2017-06-30 12:53
Yup, the blog redesign is finally here. I hope you like it.I’ve done my best to make everything change over smoothly, but you know how that goes. I expect there will be come glitches h… Read More
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Simple pleasures and everyday adventures
2017-06-28 11:30
Photo courtesy Hannes WolfIntroduction by Ted Kooser: Here David Wagoner, a distinguished poet living in Washington state, vividly describes a peacock courtship, and though it’s a poem… Read More
2017-06-23 11:30
Let’s take a break from the everyday adventure of blog redesign to bask in the simple pleasure of a new book!I got this little beauty in the mail this week:I’ve been waiting impa… Read More
2017-06-21 11:30
“It was June, and the world smelled of roses. The sunshine was like powdered goldover the grassy hillside.”—Maud Hart Lovelace Read More
2017-06-16 18:11
Photo courtesy PexelsYesterday I found myself near tears in the produce section of my local Publix supermarket. No, I don’t have a strange phobia related to cantaloupe and corn on the… Read More
2017-06-14 11:30
Photo courtesy swimswimIntroduction by Ted Kooser: Here's a touching father-son poem by Jennifer Gray, who lives in Nebraska. If you're not big enough to push a real mower, well, you make a… Read More
2017-06-09 11:30
A few weeks ago during a riding lesson, in front of six other students and a couple of watching parents, I made an “unscheduled dismount” from Tank’s back. We were practici… Read More
2017-06-07 11:30
Photo courtesy Providence Doucet“Happiness is a thing to be practiced, like the violin.” —John Lubbock Read More
2017-05-31 11:58
Photo courtesy Alexas_FotosIntroduction by Ted Kooser: The University of Minnesota Press has published a wonderful new collection of bee poems, If Bees Are Few, which may in some small way h… Read More
2017-05-24 11:28
“Perfectionism is our denial of two very basic truths of existence: we are not perfect; and we are not, ultimately, in control. When we absorb the law of perfection, we are infected wi… Read More
2017-05-19 14:46
I’m in the midst of a redesign and update of Catching Happiness, so it might be a little quieter than usual here for the next week or two, depending on how smoothly the transition take… Read More
2017-05-17 11:58
Photo courtesy Aaron BurdenIntroduction by Ted Kooser: Here's a celebration of one day in the week, the kids with the father, a brownie for breakfast, everything right with the world. Januar… Read More
2017-05-12 14:44
Since it’s already 90+ degrees here, I’ve been thinking wistfully of the cooler, drier air we had on our road trip, how invigorating I found it and how nice it was not to be cons… Read More
2017-05-10 11:30
“I am determined to be cheerful and happy in whatever situation I may find myself. For I have learned that the greater part of our misery or unhappiness is determined not by our circum… Read More
2017-05-03 11:30
Photo courtesy Michael GaidaIntroduction by Ted Kooser: Once the carpenter put the sash-weights into the wall next to the window, they were never seen again. Eventually they fell off the rop… Read More
2017-05-01 17:33
Third and final installment of road trip adventures (see part one here, and part two here).In addition to the striking scenery, good food, and precious hours spent with a friend, o… Read More
2017-04-26 11:30
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts.”—Mark Twain Read More
2017-04-24 16:58
Installment two of the great Arizona/New Mexico Road Trip...Let me tell you a little secret about traveling with my friend Kerri. You’d better be ready to GO. She packs more into a day… Read More
2017-04-20 01:59
This is installment one of my 2017 Arizona/New Mexico road trip adventures with my friend Kerri. As we bumped down the dirt road to the mouth of the canyon, tour company owner Jac… Read More
2017-04-17 21:47
I’m home. My suitcase is stowed, and I just finished the laundry, but I’m still unpacking my photos (all 700+ of them) and my impressions. I’ll share tales from the road la… Read More
2017-04-12 11:30
