That gave me a big smile.
Even out of great tragedy can come some good.
I have a weird friend I have known almost as long as my husband. I love my weird friend. We are separated by several states now.
Today, in the mail I received this:
I wasn’t having a great day until I received my trusty eel facts Advent calendar.
That’s a moray.
A dog retired due to injuries now helps to save bee colonies. Love the dog suit in the photo!
And @running_coach LOL I saw what you did there
I grow garlic and figs as a hobby. There are always 10 times what my household can use, so I bag them up and foist them off on older folks who walk the same route I do for exercise. Lots of smiles, which is a tiny bit of counter war against the current social and political environment. I now get smiles from folks who had never smiled over the several years I’ve been walking. I’ve gotten to know some of them pretty well.
When you have a favorite watering hole, you find a way to get there:
This made my day:
First of all, You Are Awesome!
Second, More Garlic than you can use? You are doing something WRONG! 
That was very cool, on many levels. Talent, logistics, camera… great vid! Thanks for sharing!
Hopefully this is not interpreted as a humble-brag on my part, but just wanted to share something that happened recently.
Our neighbor’s husband recently died. She’s also unemployed and appears to be somewhat destitute. She contacted me a couple weeks ago, and said the front brakes on her 2014 F-150 truck were making noises.
So my son and I got it up on our lift and started working on it early on a Saturday. It took us a couple hours just to remove the lug bolts from the passenger side wheel; they’re a (shitty) two-piece design, and the outer “skin” of each bolt was spinning and thus had to be carefully cut off with a Dremel (see first pic). We then installed new pads on both sides ($40), a new rotor on the passenger side ($121), and new lug bolts on the passenger side ($60). Total material cost was around $220, and it took us about five hours from start to finish, which included a trip to the local auto parts store. When we returned the truck she was absolutely elated, and gave my son a $100 gas card. She then asked, “Will that cover the cost?” I paused, thought about it for a few seconds, and said, “Yes.”
This is a great story, and so cool you could do it with your son. We need more of this in the world.
Absolutely. Well done!
I’m a little late catching up in this thread. @Spice_Weasel, does your son play chess yet? It seems like the kind of thing he would love!
Hmmm…I love garlic, but 180 bulbs?
Well done! In every way.
That’s a good start!
I met an 8 year-old boy today. His Mom introduced herself and him to me. I shook both of their hands.
I told him I was one of the Camera Operators on the t.v. show. I asked him what he liked to do. He said, " I am going to be a zoologist. " He’s EIGHT. He loves reptiles, designs habitats for them at home and builds them with adult help. He never misses a chance to see a new zoo when he travels with his parents.
Now, I know that in a year he could say something entirely different. But…he had a real light in his eyes. He’s HOOKED and wants to do this.
Made me happy for him. I then asked him if he’d like to see how to operate my camera. He noodled with it for a few minutes ( which likely amused the people in the control room watching all of the cameras on the Big Wall, who saw that I suddenly had lost my chops 
)
He was serious. It was very sweet to witness.
That’s lovely. I hope he fulfills all of his dreams.
Upthread I noted that I live in a pretty culturally diverse town. Today that town held a celebration of unity – a much needed moment of sanity in these racism- and hate-filled times. There were stalls celebrating various ethnic and religious groups, a pride stall, music and entertainments – we saw Tamil dancing, African drummers… (In truth we missed most of the event, because my saintly friend A, who works tirelessly (unpaid, of course) for a local hospice, had a craft sale going on; so we went there to lend support and buy some stuff that she and her sister had made.)
Anyway, what we saw was great, and the simple fact that the event took place was a fine thing. But there was an odd and pleasing extra facet to the event. Unlikely as it sounds, my particular part of the world has (I believe) the largest Chagossian/Diego Garcian community in the UK – some 3000 people. And here’s a puzzling thing: to the best of my knowledge I have never met one of them – until today.
Well. I didn’t exactly meet them. But a newly formed Chagossian youth football team (Chagossian and friends, by the look of it) took to the stage and explained their story and mission. In truth, that was pretty boring, but that’s not the point: it was good to see them there. It made the day seem more complete.
j