Things That Pleased Me Yesterday

• Mozart piano sonatas on the car stereo, conjuring a perfect world of charm and delight.
• Wild turkeys browsing about by the side of a highway in New Jersey. Once rare, they've made a comeback. Things you see by the side of the highway in New Jersey typically aren't very rare. This increases the chance that someday I will sit down at a table with a roasted wild turkey on it. That pleased me.
• A toll booth staffed by a big smiling lady with a handcrafted cross and long straggly blond hair and furry earmuffs.
  
• Finding new friends along the way, just like in Lord of the Rings.
• Coming home to the Miracle Cat Who Might Have Died But Didn't.
• Waking up at 2 a.m. to the sound of rain on the roof and loving that sound and wondering why.*
  

* This morning I think I know: When you hear that sound you have a palpable sense that no matter how modest it may be, your home shelters you. Watching a windy snowstorm through your windows with a glass of port in your hand has roughly the same effect.