Upper Antelope Canyon, Arizona,courtesy Josef Pichler“Travel isn’t always pretty. It isn’t always comfortable. Sometimes it hurts, it even breaks your heart. But that&rsquo&hell…Read More
2017-04-07 11:30
I’m getting ready for an adventure! Tomorrow I take off to New Mexico and Arizona for another road trip with my friend Kerri. (Read about 2016’s Florida road trip adventures star… Read More
2017-04-05 11:30
Photo courtesy Aaron BurdenIntroduction by Ted Kooser: Roy Scheele, one of Nebraska's finest poets, has a new chapbook called The Sledders: Thirty Sonnets, from Three Sheets Press. One of an… Read More
2017-04-03 18:36
Does reading poetry seem hard or boring? Do you think you’d like to read poetry, but for some reason just can’t seem to make it a regular practice? April is National Poetry Month… Read More
2017-03-31 11:21
Last Friday, I accompanied Laure Ferlita and the Sarasota Urban Sketchers to the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in Sarasota, Florida. This was my first visit to Selby, and I’ll be back… Read More
2017-03-29 11:30
“Loving people live in a loving world. Hostile people live in a hostile world. Same world.” —Wayne W. Dyer Read More
2017-03-27 19:11
So many lessons I’ve learned in riding can be neatly applied to the rest of my life. Take this deceptively simple instruction: Look where you want to go.In riding, and even when leadin… Read More
2017-03-22 11:30
Photo courtesy janeb13Introduction by Ted Kooser: Marge Saiser is a Nebraska poet about whose work I have said that no contemporary poet is better at writing about love. Here's a love poem f… Read More
2017-03-20 11:30
Photo courtesy LuizaHappiness matters. So much so that in 2012 the United Nations created the International Day of Happiness, and it was celebrated for the first time in 2013. The purpose of… Read More
2017-03-17 11:30
Photo courtesy Jennifer PallianSometimes this world is too much for me. Too many activities. Too much noise. Too many expectations. Too much stuff in my house. Too much stuff in my head. Mor… Read More
2017-03-15 11:30
Photo courtesy Aaron Burden“If you want to be sad, live in the past. If you want to be anxious, live in the future. If you want to be peaceful, live in the now.”—Karen Salm… Read More
2017-03-10 12:30
Photo courtesy SuchitraWe’re expecting some family visitors this weekend, so I’ve been sprucing up the house so it looks its best. It’s not quite a full spring clean, but i… Read More
2017-03-08 12:52
Photo courtesy Thomas B.Introduction by Ted Kooser: This year’s brutal winter surely calls for a poem such as today’s selection, a peek at the inner workings of spring. Susan Kel… Read More
2017-03-03 20:35
Horses, like all animals, live in the moment. They’re in tune with their surroundings—aware of the turkey in the next field, the start up of the truck that brings their hay, or i… Read More
2017-03-01 12:30
Photo courtesy Jenna Beekhuis“Happiness is a sunbeam which may pass through a thousand bosoms without losing a particle of its original ray; nay, when it strikes on a kindred heart, li… Read More
2017-02-24 12:30
It’s time once again for Link Love, a round up of links I hope you’ll find as entertaining and thought provoking as I did.Bloggers are an opinionated bunch. We offer stories and… Read More
2017-02-22 12:30
Photo courtesy Uwe BaumannIntroduction by Ted Kooser: The next time you open your closet, this poem will give you reason to pay a little more attention to what's hanging inside. Gary Whited… Read More
2017-02-17 16:07
Photo courtesy Doru LupeanuHere’s the story as I’ve heard it: many years ago, Brad Isaac was hanging around comedy clubs and doing open mic nights, and had the chance to ask Jerr… Read More
2017-02-15 12:30
Photo courtesy Joshua Hibbert“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”—Martin Luther King Jr Read More
2017-02-10 12:30
Photo courtesy Michael and Christa RichertA couple of Sundays ago, I spent the entire day in my pajamas. It was cold and rainy outside, my husband and son were sick, and it just seemed so mu… Read More
2017-02-08 12:30
