After a week of allergies and a week of a sinus infection and lost voice, I realized that I do not like spring allergies. No thanks to that massive juniper tree casually tossing its spring pollen right through my front door. I do not like this. And I do not like going through roles and roles of comfy two-ply toilet paper to blow my nose when that toilet paper is supposed to be used for something else.

What I do like is sunshine and warmth on a stuffy head. I do like a warm sunny day with a cool spring breeze evaporating last nights misty showers. What I do like is the welsh terrier dog that I will have one day joining me on the deck of a crystal clear lake as the loon and red-winged blackbird sing their morning songs and I plop my worm and bobber on the lake as I smoke my pipe and don my British Barbour jacket and my wool cap. Perhaps Brendan is there with me. Brendan Arthur. I will show him the nuances of threading a nightcrawler on a hook or the proper way to reel in a Rapala floating lure. Afterwards, we will make some hot bacon to go with the coffee I drank down at the dock.

This is what I DO like.

Also, good books, some Game of Thrones, pancakes, Kat’s big hugs, laughing, rustley leaves on the ground, a cup of tea with milk and sugar, a strong beer, good honey from my own bees, birds singing, chickens clucking, Brendan making up stories with words only he knows while he is supposed to be sleeping, our cuddle couch with the partial down filling, leather, British style with a little Western flare, Thunderstorms, spiritual direction, other people’s smiles, and a few other good things.