Happy To Be Here

I was reading last week about yet another study of the world's happiest countries. They seem to be heavily concentrated in the colder climes of Europe, ie, Sweden, Switzerland. That would not work for me. I am allergic to the cold. So, even though I live in the relatively cold and snowy Northeast, I would never contemplate a move to another cold climate. California, perhaps. Florida I would consider. Even Ireland, with its admittedly soggy yet Gulf Stream-influenced temperate temperature might be OK. The many art, literary, music festivals would do a lot to make up for the rain. And the witty, wordy and kind Irish themselves.

This week if I had to choose, though, my choice might be an odd one. It might be the Botswana of Alexander McCall Smith's marvelous #1 Ladies Detective Agency series. He writes of a kinder, gentler country, where people are happy to sit together drinking tea and conversing, or simply watching cattle (although I'd prefer horses, myself). They sometimes do foolish or wicked things, giving Mma Ramotwe, said lady detective, some scope for her business. But by and large, the pace is slow and calm in the office on Tlokweng Road, and there is plenty of time for tea, speculation with her assistant, Mma Makutsi, and magazine reading.

If I can't move to Botswana though, I realize I am fairly content here, in the small town I grew up in, where the fine horror writer, H.P. Lovecraft, spent some time. He modeled many of his landscapes on the rather boggy, craggy, piney land I walked as a child, and now have returned to as an adult. It is in the creepy New England literary tradition I love, but I find it a cheerful place nonetheless, and the Lovecraft association makes it rather fun. I wonder if I am setting my foot where he did, on Springfield Mountain and its surrounding orchards.

This week, contemplate your own surroundings. What makes you happy about where you find yourself? What would you miss if you moved to Botswana (or Sweden)? Whose footsteps do you follow? Write it, draw it.