Something Making Us (More) Happier

• Gretchen: After Eleanor and I got back from our trip to France, it took eight days for my suitcase to show up. I now feel so much appreciation for all the possessions I got back.
• Elizabeth:  My “5 Things Making Me Happier” newsletter makes her happier. We also mention other newsletters: the “Moment of Happiness” quotation newsletter, the Tips and Strategies newsletter, the show-notes newsletter, and more (all free).

I’ve Been Meaning to Tell You

Elizabeth “chose the bigger life” by agreeing with Adam to bring their two dogs, Nacho and Daisy, on the long trip to pick up Jack from summer camp.

Elizabeth mentions the “Choose the Bigger Life” ceramic travel mug. (Actually, she mentions the pouch, but the pouch says “The days are long but the years are short.”)

Spotlight on a Tool

The free Merlin Bird ID app identifies birds by song. Very fun.

Quality Screen Time

Elizabeth loved watching many videos of the legendary musician Joni Mitchell’s surprise appearance at the Newport Folk Festival — her first return to the stage after many years.

I watched the video of Joni Mitchell singing “Both Sides Now” — later I watched many more.

Quotation

There are no chains of houses; there are no crowds of men. The colossal diagram of streets and houses is an illusion, the opium dream of a speculative builder. Each of these men is supremely solitary and supremely important to himself. Each of these houses stands in the centre of the world. There is no single house of all those millions which has not seemed to someone at some time the heart of all things and the end of travel.
— G. K. Chesterton, Twelve Types (Amazon, Bookshop)