It’s Monday, which means a new set of questions in Melanie’s Share Your World.

QUESTIONS:
Can you bake a cake?
I can, but I don’t. I think I have baked a cake only once or twice in my life. There are lots of places where I can buy really good cakes which is a lot less work for me! I also know many good cake bakers whose cakes are delicious! They enjoy doing it, so why not indulge them? Also, I prefer ice cream cakes, and I don’t know how to make those (except to put a scoop of ice cream on top of a piece of cake!).

One of my favorite cakes – molten chocolate lava cake!

What’s one thing that can instantly make your day better?
Sunshine and warm temperatures! When I can wear a lighter jacket…take a walk in the neighborhood…look for signs of spring, like buds on trees and green plants beginning to push up out of the ground (I am seeing small buds, but nothing coming up out of the ground yet.)

We have had a mild winter, which is fine with me. I wish every winter were like this one. Thinking that makes me feel a little guilty – I’m basically advocating for climate change, and I know that winters like this are not what is best for our Midwestern ecosystem. But if it were up to me, I would never have lived in this area – I much prefer warmer climates. Instead, because there hasn’t been enough freeze, there were probably be lots of bugs around here this summer. On the other hand, every season has its beauty – even the winter. When there’s been a fresh snowfall, I ideally would like to dash out and take a few splendid photographs, then go back inside and read by the fire.

When you were a kid, did you eat the crusts on your sandwich or not?
Yes, I did. Sometimes the crust is the best part!

What’s something your family would be surprised to learn about you?
I have never liked answering this question. I really don’t know, because my life is pretty much an open book. So I think and think and try to come up with some stupid thing, but it ends up that I’ve already told someone that already.

AND (of course)

GRATITUDE IS AN ATTITUDE!
Please feel free to share some gratitude from this past week (or month or year). This is purely optional of course, but it does tend to uplift everyone (I happen to think) to read some happy and/or joyful thoughts or view some uplifting pictures. Thank you if you do so!
The other day, it was mild enough to take a long walk outside. My husband suggested we walk the “back 9” of a golf course nearby that he will soon be playing. It was a nice long walk, so I got some good exercise. Here’s a photo I took at the golf course.

I am grateful for the excellent rehab program where my son willingly spent 28 days. He seems to be on a much more even keel now, and he is eating normally, which he didn’t when he was using. He had lost weight and now is gaining some of it back (he’s not a large person to begin with!). Right now he has the medications he needs for his depression and anxiety, which help a lot. He has the basic services he needs. And recently, he transferred stocks he had held for many years – my parents had bought them to pay for college, but he didn’t complete college – into an investment portfolio with monthly dividends. I feel much less anxiety about him now, knowing that he is trying to get his life back together and that at least he has the money he needs to survive, but not enough that he won’t need to get a job. He’s working on getting a job, but meanwhile, he has what he needs.