#31: the word "peevish"

Reason to Be Happy #31: The word peevish

I just like it. It's not used often enough for my liking.
My favorite delivery of it ever was from Helena Bonham-Carter (as Lucy Honeychurch) in A Room With a View (one of my favorite movies), when she says of her musical choices, "Mother says Beethoven makes me peevish."

#30: Sleeping In

Reasons to Be Happy #30:
Sleeping In

#29: Fresh Peach Cobbler

Reason to Be Happy #29:
Fresh Peach & Blueberry Cobbler*
with Vanilla Ice Cream on Top

*this reason made even happier when it is delivered to your home by a good friend, (as mine was).

#28: Being in Water on a Hot Summer Day

Reason to Be Happy #28:

Being in Water on a Hot Summer Day

(Summersville Lake, WV)

#27: El Meson

Reason to be Happy #27:
El Meson

(Dayton, OH)

My favorite restaurant in the world—seriously, if I had to choose just one to go to for the rest of my life, this would be it. That's probably why the characters in 3 of my 4 books (soon to be 4 of 5) always go there.

Thursday is paella night. It'll change your life!

Pictured are dragonberry mojitos.

#26: My Cat Drinking From the Faucet

Reason to Be Happy #26:
When My Cat Waits in the Sink Because He Wants to Drink From the Faucet

#25: Zucchini Abundance

Reason to Be Happy #25:
Zucchini Abundance

My garden is the epitome of abundance at the moment. Especially with zucchini. Last year all the plants succumbed to a vine borer that left the entire plant looking like it deflated overnight...so I over-planted this year, but not a single plant has died!

There’s a LOT of ways to eat zucchini. I grate & chop a bunch, then freeze to use for baking and stews in the winter. And I chop it up to put in my pasta. And my salads. And my gazpacho. And I grill it with a little olive oil. I even make zucchini chips.

In the wonderful book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (which contains some great zucchini recipes, by the way) Barbara Kingsolver says, of her own zucchini abundance:

“Sometimes I just had to put down my knife and admire their extravagant success. Their hulking, elongated cleverness. Their heft.”

Amen.