Photo courtesy markrussellmcIntroduction by Ted Kooser: We constantly compare one thing with another, or attempt to, saying, “Well, you know, love is like...it’s like...well… Read More
2017-02-01 12:30
“Happiness is neither virtue nor pleasure nor this thing nor that but simply growth. We are happy when we are growing.”—William Butler Yeats Read More
2017-01-27 12:30
For the past week, I’ve found myself waking every morning from anxious dreams. I’m OK during the day when I can use my conscious mind to relax, but by night, my subconscious take… Read More
2017-01-25 13:21
Photo courtesy Andreas NuskoIntroduction by Ted Kooser: My maternal grandparents got their drinking water from a well in the yard, and my disabled uncle carried it sloshing to the house, one… Read More
2017-01-20 16:47
If you want to enrich your life with activities that inspire you, and you’d like a jumpstart into action, then Linda Formichelli’s newest book How to Do It All: The Revolutionary… Read More
2017-01-18 12:33
Photo courtesy Karl Fredrickson“Happiness is within the reach of everyone, rich or poor. Yet comparatively few people are happy. I believe the reason for this is that the majority don'… Read More
2017-01-13 19:24
I’ve been thinking about a forensic investigation technique lately—and not just because I like reading mysteries. No, it’s because I recently came across Dr. Edmond Locard… Read More
2017-01-11 12:30
Introduction by Ted Kooser: A while back we published a column in which I talked about my delight in the many names of kinds of apples, and mentioned Louise Bogan's marvelous mid-centur… Read More
2017-01-06 17:38
During the week between Christmas and Jan. 1, I begin my official year-end wrap up and planning for the next year. I don’t do New Year’s resolutions, but I do set some big, overa… Read More
2017-01-04 12:30
“A new year is a gift, a small piece of infinity, to do with as we will. Things happen. We grow (we hope), and we learn willy nilly. Life moves around us, life moves through us to othe… Read More
2017-01-02 20:48
I hope you had a most happy and refreshing holiday season. Even though it was 85 degrees on Christmas Day, we enjoyed hosting family for a meal, and apparently we were very good this year, b… Read More
2016-12-23 15:44
I typically take a break from blogging during the week between Christmas and New Year’s, and I’m doing just that next week. For me, this time of year is a time of reflection and… Read More
2016-12-21 12:30
“Happiness, true happiness, is an inner quality. It is a state of mind. If your mind is at peace, you are happy. If your mind is at peace, but you have nothing else, you can be happy… Read More
2016-12-16 12:30
I indulge in the comforts of life—comfort food, comfort reads, comfortable routines—at least as much as the next person. But I must admit that dis-comfort has also played an impo… Read More
2016-12-14 12:30
Photo courtesy Filip KruchlikIntroduction by Ted Kooser: We are never without our insect companions, even in winter, and here’s one who has the run of the house. Roger Pfingston lives… Read More
2016-12-09 12:30
Despite my stated goal of reducing the to-be-read (TBR) stack of books I own, the theme of 2016 could easily be summed up in the title of this post. Never mind that my closet shelves already… Read More
2016-12-07 12:30
Photo courtesy Joe Beck“It takes great wit and interest and energy to be happy. The pursuit of happiness is a great activity. One must be open and alive. It is the greatest feat man ha… Read More
2016-12-05 16:32
I’m thrilled to share with you my latest published article, “Wanted: One Dream Horse.” Written for the American Quarter Horse Association’s member publication America… Read More
2016-11-30 12:30
Introduction by Ted Kooser: We've been selecting poems for this column for more than ten years and I can't remember ever publishing a poem about a cat. But here at last is a cat, a lovely ol… Read More
2016-11-28 16:22
For the past 28 days I’ve been participating in the 2016 30-Day Gratitude Photo Challenge, sponsored by Dani from Positively Present and Caroline from Made Vibrant. Each day, I’v… Read More
