cheerfulmonk.com

Meteorologically speaking, of course.

Saturday Kaitlin sent me an email with this picture of the 30″ of snow they had.

And pictures of the pups looking at her lovingly after she had cleared their driveway and was eating lunch.

Now their weather report for today predicts a blizzard.

In contrast, Andy took these pictures up on the land Saturday:

February 21, 2026

February 21, 2026

February 21, 2026

And in case there is any doubt about spring coming, he took these pictures of the pussy willow yesterday:

February 22, 2026

February 22, 2026

Happy upcoming spring!

February 23, 2026

Shoe

I can understand why it wasn’t clear to people who aren’t Shoe fans, but that day’s comic was aimed at the politician of the strip, Senator Belfry. (From the term “bats in the belfry”)

According to ChatGPT:

The long-running newspaper comic strip Shoe (created in 1977 by Jeff MacNelly) features a recurring politician character named Senator Batson D. Belfry.

He’s a pompous, often clueless, self-important bird-politician — basically a satire of Washington insiders. MacNelly, who was also a Pulitzer Prize–winning editorial cartoonist, used Belfry to poke fun at political hypocrisy, spin, and ego.

Belfry was not modeled on one specific real-life politician; rather, he’s a composite caricature of the “career politician” type.

Years ago I was a Shoe follower, and I was recently surprised to see it at GoComics.com. According to Wikipedia:

Shoe is an American comic strip about a motley crew of newspapermen, all of whom are birds. It was written and drawn by its creator, cartoonist Jeff MacNelly, from September 13, 1977, until his death in 2000. MacNelly’s last strip was dated July 9, 2000;[3] it has since been continued by Chris Cassatt, Gary Brookins, Ben Lansing, and Susie MacNelly (Jeff’s widow).

I am once again a follower.

February 22, 2026

The balloon continues to lose helium.

9 weeks old

And the bean plant looks about the same:

February 20, 2026, morning

February 20, 2026, afternoon

The weather is the thing that is changing. After so much sunshine most of this winter, we’ve been having overcast days with a lot of wind. It actually snowed some yesterday morning, but the sun came out in the afternoon.

Andy stayed down here Tuesday and Thursday, but he went up Wednesday and yesterday — mostly staying inside by the wood stove fire. The roads have been clear, but the wind was almost too much for him outside.

Anyway, it’s now supposed to be sunny and warmer for a while with very little wind, so he shouldn’t have any problems. Next Saturday is the last day of meteorological winter, so spring is on its way!

February 21, 2026

Shoe

February 20, 2026

I love these comics because I know most of the words, and I don’t have to look up the ones I don’t know. (Click on the comics for higher resolution.)

Calvin and Hobbes en Español

Calvin and Hobbes

Peanuts en Español

Peanuts

Garfield en Español

Garfield

I can identify with these:

Peanuts en Español

Peanuts

As I’ve said, I don’t spend much time each day on Spanish, but I’m still learning a little bit more. I’m also honoring all the work I put into it the first couple of years.

February 19, 2026

In the modern world, it is easy to feel like a passenger: reacting to notifications, responding to demands, consuming whatever you happen to drive past on your screen.

But joy is found in being the driver. It’s the act of looking at the raw material of your circumstances — your time, your energy, your relationships, your skills — and seeing what you can make from it.

It is the act of creating the life you want (in big and small ways) that makes you feel alive and imbues life with extra meaning. The fact that you can hold a vision in your mind and then, however imperfectly, bend reality a few degrees in that direction.
—James Clear

Yes! That works for me. It doesn’t have to be much, and it doesn’t have to be perfect — small steps count.

But one size doesn’t fit all — I’m guessing it wouldn’t appeal to a lot of people. Does any of what he writes resonate with you?

February 18, 2026

Click on the comic for higher resolution:

Calvin and Hobbes

This reminds me of Marlo Thomas’s Free to Be… You and Me album from 1972. One of the songs was based on the poem “Helping” by Shel Silverstein, and it ended with,

Some kind of help is the kind of help that helping’s all about.
And some kind of help is the kind of help we all can do without.

We’ve used those lines more than once over the years.

I also remember two more sentences from the album, again based on a
Shel Silverstein piece. This one was about a bossy little lady who always insisted on going first, including when a hungry tiger was choosing whom to eat. It ended with,

And so she was. And mighty tasty too.

That one doesn’t come up as often, but I still laugh every time I think of it.

Do you have any memories like that?

February 17, 2026

Pickles

When I saw this comic I immediately thought of a quote I read almost 40 years ago:

I’ve never been lost, but I was mighty turned around for three days once.
–Daniel Boone

Why did I think of it so quickly after all these years? Has your memory every surprised and delighted you?

February 16, 2026

Both the bean plant

Almost 4 months old

and the balloon

8 weeks old

are still struggling. I’m amazed they haven’t given up yet.

I’m going to keep them until they do.

I can’t imagine why I identify with them so much. 😀

February 15, 2026

Happy Valentine’s Day, but this isn’t about romantic love, it’s about people countering all the cruelty and destruction going on in the world by focusing on love and connection.

I haven’t watched the Super Bowl in years, and when I did in the past I never watched the half time shows. But I was touched by this image of the billboard, so I read more about the Bad Bunny program afterwards. It makes me happy that it was an outstanding success — it gives me hope that maybe the hatred and destruction won’t win in the end.

And, of course, there was the quiet Buddhist Walk for Peace with its little dog Aloka. As the leader said, it wasn’t a protest… “just a reminder that hope still exists.”

So hurray for love, and for kindness and compassion. All is not lost.

February 14, 2026