Tag: Odes to Joy 2022

“CHOOSE JOY: Positively add more happiness and contentment to your life with a 30-minute visit to The S.U.N.S. JOY MUSEUM.”  That’s a bold claim for...

To increase your likelihood of a HAPPY NEW YEAR, here are 365 S.U.N.S. (Smile-Making, Uniting, Neighboring, Spellbinding) ideas from the past 52 weeks:  JANUARY  Choose joy...

“JOY is the true gift of Christmas.”—Pope Benedict XVI  Are the Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza holidays more blissful or more stressful? YES, all the above. There...

“Home is a vessel for your joys.” That one-liner felt original to me this year and crystallized decades of pondering design. Friends were building...

“WOOK! WOOK!”, a double exclamation, were my first words. I was mimicking my hyper-observant, deeply curious mother as she pointed out discoveries -“LOOK! LOOK!”...

JOY TO THE WORLD  Joy to the world,  All the boys and girls.  Joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea,  Joy to you and me.  - written...

ODE TO FRIENDSGIVING  Let’s not wait until November’s fourth Thursday  To give thanks for, and also with a friend.  Today, tomorrow, Friendsgiving can be any such day.  Be...

“Joyous aging” is as easy as 1-2-3-4, which you can remember with the simple S.U.N.S. (Smile-Making, Uniting, Neighboring, Spellbinding) acronym.   S.U.N.S. AMERICAN ALPHABET reflects on...

“Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination,   and life to everything.”  - Plato  “Speak to one another with psalms,...

TEA FOR TWO Picture you upon my knee Just tea for two And two for tea Just me for you And you for me alone. - Music by Vincent Youmans;...

“Age appears best in four things: old wood to burn, old wine to drink, old friends to trust and old authors to read.”  —Francis Bacon  Wines...

RADIATE S.U.N.S. JOY to add more sunny happiness and warm contentment to your world and to others. American literary legend, Edith Wharton, glowed with...

“The JOYrontologist” is saluting joy-seeking explorers this Columbus Day holiday. As we raise flutes of Prosecco and chow down on veal pizza (recipe below),...

ODE TO AUTUMN Autumn days are here, blue sky clear and dear. Let’s harvest a bushel of joy and fall cheer. Our S.U.N.S. (Smile-Making, Uniting, Neighboring, Spellbinding)...

F-WORDS  ̶̶  there are so FLIPPIN’ many FANTASTICATIOUS ones! Here are a few more fun, FLAVORFUL faves after all of these from the former...

F-WORDS are not used frequently enough. At least that’s true for some F-WORDS. There are so many FABU F-WORDS, I’ve FINAGLED them into two...

ODE TO BRAND YOU If you were a brand, Would you be fresh and sweet as Krispy Kreme, Or aged and mellow like a sip of Jim...

“Grow old along with me! The best is yet to be…” - Robert Browning “The JOYrontologist” recommends: If you only read one book about joyous aging in...

ODE TO THE “E WORD” Isn’t it a sweet surprise That play is a workout in disguise. Chic gym clothes can never glamorize The boring drudge of exercise. S.U.N.S....

ODE TO SOLITUDE Solitude and loneliness Are far from the same. Solitude is exquisite pleasure; Loneliness, excruciating pain. My name is Ben and…I am a GREGARIOUS HERMIT. There, I’ve...

For the last several years, I’ve enjoyed leading an April-in-Alabama history walking tour through Cullman.  Like Martina McBride sang, “word gets around in a...

ODE TO A WORLD-CLASS QUEST Today, I’m on a world-class quest for the ultimate food fest. I started off so Hungary and thought to Czech my...

After turning 70 this year, I’m performing in my first, classical ballet. Seeing all those ballerinas on tiptoe, I’m wondering—why didn’t they just get...

“If you have no charity in your heart, you have the worst kind of heart trouble.”—Bob Hope HILARITY FOR CHARITY is a perfect example of...

“When do we learn that the world, like any diner worth its salt, is open 24 hours a day?”—Daniel Handler  American diners are the perfect...

Remember when America was all about freedom-loving fun and people fought for “The Right to Party?” Even in 1773 (evening of December 16), our...

