Friday, April 2, 2010

It's The Little Things In Life

A while back a friend sent me a list of 101 Delights That Are Worth Enjoying Today. It’s a simple list of the small pleasures of everyday life that we sometimes take for granted. Stuff that is worth more than money can buy but hardly cost you a thing. Walking on the beach, sipping a cup of coffee, a fire in the fireplace – those kinda things.

You can click on the above link to read the entire list but I thought I’d give you my take on a few of the things on the list – and add a few of my own. PLUS, if you have any you want to share with me, I’d love to hear them . . .


* Sleeping in. I know I do this pretty much every day but I still enjoy it!

* An afternoon nap. The perfect complement to sleeping in!

* A perfect cup of coffee. Perfect for me means good, strong coffee with cream, no sugar.

* The first daffodils (and tulips) of spring. In Central Oregon these hummers don’t show up until late April / early May. So more like the first daffodils and tulips of summer.

* The way babies smell. I hope this doesn’t sound too skeezy but this still makes me wanna have another kid. Until the mother yanks the baby away and asks me to leave. (And just in case you’re confused, I’m talking about a baby with clean diapers here.)

* Puppies. Or pretty much any dog. Except the small, teeny, battery operated accessory dogs. (And you know who you are ABBY!) And maybe scary dogs, like pit bulls or angry Rottweiler’s or Doberman’s. Other than that, dogs are The Bomb! Especially puppies.

* Street musicians. I’m not much for giving money to the usual panhandlers on the street but anyone playing an instrument or drumming on a plastic bucket deserves a buck or two.

* Your favorite song. There are some songs that kinda stir the emotions for me more than others. Rhapsody in Blue is probably at the top of the list but also Send in the Clowns, Amazing Grace, God Bless the Child and Miss Otis Regrets by Ella Fitzgerald (the only song I know with a surprise ending and it just about kills me when I hear it).

* Singing in the car. Uh I NEVER do this but if I did it would mostly be songs that make the drive go faster like, Life is a Highway, Route 66, Working for the Weekend, Crosstown Traffic, Dragula, East River, Hott 2 Deff, Jet Airliner, Train in Vain, Traffic Jam, In The House and a bunch of others you probably never heard of.

* The smell of fresh-baked bread. Or popcorn. Or beer.

* A baguette -- crisp on the outside, airy on the inside. So, while baguettes are fine, this one really is no big deal to me. But seeing it on the list reminded me of the Far Side cartoon where the two polar bears are chomping on an igloo and one says to the other: “I just love these things! Crunchy on the outside. Chewy on the inside!”

* Old family recipes. While my Mom is (to put this gently) not gonna win a James Beard award any time soon, there was one meal I loved – Chicken Breasts in some kind of Cream of Mushroom soup gravy with mashed potatoes. Mmmmmm! Not on the list: Creamed Tuna on Toast (complete with chopped up hard-boiled eggs)! Baaaaaaaaarrrrrfffffffff

* Bacon, eggs, hash browns and coffee cooking on Saturday or Sunday morning. I’m not a big breakfast eater – except for on the weekends and man do I love bacon, eggs, hash browns and coffee. Bacon – not too crispy. Eggs – over easy. (Scrambled is okay too. Or omelets or Eggs Benedict.) Hash browns – the shredded kind and make sure the outside is crispy. Coffee – strong, dark and with cream, of course.

* A glass of wine beer. No explanation necessary

* Snow days! I do NOT understand people who don’t like snow. But then I don’t understand people who don’t like beer either.

* Sunshine. Cuz I am sooooo tired of the dang rain around here!

* The wind in evergreen trees. Easily the coolest sound ever.

* Great stories. Like the “Three Letters from Teddy” story I sent a couple of weeks ago. Or the children’s story, “Love You Forever” or Where the Red Fern Grows.

* A novel you can get lost in. Reading is for the cool kids and books like The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, East of Eden, To Kill a Mockingbird, Lord of the Rings and, of course, Lonesome Dove, are all books I have gotten lost in.

* Old photographs. Isn’t it cool to look through old family albums and see your parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and other assorted friends and relatives as they looked “back in the day?” Not to mention it provides the added bonus of being able to make fun of how they looked back then! AND I love looking at old photos of familiar places. I’m always trying to figure out what’s there now. (“Hey, did you know there used to be a church where Stars Cabaret used to be?”)

* The smell of gasoline. Not so much any more but when I was a kid and diesel trucks or buses drove by, I would breathe in as deep as I could cuz I loved the smell of diesel fumes. Thankfully I never suffered any brain damage. That I know of. As far as you know, anyway.

* When someone falls asleep with their head on your shoulder. Yeah, um not that I’ve ever experienced this, although there was this one evening with future ex-wife Erin Andrews when she was just exhausted from practicing for Dancing with the Soon To Be Washed Up Athletes and Pseudo Stars and came to my place and crashed on the couch. Or maybe I just dreamt that . . .

I know I am forgetting more than a few things, but that’ll just give me an excuse to do this again sometime. For today, this will have to do . . .

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