Not for the first time, my title was inspired by the saying on a packet of Truvia.
ELBEE She is no Shakspeare.
As soon as I read, “Go to Your Happy Place,” the mountains popped into my head. And with some of the craziness I’ve seen over the past few weeks, I really needed to go up there.
First there was the woman at the bank. The branch had been closed for a week so on the morning that it reopened there was a long line outside. People were politely social distancing as they waited to go in.
As I walked up with Stanley, I heard an extremely loud voice. It was a woman near the front of the line, who ironically was from another country, mocking people of different nationalities. I’d guess she dropped the f-bomb about twenty times during her ranting and raving.
Eventually a manager calmed her down and got her inside. After doing her banking, she was sitting on a couch refusing to leave until two customers she was pointing at were arrested. Unfortunately, the police arrived shortly after she had been convinced to leave, dropping more f-bombs as she headed out the door.
Then there was the older man with long scraggly hair, sitting in the passenger seat of his car parked near a busy trailhead. The door was open and his bare feet were sticking out. As I walked by with the dogs, I realized that his feet weren’t the only things that were bare. A woman in front of me was so flustered, she said “I’m getting out of here as fast as possible.”
ELBEE She can’t make this stuff up.
When I went to my happy place, it was if the universe knew that I needed a 
few positive signs. I found heart-shaped rocks embedded in two different trails. A friend told me they were good luck.
I saw a smiling face that someone had drawn in the dirt.
I was delighted to see the first bush sunflowers of the season in bloom, a hint of the glorious explosion of color that will soon cover the hills..
ELBEE Now she’s William Wordsworth.
At home in the evening, what lifted my spirits almost as much as being in the mountains, was hanging out with the Doods and watching the sun set over my happy place.
