Observing babies, can be a worthwhile exercise.

I discovered that a baby is not always happy when it is smiling...sometimes the expression indicates excess air in the digestive tract, and can result in puke on your shirt if you don't learn the language and act accordingly.

VZ: How many shirts did it take you to learn the baby language, Ray?
I'd say the worse baby smile comes, when the yellow stuff fountains onto your shirt. I bet, you experienced this too.
I

True happiness is being able to recognise what you have and be thankful for it. Having what you want will never make you happy. Having what you need helps though.

VZ: Got to carve your words in stone, Bill.

I think Bill has got it just about right, but knowing that still doesn't stop you wanting things! This guy looks pretty happy though perhaps that's because he has no brains and his head is full of straw.
Ingrid

VZ: Having no brains makes many people happy, as I can observe.

It would be handy if I had some straw on my head, to hide the shinyness

VZ: Better to have some straw ON the head, than IN the head, Nig.

looks coming right fom a horror movie, but isnt frightening. For sure, have a straw head is enough to make happy, but is it happiness, if you dont even know you are? wanting things makes you live, then recognise what you have makes you feel better...

VZ: You're a wise man (or a woman, please forgive me), Sune, though, I have some reservations about "wanting things makes you live".

"Eternal Happiness"- o no, never on earth, and I didn't wish it, for I believe there is never happiness without sorrow...; you are right, sometimes quite little, worthless, useless things can make us happy like a found shell on the beach or a stone..., always unexpected good words and lovely experiences..., and I think that we self often can create happiness while being suspended only some steps above the earth... - a theme inexhaustible...but what about your pic? Never it would have created thoughts like that, sooner a smile or a rembrance of my childhood as I owned such a very loved crumbling puppet-or a remembrance of an old apotropaic "Vogelscheuche" standing on the fields...You see little things on earth can create some supranatural feelings and thoughts- c'est la vie, we are always changing between two (or more) worlds! -And now I remember a word Ionce heard by a friend: A jew who has emigrated from NS-Germany to the States was asked some years later "How are you? Are you happy?" "O no, my friend, sure I'm lucky, but not happy!" I can imagine why he isn't happy.

VZ: Though, there is no happiness without sorrow, no one wishes an eternal sorrow, Philine.
"...Never it would have created thoughts like that..." Isn't an eternal smile a good representation of an eternal happiness?
The ability to see and experience joy and pleasure from little things around you is a blessing, I agree, and nothing reflects it better than photography, I think.

Balance in all things, VZ. Philine is right. Without sorrow one would not be able to measure or comprehend happiness.

And certainly, things can give us transient pleasure, but happiness takes more than some retail therapy. At least for me.

VZ: How can I argue with that, Kathryn? It's a bitterness that gives a good taste to a good chocolate, isn't it?
"...happiness takes more than some retail therapy..." Hahaha. Try to convey this thought to millions of American families who fill the malls every weekend. _Shopping makes you happy, it's a proven fact.

We like to fly with our thoughts and wishes and phantasies, but never let us lose our ground!
Christian Morgenstern, Vogelscheuche

Die Raben rufen: "Krah, krah, krah!
Wer steht denn da, wer steht denn da?
Wir fürchten uns nicht, wir fürchten uns nicht
vor dir mit deinem Brillengesicht.


Wir wissen es ja ganz genau,
du bist nicht Mann, du bist nicht Frau.
Du kannst ja nicht zwei Schritte gehn
und bleibst bei Wind und Wetter stehn.
Du bist ja nur ein bloßer Stock,
mit Stiefeln, Hosen, Hut und Rock.
Krah, krah, krah!"

The Scarecrow

"Caw-caw, caw-caw" the black crows blare.
"O look who's there, O look who's there!
You goggleface, you bugaboo,
you think we are afraid of you?

"You're not a woman, not a man!
We know you very well: You can
not even move a single pace;
in rain and storm you stay in place.

"You're just a wooden post and slat,
dressed up with pants and coat and hat.
Caw, caw, caw!"

(translated by Max Knight)

VZ:
I like losing ground once in a while, Philine. I bet, you do too.