2016-11-23 12:30
Photo courtesy Lutece“Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgivings, turn routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings.”—William Arthur… Read More
2016-11-18 12:34
What could be wrong with positive thinking? Shouldn’t you maintain an optimistic belief in your success when you set out to achieve something? After all, popular culture is full of ins… Read More
2016-11-16 12:30
Photo courtesy Patrick ForeIntroduction by Ted Kooser: It is enough for me as a reader that a poem take from life a single moment and hold it up for me to look at. There need not be anything… Read More
2016-11-11 15:43
Guess what? Today marks the 7th anniversary of Catching Happiness. That’s a lot of simple pleasures and everyday adventures!Catching Happiness began as a place for me to explore a more… Read More
2016-11-09 12:30
Photo courtesy Joshua Earle“Life is lived best in the place of risk and trust. Things are more thrilling when we are at the edge of what’s possible, beyond what is expected or co… Read More
2016-11-04 11:59
I’m not complaining, but how did it get to be November already? It seems like it was January just a few moments ago!Recently I haven’t spent much time roaming the internet (I&rsq&hell…Read More
2016-11-02 11:30
Photo courtesy Gerhard GellingerIntroduction by Ted Kooser: Beginning writers often tell me their real lives aren't interesting enough to write about, but the mere act of shaping a poem lift… Read More
2016-10-31 16:14
Gratitude plays a large role in happiness—in fact, gratitude seems to be able to rewire your brain and help you feel happier! Paying attention to the good things in your life is a powe… Read More
2016-10-28 17:54
The out-of-hand TBR shelfLet’s talk books, shall we? It’s been months since I’ve written about what I’ve been reading. And you know I’ve been reading…tho… Read More
2016-10-26 11:30
Photo courtesy Annie Spratt“You were born to be open and honest and brave and playful, to laugh often, to love much, to be loved much in return. You were born for joy. Sit. Feast on yo… Read More
2016-10-24 16:18
I came home from my trip to California to see my parents to find the weather here has turned fall-ish! Between that and the rejuvenation of my visit, I feel like a new person.I indulged in s… Read More
2016-10-19 11:30
Photo courtesy Alessandra CarassasIntroduction by Ted Kooser: While many of the poems we feature in this column are written in open forms, that’s not to say I don’t respect good… Read More
2016-10-14 11:30
Guess where I am? I’m indulging in simple pleasures and everyday adventures in California while I visit my parents. Here, there’s no chorus of projects, laundry, or errands. Time… Read More
2016-10-12 11:30
Photo courtesy Ms. Magazine“Happiness comes from living as you need to, as you wantto. As your inner voice tells you to. Happiness comes from being who you actually are instead of who… Read More
2016-10-07 11:30
I know it doesn’t seem like there’s much to smile about—hurricanes, contentious presidential elections, and various other distressing events and tragedies grab headline spa… Read More
2016-10-05 11:30
Introduction by Ted Kooser: Barbara Crooker, who lives in Pennsylvania, has become one of this column's favorite poets. We try to publish work that a broad audience of readers can understand… Read More
2016-09-30 11:30
I recently participated in Sarah Jenks’ Live More Challenge. For two weeks, I put more thought into what would make life more delicious, what would feed my life (rather than just my bo… Read More
2016-09-28 11:30
Photo courtesy Ales Krivec“If you leave a puddle of water standing for a few days, it will become poisonous and nasty, ridden with algae and bug larvae. On the other hand, you can get… Read More
2016-09-23 14:40
Photo courtesy Micah H.Do you feel it? It’s fall. At least according to the calendar (and in the Northern Hemisphere). Many places, central Florida included, still feel like summer, bu… Read More
2016-09-21 11:30
