A weekly Challenge set by The Daily Post  (http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2012/10/05/weekly-photo-challenge-happy/) asks us to share our images of “Happy” using a gallery – collage format that’s new on Word Press. Too bad the gallery format didn’t work for me, but it doesn’t matter – here, some images of happiness:

This glass sculpture spins atop a pole in the grass next to a lake, where its’ bright colors catch the light: pure joy!

More happy:  a bouquet of wildflowers that I just picked along deserted railway tracks.

Family and pets…

And art in unexpected places…

Inside a huge old tree someone has put together a mandala of found objects.

Sometimes the art isn’t a surprise, but the view from underneath it is…

Seen from underneath an Alexander Lieberman sculpture, Seattle’s Space Needle echoes the bold curves – a happy surprise .

Another unexpected scene that made me happy: taking a walk and happening on a mock battle on the lake. (These are the Lady Washington and the Hawaiian Chieftain, trading cannon fire on Lake Washington, WA.)

Friends make me happy, but they probably don’t want their pictures in public view.  This guy, however, clearly doesn’t care who takes his picture or where it might end up – he’s too busy for those worries:

I cannot see a Great Blue Heron without feeling happy, and thankful. They are my totem birds, and whether standing at the edge of a small pond in New York farm country, stalking crabs in a marsh on an island in New York City, or flying overhead on deep, wide wing strokes, they always give me a thrill.