I’ll tell you about some happy things. They seem to be springing straight out of nowhere today. Honestly, they are the kind of little plip-plops that make for the instantaneous smile, however fleeting.
For one. There is a new list that might interest some of you. USA Today conducted a recent test of the Best of Ben & Jerry Flavors. The top-sellers. And they ranked them by their own taste-testing-standards. One through ten.
The big kahuna was Chocolate-Chip Cookie Dough, followed by Half-Baked, and rounding out third place was The Tonight Dough. For the full list and article, https://www.reviewed.com/cooking/features/we-tried-the-top-10-ben-and-jerrys-flavors-of-2019?utm_source=usat&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=collab. I think everyone should go get a tub, or two, and celebrate.
Believe it or not, I’ve never tasted Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream. You see, I quit eating “sweets” around 1980. Ben and Jerry were still up in Vermont, figuring out how to make their ice cream business take hold. So, it didn’t come to Ohio until eons after I quit eating ice cream, candy bars, cakes, pancakes, muffins, and pecan pies. And all the other usual suspects.
But desserts are a happy thing for many people, and ice cream is way up there for the masses. I rejoice in their rejoicing. But I feel sorry for Ben & Jerry’s Strawberry Cheesecake, which finished 10th of the top hitters.
Another great story. The Football Network has been acknowledging all sorts of great “milestones” to mark Football’s 100th Anniversary this year. They named “The Greatest Play of All Time” in today’s news. And low and behold, it came from my Pittsburgh Steelers. I have been a fan of the Steelers since before I quit eating ice cream. From my memory, I was about 7 years old when I started watching the game, and picked the Steelers as my number one team.
The play, called “The Immaculate Reception” took place in 1972, in a game against The Oakland Raiders. Franco Harris caught a miracle pass in the last seconds of the fourth quarter, to win the Steelers’ first playoff game. https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2854640-franco-harris-immaculate-reception-named-nfl-networks-top-play-in-nfl-history?utm_source=cnn.com&utm_campaign=editorial&utm_medium=referral. Even if you are not a fan, the film clip is pretty heart-warming.
And this past week, of course, the U.S. Navy confirmed that several videos of UFO’s are the real deal. One of the videos was from 2004. The other two from 2015. They showed these crazy objects, zipping through the sky, and also featured audio from those fighter pilots. The pilots were completely miffed and were chattering in disbelief at what they they were seeing.
Anyway, the U.S. Navy confirmed that the “leaked” footage was for real. And they couldn’t explain the “unidentified aerial phenomena.” https://news.sky.com/story/leaked-classified-ufo-footage-is-real-us-navy-confirms-11813737
You see? Happy things abound. First, we saw that ice cream is good, and has the ability to bring moments of frozen bliss. And then of course, we found some golden Football plays, giving cause for cheers of delight. And finally, we looked to the skies, and there, among the stars, are the Others. Or so we think we saw.
Which. On second thought. I’m not sure if that makes me happy. Or a little leery of the outcome. They might look down and see us clamoring over little containers of frozen milk, and herding into stadiums, to watch grown men bash their heads together. And, heaven forbid, they see what the rest of our antics.
I hope they don’t come down and destroy us.
Perhaps, instead, they’ll bring us some operating instructions.
And, that would be the biggest, whooping dose of happy, that we could ask for.
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“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.”
― Mahatma Gandhi
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“If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien
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“The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
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