of the ocean.

But to get back to happiness, I have described some of the strategies I had set in motion that have been tried and true in the past: lunch with my great-niece, a ride in the park, a withdrawal from coflict and complicated relationships that had plunged me into my quick sand of unhappiness in the first place. This week, I persevered with the help of friends in getting a streaming service so I could follow the 2024 Olympics in Paris. It is untterly wondrous to see what young athletes are capable of achieving. The unimagineable level of perfection they not only aspire to but actually achieve is breathtaking.

I don't usually like to tie food in with happiness, but today, I went to my favorite Chinese take-out restaurant in Woodbury and got the vegetable soup with white rice and vegetarian spring rolls for lunch while I watched the young men's gymnastics. The lunch was nutritious and deicious and I liked that I enjoyed an exotic lunch while I watched the internationality of the Olympic games.

Yesterday, I treated myself to a classic vanilla milkshake from Cabana on Kings Higheay to go with my film festival ,another tried and true happness booster. Every summer for 30 years I have watched Jaws and Jurassic Park. Knowing these movies so well allows me to really think about themes and the structure of the plots and also the reverberation they are of classic literature as well as great art works I know. For eample I like to compare Jaws to Moby Dick and The Perfect Storm reminds me of the painting The Raft of the Medusa, and the Olympic sport of pommel horse reminds me of the Greek fresco The Bull Jumpers.

Each day the percentage of the day that I spent in happiness grew. At first I had flashes of happiness, then, it grew to half a day, and yesterday it was about 80 percent. I am sleeping much better now too. Sunday, I went to Friends Meetin and was truly overjoyed to see my two friends Marilyn and Diana. I had an excellent meditation and when, last night, the Woodbury Friends started texting with a problem that needed solving, I was able to stay out of it and just watch it go by. I was happy with my success, I think I may have reached 90 percent happiness yesterday and tomorrow I expect the same because I will enjoy lunch with my two best friends, Nancy Thomas and Barb Solem.

One of the "FLOW" activities in which I participated and didn't mention was that I copied adn pasted several photographs from my daughter's past four or five years into a collage and printed it out and put it into a frame for a gift. It made me happy to see all the successes she and her husband, Justin. have achieved, and also to know she is married to a kind, patient and appreciative husband. Lavinia texted me that she was at the Newport Folk Festival and I was so glad to hear that she was doing something so much fun! And that reminds me to mention that I have been doing the gratitudes and my journal EVERY DAY! I am immensely grateful for the happiness and health of my daughter and her husband. It is a treasure beyond measure.

Hope you are getting on the Happiness Trail too! Jo Ann wrightj45@yahoo.com (as always use my e-mail not comments section which is completely polluted by spammers and useless)

A Perfect Day@

I work pretty regularly on creating and maintaining my happiness. About a year ago, I began to cultivate the friendship of my great-niece, Alexandra, who had recently moved to New Jersey, close to where I live. We have a lot in common as we both worked in education, though she is very young and still full time employed. I have invited her out to lunch once a month since she moved here. Each month we try a different place, most of which have been places I have frequented in the past. We have been to The Station in Merchantville many times because I have had paintings in the seasonal group shows, and Maritsa's in Maple Shade because I really like it there. We have also been to Pat's Select Pizza Grill in Gloucester City, and many times to Charlie Browns in Woodbury. Today, a beautiful, cool, fresh and bright day after a long period of humid heat, we took a drive to Mullica Hill to The Blue Plate. I haven't been there in a long time and the building looked renovated and the menu has been refreshed. I found a delicious onion tart, which was caramalized onions in a pastry crust much like a croissant crust, light and crispy. I also had crispy brussel sprouts in a sauce with a sprinkle of goat cheese on top. Delicious! My niece had a grilled chicken sandwich and fries. We were both delighted ith our lunch and the service and the lovely drive through Mullica Hill which, although it has changed a lot since the antiques business took a nose dive in the past decade or so, still has its beauty and quaint charm. My niece is a quiet and polite young woman and we get along so well that our get-togethers are invariably pleasant and relaxing. It is a great gift to be able to have a relationship with a young person, especially one as intelligent and warm and courteous as she is. Happiness is good relationships, happy social gatherings, and perfect weather! Take someone you love out to lunch one day soon and if you are looking for the best place, go to The Blue Plate in Mullica Hill!

How I lost my happiness one week and got it back the next

Happy 4th of July 2024

Increasingly as I get older, happiness and health take top biing in my personal interests. I read a lot about both and I practice the things I learn. Happiness feels good. I like it. In order to keep it, you have to cultivate it, practice it. But even so, you can get tripped up in unexpected ways, just the way we older folks fall. Everything is going just fine and your shoe catches on an uneven board (because we shuffle more because our hip and knee joints and our backs have problems) and down we go.

Just a couple of days ago, in the house, I bent over to pick up a tissue and I tipped over like a pile of blocks. Fortunately, I was at home in the living room and beside the Decon's bench, which I used to push myself up again and although my knees hurt, nothing was damaged.

In the same way, a friend who will remain unnamed, tripped me up and knocked me off my happiness. For two years now, due to my ongoing efforts at practicing positive thinking, chair yoga, dog walking and socializing, I have been mostly happy most of the time. But one morning a couple of weeks ago, my phone dinged with the text message noise and because I almost never get early morning calls, I awoke and looked at it. I thought it was family.

