Olympic pool

Olympic pool

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

A List of The Best Things in Life



  • Listening to National Public Radio - Fresh Air and On Being especially
  • Having a laugh out loud phone conversation with your oldest niece
  • Finding the perfect gift for someone
  • Reading a book that both disturbs and makes you think - Incendiary by Chris Cleave
  • Giving another niece a book you absolutely loved and she texts that she simply can’t put it down - Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonsen
  • Traveling by train
  • Fresh flowers in the house
  • Giving a children’s book to kids in and out of your family - A Sick Day for Amos McGee by Philip Stead
  • Watching a documentary about Sting and his musician friends making the haunting CD A Winters Tale
  • A bunch of kids sitting around playing board games
  • Having a cheeseburger and Guiness with my best friend in a neighborhood bar  
  • A cup of Earl Gray tea in the afternoon - Barnes & Noble has the best EG - in the blue tin for about $10
  • Discovering that your Great-grandfather x 11 was a Quaker and served time in an English jail before coming to America with William Penn - yes, that Willliam Penn. 
  • Discovering that a stone house your Great-grandfather x 11 built in Philadelphia still stands today - and the house has a name "Wynnestay" Try www.familysearch.org   - it’s free
  • Watching my grandparents dance to Ella or Benny or Glen
  • Growing paperwhites in the middle of winter - just to remind myself of Spring
  • Watching a BBC series: Single-handed; The Vicar of Dibley; Ballykissangel (1st season); The House of Elliot; Downton Abbey (of course); Foyle’s War; and Vera
  • Wrapping a present in plain brown paper with simple cotton ribbon 
  • Taking photos
  • Going to the library
  • Eating  a piece of warm homemade bread with salted butter
  • Imagining my grandmother sitting in a chair beside me, wearing peddle-pusher slacks with her standard white tennis socks and rebooks, her super slim, crazy beautiful legs crossed - leaning forward with a cup of coffee (or if evening a glass of beer) with a cig in hand, saying “ Now Sis” getting ready to impart something……..
  • Reading about intelligent thoughtful discussions and approaches to complicated problems in these crazy not so reasonable political times- Kennedy by Ted Sorenson
  • Crunching through the snow on a super sparkly crisp clear winter day
  • Catching a whiff of something that smells like the grilled cheese sandwiches they served at your Catholic school every Friday back in the day - yummy
  • Listening to and watching Lowell George on YouTube

1 comment:

  1. I made the cut :) I really liked this post!! Are you sure we don't share blood?? So many of your bests in life are mine too. Sharing a good laugh on the phone with my most inspiring aunt, fresh flowers, NPR, perfect gifts, train rides, warm bread and grilled cheese (on a grilled cheese kick right now- just made a goat cheese, cranberry, and apple grilled cheese with a butternut squash soup- YUM!), documentaries, good books, and afternoon tea time!!

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