First, Pollyanna's boyfriend's name is Jimmy Bean. Second, thank you for the jokes. They didn't help as much as the sunshine. I went for a walk yesterday afternoon, a walk in the sun, and even though the temperature is still below normal for this time of year, I enjoyed it. You know that song of John Denver's, may he rest in peace: "Sunshine almost always makes me happy/Sunshine almost always makes me high." I think that's how it goes. It's a healthy kind of high. Beats a martini. The humorous writer Russell Baker said you should never drink a martini more than 50 feet from your own bed. I think it was also he who said there is about as much happiness in a bottle of wine as anyone can bear. Something like that. Well, when the sun goes over the yardarm, what can you do?

I had to stop then because my mentee was calling. I've told you about the mentorship program I'm in. I'm finished now, I mean not finished, you know, but the session is over. The entire project is forcing me into total recall. More anon. I'm going back into the sunshine.

Remember Pollyanna? I doubt that anyone does. Here's a test: what was her boyfriend's name?

That's not why I am alluding to her. For those of you who are too young to remember, Pollyanna was the eponymous title of a children's book about a minister's daughter who was very poor. Orphaned, she was sent to live with her Aunt Polly, a rich, bitter, old maid, with whom she tried to play the Glad Game her father had taught her. The goal of the game was to find something to be glad about, no matter what happened. Sometimes it was hard. That's it; the whole book is about how Pollyanna infiltrated and changed the hearts of her aunt and the whole community.

People refer to anyone who tries to look on the bright side of things as a pollyanna, with condescension and often scorn. But...boy, do we need it/her now!

We have suffered a long, cold, hard winter. Did I mention long? Too long. People are hanging on by their fingernails waiting for warmth and sunshine. I know, I know: we are blessed. We are sheltered and fed, safe and secure and warm - inside. We have nothing to complain about. But I'm not glad about it, not as glad as I should be.

Someone tell me a joke.