All of my friends (a couple of whom are avid animal rights activists) know to keep their horror stories to themelves and not inflict them on me. I do all I can for animals. I house and care for 5 cats and a dog and contribute in a number of ways to animal rescue charies. Just this summer, I donated 7 paintings to a fundraiser. Anyway, this friend's text message was one of those horror stories and having just awakened, I had no protection. It tripped me into a suffering spiral and a big anger. This particular friend has a pattern that she keeps her phone off unless she wants to call someone and then she looks at messages and calls people back. When I finally reached her that evening and told her how I felt she became defensive as though there was something wrong with me to be upset. That poured fuel on the flames and I got really angry.

That was the beginning of my downfall. Next, I entered a couple of weeks of stress activities: I met with two groups that can be of great help to my Quaker Meeting. The first is a historical group that wants to use our Meeting House for lectures. I won't go into the details except to say that a long distance member of the Meeting is blocking the necessary response. Then my second meeting, I invited three from Meeting to join us for the discussion and tour and no one showed up. An artist friend who has his studio in the building in question had said the day before that he would be there and he not only didn't show up, he didn't call or text. I was then still operating (on the outside) in a good way, but inside I was all twisted up with anxiety and resentment.

My happiness was GONE. On top of that I made a big mistake, a bad choice is a better description. I wasn't sleeping well anymore so I bought a forbidden treat each morning to give me energy to get through the day, a Dunkin Donuts caramel latte' which gives me an energy high and temperorarily lifts my mood. These coffees got me through my meetings but left a residue of anxiety from the caffeine as well as contributed to trouble getting to sleep at night and sleeping well.

Finally we get to the cure! It came about in a kind of unexpected way. I was meeting a friend for lunch yesterday at the place we usually meet which I like, Maritsa's in Maple Shade (half way for both of us). But Maritsa's was closed as my friend discovered because she got there earlier than I did, so I suggested we meet at The Station in Merchantville because the summer group art show was going up and I had 3 paintings in it. She agreed. I love this place, it is my happy place, the art, the vegetarian cuisine, the almost always entirely polite nnd friendly staff and clientelle. We put in our orders, looked at the artwork, and sat down in the cafe' to await our food.

Two young mothers arived with three toddlers, two of whom were in the 2 year old range and possibly twins and those two set up a ceaceless and ear splitting shrieking that the mother was unable to resolve. Nothing she did stopped them from screaming at the top of their lungs and we couldn't talk and the high pitched ear-splitting noise made thinking impossible, so Nancy suggested we eat outside on the patio. I usually don't like eating outside - bugs - but we had no choice, so we went out and it was the best choice, It was cool and dry and breezy. Little sparrows twittered and flitted all around us and it was just gorgeous. Nancy and I chatted away amiably and elaxed for a couple of hours. Our food was good, and the outdoor setting was splendid. I felt happy again.

Then to cap it off, when I got in the car to go home and relized I was happy again, Arlo Guthrie was singing a train song on the radio "I am riding on the City of New Orleans" and that fit the train theme! Then his father, Woody Guthrie was singing "This Land is Your Land" and I sang along with Woody Guthrie and my happiness was complete! Last night I went to Chair Yoga and later at home, I slept well and no nightmares.

Today, all I have is a couple of regular chores, the kitty litter boxes, and other than that, I will float through the day and do whatever I please, beginning with this blog post - which by the way is one of the strategies for clearing out the clouds and supporting happiness! Writing, talking, friendship, the outdoors, dog walking, chair yoga, nutritious and delicious food - all these are the medicine to cure a passing illness of melancholy and bring back the health of happiness. Also I just called my sister and brother on the phone to say hello and wish them a happy 4th of July holiday.

Happy Fourth of July! JO Ann wrightj45@yahoo.com

Merchantville celebrates its 150th anniversary - Art Show at the Station

For me the personal is political and it is also art! I was probably the youngest graduate of Merchantville High School Class of 1963 at 17. Not too long after, it ceased to operate as a high school. Right from high school, I went to work at W. B. Saunders Publishing Company in Philadelphia, a job I got through a high school program for the business students. It was a good, old fashioned high school that was good enough to inspire a significant number of the 150 or so graduates to become teachers, icluding me, although at a good remove in time from graduation. I didn't go to college until I was 26.

The connection with old classmates through our Reunion Group proved to be indisepnsable to me in my planning a year ago for the show that opened yesterday July 1st, at The Station - Eiland Arts Center, 10 E. Chestnut Street in Merchantville. It is the old Merchantville Railroad Depot re-purposed as a Cafe' with excellent vegetarian food, and a wonderful Art gallery that hosts group shows, special exhibitions, and recently a fundraising effort for Fishtails Animal Rescue.

When the Merchantville 150th annimversary Show was announced a long time ago, I began to think what I might like to paint for it. A classmate of mine, Butch Wetzel, was a huge train fan and remembered when trains ran along the the tracks in front of the Station, which are now a Rails to Trails bike and hike path. I told him about the show that was coming in a year (it was last year) and he said he thought he might have some old news clippings with pictures of the Station when trains still ran and he would send photo-copies of them to me. He did. I painted one feturing the Station, and another painting featuring the front of a big red train (my favorite of the two). My third painting was of the old pharmacy on the corner of Maple and Centre, which in 1963 was a soda fountain, the old fashioned kind with syrup and seltzer and paper cups in silver holders. The pharmacy wss at the back. This building always intrigued me because it was a kind of Meditteranean style with interesting red roof tiles, mosaic framing around the windows, and an unusual rose/ochre stucco surface.

Perhaps at the opening, I will meet someone who knows how old that building actually is. I don't know how old the Station is either! Actually for the first time, I kind of hope the Red Train painting doesn't sell because I like it so much, I would like to keep it! But of course, if it sells, that just inspires me to paint more and the more I paint the better I get.

I hope you can get to The Station and see the show and have a delightful and healthful lunch!

Happy Trails, Jo Ann wrightj45@yahoo.com