Maria

I learned something really cool yesterday that tied a song from "Paint Your Wagon" to the practice of naming storms after women. This is from the wiki entry for "They Call the Wind Maria:"

 "In George Rippey Stewart's 1941 novel Storm, he gives the storm which is the protagonist of his story the name "Maria."
The success of Stewart's novel was one factor that motivated U.S. military meteorologists to start the informal practice of giving women's names to storms in the Pacific during World War II. The practice became official in 1945. In 1953, a similar system of using women's names was adopted for North Atlantic storms. This continued until 1979, when men's names were incorporated into the system.

 This novel was also the inspiration for the song. Isn't that cool? Stewart wrote a novel, which inspired Lerner & Loewe to write a song, which led meteorologists to name storms after women.

 I really like the internet.

this is my favorite version, because it uses the minor key in the second verse, which sounds so much like the wind moaning. there are others available on youtube :)

and my happy list:
* good friends.
* it snowed in the mountains yesterday!
* hot cocoa to warm me up.
* reliable cars.
* a mother-in-law who sewed 2 costumes for w's school musical.
* h did his homework without me asking him to!
* w did a load of dishes without me asking him to!
* m cleaned up her breakfast mess without me asking her to!
* kids who do their chores without me nagging :)
* good music
* warm house
* podcasts
* the internet
* i have lots of warm things to wear
* God is good.