For starters, it’s life in a vignette that never tires the senses. All four seasons seemingly have starting and stopping points, each vying for the prize snapshots of rolling hills, mountain peaks and ridges, picturesque landscapes, all-matter of birds and hummingbirds vying for spots on the feeders, critters grazing on properties and crossing gravel roads, crazy-stunning sunsets, umpteen kazillion twinkling stars in the clearest-night skies, and a lungful of mountain air as refreshing as a silky smooth southern “Good morning, darlin’!”

Give Mother Nature considerable credit for helping create the year-round character of a place worth living and visiting.

Just remember that if you’re invited to dinner, that means show up for lunch.  Supper means dinner.  Either way, the odds of experiencing good eats and better company are extremely high.

• “All pitchers are liars or crybabies.” — As are a good number of our politicians, it turns out.
• “Even Napoleon had his Watergate.” — As have a select number of our politicians.
• “You’ve got to be very careful if you don’t know where you are going because you might not get there.” — ‘Nuff said.
• “I never said most of the things I said.” —Sound serially familiar?
• “It ain’t the heat, it’s the humility.” —Just saying.
• “Take it with a grin of salt.” — You pick … Applicable to debunked stories and facts or attitude. Or both?
• “I want to thank everyone for making this night necessary.” — Ditto with these sensible restrictions and constraints on our movements. They aren’t boundaries on our freedoms. They’re necessary for us to safely put those freedoms back in play for everyone without potentially hurting anyone.
• “If the world were perfect, it wouldn’t be.” — Even in tough times, we can help it get closer to perfection. Buy the Starbucks coffee for the guy in line behind you. Mow your neighbor’s lawn. Bring his recycling bin up to his garage. Put the cart back in the place for carts in the supermarket parking lot. Pretend that every person you meet, hopefully with mask-and-gloves attire, has a sign around their neck that says, “Make me feel important.” Set one exciting goal every day. Don’t judge. Observe. Assess. Be happy and pay it forward. How about this one … If your family is “good,” break up your stimulus check and send it to folks who or organizations that could truly use it. Empower yourself to be happy in the midst of tough times, and do things to make others feel just a little bit better, too.
• And lastly from Yogi, “If the people don’t want to come out to the ballpark, nobody’s going to stop them.” This is one person who looks forward to getting back out to the ballpark, and you can use that as a metaphor for whatever you wish. I miss a lot of things. We all do. Have Faith. They’ll return. I know that we may not be where we want to be yet, but we’re closer than we were yesterday.

Stay strong. Stay smart. Keep the Faith. The end is in sight. Thanks for listening.

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