                                                        ODE TO JOY-ZINES                                    A self-pub, a journal, a dream board, a zine;                                    All the positivity one might glean.                                    For you and by you,...

                                                                      ODE TO MY DAD                             Dad, I’m glad you were one of my favorite parents,                             Even though we disagreed about most sermons and nearly...

NEVER TRUST A GERONTOLOGIST UNDER 70! Please hear me saying that playfully. However, I’ve done my 70 years and spent much of it studying...

                                                                       ODE TO SUMMER                                                   My longtime favorite season is summer.                                                   Though fall, spring nor winter is a bummer.                                                   At 70, this thought’s not a...

                                                        AMERICAN HEROES by Cheryl Alexander (American poet, Cheryl Alexander, about her ode to heroes: “This poem is dedicated to all the heroes in our...

I LOVE LIBRARIES and I have a dream of a beautiful, FREE, public one with happy colors, patron-selected seating, art murals, craft/study/activity areas, cubbies,...

                                                             When I get the urge to purge,                                                              I first put on some music.                                                              A little more punk and a little less dirge,                                                              Then...

                                                                ODE TO ZZZ                                                      ZZZ are A-okay methinks,                                                      Each regarded with great esteem.                                                      A long sleep or just 40 winks,                                                      To doze, perchance to...

                                                                    ODE TO WANDERLUST                                                  I long to walk there, maybe there and then there.                                                  More joy-filled I’ll return, you may surely trust.                                                  In my...

                                                                ODE TO BLOOMING                                                 Stealthily, they commanded the hill,                                                 Though no cannons nor bombs were booming.                                                 No movement detected, all seemed deadly still.                                                 Then,...

                                                              ODE TO REINVENTING                                                   Any given day can be a time to start over,                                                   It just takes hard work, luck and good intention.                                                   So,...

                                                                ODE TO JOY BIRDS                                                   The singing kind are such joy birds,                                                   One rarely hears a whiner.                                                   Chirping, tweeting, hummingbirds                                                   Make a fine day...

                                                              ODE TO FOUR, JOYFUL SEASONS                                                          Spring is joyful, then there is also this,                                                          Summer is such sunny bliss.                                                          Autumn is a sweet molasses...

                                                       ODE TO A PLANTRY                                      Old Mother Gantry went to her pantry,                                      Looked angry, then trashed it all, blankly.                                      She restocked as a fun,...

                                                                      ODE TO A FUN, HEALTHY DIET                                                                           Try as I might,                                                                           A fun, healthy diet                                                                           Seems an oxymoron in daylight                                                                           And a darker mystery...

                                                          LAFF EVRY DAY!                                      Laff, laff for your brain and your heart.                                      Laffing makes you strong.                                      Laffing makes you smart.                                      Laffter is good for...

                                                        Too Young to Be Seventy—by Judith Viorst* Deep in my heart I believe I’m Too young to be seventy. There are times when I’m wearing my...

                                                               AN ODE TO GARDEN JOY                                      A book and a glass of wine in a garden is all I need;                                      A sip, the sunshine,...

                                        ODE TO BOOK JOY                             Books are magic transportable.                             Free libraries make them quite affordable.                             It is well-known but still reportable,                             Libraries need us...

                                                ODE TO S.U.N.S.*            Smile-making is thinking and doing, all positively done.            Uniting is connecting with someone and with everyone.            Neighboring is sharing and...

ODE TO SPELLBINDING                                                      Hocus pocus, fully focus.                                                      Cast off the spell of the phone,                                                      And fully succumb to the joy zone.                                                      Presto, change-o, feel...

ODE TO NEIGHBORING                                          Neighbors come in lots of flavors;                                          Lovers, haters, givers, takers.                                          Not to belabor, though no message greater,                                          Love all neighbors on...

                                                              ODE TO UNITING                                  (Dedicated to John Lennon and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.) I have a dream and I’m inviting All to end the fighting...

                                               ODE TO SMILE-MAKING When you’re smiling, the muscles it takes are 17. But, when you’re scowling, it takes 43 and looks so mean. When you’re smiling,...

Ode to AMERICAN JOY-GIVERS My country ‘tis a sunny land of joy-giving heroines and heroes, Like Don Ho, Quentin Tarantino, Edgar Allen Poe and Rudolph Valentino. And,...