At least the window shades in this house are white. My childhood memory is of all the windows in everyone's houses being afflicted with translucent brownish-yellow shades that would give the daylight of even the cheeriest day a particularly gloomy cast. Modern window shades are made of some sort of white vinyl that stops light utterly, except around the edges. That's pretty depressing (though handy when you sleep during the daytime), but at least I don't have to see that awful, depressing color.
And now I think I have a few minutes I can spend outdoors before I have to start dinner. I noticed a few green leaves sprouting on the sourgrass plants by the front door. With only a few mild days and a bit of watering they are recovering from the summer drought. I can probably do the same. I only wish I could get the old people to go out and take a look at them. It might counteract the indoor gloom around here just a bit. My cats would have enjoyed this afternoon, I'm sure. I'm going to go out and enjoy a bit of it in their memory.