When I am antsy and getting tired at a gathering of people, I start to think about green. When the winter snows curtail all shapes and forms of normal activity, I start to think green. On a long drive home, from a distant point, green pops into my head.

Why? You ask.

Because green is the color of my favorite couch in the den. The green pillows offer me solace and comfort in the face of worldly problems and darkness. It is my secret refuge from the activities of the human turmoil.

With my legs stretched out and the cable remote in my sure grasp, I am both content and armored against all chaos and confusion. With approximately 800 channels on the television, it is truly my fault if I cannot get involved in an interesting program. Just recently, T.M.C. (Turner Movie Classics) joined my entertainment selection. It offers many black and white films from the 1930s and 1940s, which are usually preferable to the modern movies with simulated digitalized special effects.

I also know that the kitchen, with all those goodies, are nearby and can be tapped quickly for comfort. Fruits, nuts and chocolate are my rewards for the short journey into the pantry and refrigerator.

The clicker in my hand will bring the entire world into my view in the den. Drama, intrigue and the beauty and horror of the universe are at my beck and call. One click and I am in the oceans off of the continent of Australia. Another click and I am in the Himalayas climbing Mt. Everest.

As the baseball season ends, I suffer withdrawal symptoms, but they are soon banished by the start of the football and basketball seasons. Sometimes I get so comfortable, wrapped in my down comforter, that I fall asleep and miss the finale of the sport's event. I sleep very well on my mountain of green. Sometimes too well, as I awaken at 3 a.m. with my mind in a very active state.

I have told my wife I feel sorry for those poor people who trek down to Florida in the winter.

I have my own green paradise right here in Jericho.