"These are a few of my favorite things..."

There are a couple things that always improve my mood. Y inclu sont: eating an orange (ya gotta peel it into a single beautifully-scented spiral), sitting in the sun, staring at the sky, various enthusiastic people, singing, large quantities of granite, trees. . .

It being February in New York, sun is scarce. Trees, however, remain plentiful, if leafless. There's something amazing about the naked branches stark against a cloud-white sky, the graceful black tracery and occasional shine of a bulging drop of water. . . It's a good thing crowds of people weren't rushing along the Tabler steps at the time, because I stared at the tree/sky juxtaposition and walked with my face skyward for a while.

The professor in Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles would be pleased with me. (I think I need to re-read that book.)