Photo courtesy Jamie R. MinkIntroduction by Ted Kooser: Here's a poem by Debra Nystrom about what it feels like to be a schoolgirl in rural America. No loud laughter echoing in the shopping… Read More
2016-09-16 13:23
Which of these scenarios sounds like a happier way to start the day?Your alarm rings, you hit snooze because you’re so tired. It rings again and you realize you forgot that y… Read More
2016-09-14 11:30
Photo courtesy Manuel Barroso Parejo“It is easier to tryto be betterthan you arethan to bewho you are.”—Marion Woodman, Coming Home to Myself Read More
2016-09-09 11:45
I’m a practical cook by necessity. I don’t love cooking, but I do love fresh, homemade, relatively healthy food. Naturally, now and then I get utterly sick of cooking and need ei… Read More
2016-09-07 12:18
Photo courtesy Alex DrahonIntroduction by Ted Kooser: In this poem by New York poet Martin Walls, a common insect is described and made vivid for us through a number of fresh and engaging co… Read More
2016-09-05 16:28
Today is Labor Day in the United States, a day “dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers.” I’ll be spending it caring for my horse, checking in… Read More
2016-08-31 11:56
“To age gracefully is to experience fully each day and season. When we have truly lived our lives, we don’t want to live them again. It’s the life that was not lived that w… Read More
2016-08-26 12:46
Photo courtesy Alexander FilonchikThe internet has been humming with interesting stuff lately, and I don’t mean the latest gossipy tidbit about a celebrity or political candidate. I&rs&hell…Read More
2016-08-24 11:30
Photo courtesy sailormn34Introduction by Ted Kooser: I’ve lived all my life on the plains, where no body of water is more than a few feet deep, and even at that shallow depth I’m… Read More
2016-08-22 13:00
Nikolay Okhitin, PhotoXpress.com Welcome to summer reruns! About once a month, I’ll be sharing a post from the archives. I hope you enjoy this one, from 2011.In my reading this mo… Read More
2016-08-19 11:30
I complain a lot about the heat and humidity here in central Florida, but if I hadn’t moved here, I wouldn’t have my horse. I think it’s worth it. I board him at a small, f… Read More
2016-08-17 11:30
Photo courtesy Pedro Melo“Deep summer is when laziness finds respectability.”—Sam Keen Read More
2016-08-12 12:35
Photo courtesy Ian DunlopI’m sure you’re not surprised that I’ve been watching the equestrian events of the 2016 Summer Olympics. One of my favorites to watch is the eventi… Read More
2016-08-10 11:30
Photo courtesy Alexas_FotosIntroduction by Ted Kooser: Poet Ruth L. Schwartz writes of the glimpse of possibility, of something sweeter than we already have that comes to us, grows in us. Th… Read More
2016-08-05 12:46
You want an everyday adventure? I’ve got one for you: living with men. Let me explain. I grew up in a home with a single mom. Though I visited my dad, I didn’t live with him. In… Read More
2016-08-03 11:30
“Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude.”—Denis Wait… Read More
2016-07-29 15:31
I enjoy Beatrix Potter’s children’s tales with their detailed and charming illustrations, but after reading a biography of her a few years ago (Linda Lear’s excellent Beatr… Read More
2016-07-27 11:30
Introduction by Ted Kooser: Faced by a loss, and perhaps by a loss of words, many of us find something to do with our hands. Here's a poem about just that by Arden Levine, published in 2015… Read More
2016-07-22 11:30
Welcome to summer reruns! About once a month, I’ll be sharing a post from the archives. I hope you enjoy this one, from 2011.If you’re like me, you know what makes you happy. You… Read More
2016-07-20 11:30
“Make treating yourself a priority and always remember your life is happening now. Don't put off all your dreams and pleasures to another day. In any balanced personal defin… Read More
2016-07-15 12:18
“Sometimes letting things go is an act of far greater power than defending or hanging on.”—Eckert TolleI’ve done it a thousand times, but this time something we… Read More
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