Betsy goes visual...

This doesn't qualify as a list item, per se, but I thought I would toss in a couple visual things that never fail to amuse and amaze me. (Sorry the images are so small.)


These are still images from a 1935 Max Fleischer cartoon, "Dancing on the Moon". I tried to get the entire video to upload to the blog, but I think it is too big. Don't forget to turn on the sound when you click on this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsJxoBKi1is

Dancing mother and daughter

I have to make a contribution to the simple pleasure list...I'm making a dailure. Last night I took a dance class with my 17 year old daughter. It was 'pure' dance; not pilates, not aerobics, not yoga but dance. The teacher was an older "hippie" with all sorts of tatoos. She turned on the music and just started dancing. My daughter and I had no idea what we were doing but somehow it didn't matter. We were dancing! And the music just took us...it actually took us into one another, we sort of stumbled over each other, but it didn't matter because we were laughing and dancing. And that was a real pleasure!

simple things

1. reading my daily text message from holland .. big smiles!!
3am phone calls from holland
2. my morning coffee
3. my dogs playing
4. educating people on the simplicity of protecting their pet with a microchip.. love their AH-HA moments
5. hearing about what cool stuff my nieces and nephews are doing.. little world travelers that they are.
6. watching my garden come to life
7. cutting my lawn..yes.. riding lawn mower, it is so relaxing to me.
8. hearing a song on the radio that i havent heard in EONS
9. figuring out some thing new on my MAC...
10. cutting my neighbors lawn because she is SO busy.
11. wine around my neighbors firepit... even on a hot night.
12. playing with all the puppies and kittens in my vet clinics and getting to go home to older dogs and not being in puppy phase any more ;) kinda like grand kids i guess... play and then send them home.
13. waking up every morning is the best daily pleasure i can ever hope for

A new word: "DAILURE"

Truthfully, I think this is very cool! I mean I think everyone should post their lists....maybe we could start a world wide list of simple pleasures?! I wonder what folks in the middle east think about simple pleasures? If everyone took a few minutes and assessed what they really enjoy I bet they could come up with things they do daily. So I've decided that there should be a new dictionary word, ' dailures' (daily pleasures).

Let's share....that way maybe we could find things that we never even thought about before, that would, could, should give us joy!

I love summer and reading.
I love getting up in the morning and bringing the horses in from the fields.
Talking with my kids and husband, playing with my dog.
Picking berries and watching hummingbirds, watching the fireflies dance across the fields in the evening.
I love my job when the kids "get it".
I could go on and on and on, but this is a good start.
Thanks Hope and Bets!
-V

I figured it out!!

So proud that I figured this out without Betsy's help tee hee.

1. My friend Chase's margarita's (the best)
2. Cooking a restaurant-worthy meal with his wife Bonnie
3. Getting a pedicure with my sugar pie Gabsy
4. Watching the waves of the ocean with a killer sunset
5. Listening to the rain
6. My daughter's laugh
7. Outdoor showers....the best
8. The scent of lavender
9. Cuddling a new born babe

-----"Linda Lu"

Esther's List:

1. Watching Nathaniel lift his head up off his crib bed first thing in the morning and smile at me as I walk into the room.
2. Eating a bowl of freshly washed blue berries, with a couple of broken walnuts.
3. E-mail from friends and family
4. Laughing out loud at Jim Ward's impersonations on the Stephanie Miller Show
5. Bright sparkly fingernails
6. Crossing over from the mainland to Key Biscayne or Miami Beach with the windows rolled down
7. Putting together a scrap book page layout
8. "Window-shopping" for beautiful old china on e-bay
9. lipstick
10. Browsing and touching! fabrics in a fabric store or quilt store
11. Putting in a cd you really like into the car cd player and then rolling down your window and turning it up LOUD
12. Drinking Lady Earl Grey tea in a bone china tea cup
13. Crunchy peanut butter and cheddar cheese on whole wheat toast served with a cold glass of milk
14. Slipping into a bed that has freshly laundered sheets
15. Massaging your feet with a fragrant moisturizer before you go to sleep
16. Jon Stewart
17. Reading the New York Times Magazine Sunday morning
18. Walking under any flowering tree

Posted on July 28, 2008

1. Eating ice cream (or anything) in bed while watching "The Office"

2. Taking my dogs on a hike in the mountains.

3. Taking my bra off at the end of the day and letting it all hang loose.

4. Laughing.

5. Getting my arm tickled and not having to reciprocate.

6.Scratching an impossible itch with a fork.

1. Listening to a friend’s voice after a long while without contact

2. Flying over my little cactus Island (Malta) though I haven’t lived there for 36 years -did that last week

3. Watching toddlers interact

4. Glühwein in Winter

5. Being immersed in an intercultural environment

6. And yes, at 60, still appreciating ALL good looking blond men of course

Hope Poll

I sent out an email on July 26, 2008, asking friends and family to make a list. I was just curious because in these days of austerity, cut backs, lay offs, sky rocketing gas prices and general corporate greed, it seemed like a nice idea to have a list of the small things that we all can 'afford'. " The list consisted of 'simple pleasures', things that we might do on a daily basis that give us joy, nothing extravagant or expensive. I wanted people to be frank, in other words, if they really enjoyed smelling the roses, great, but it had to be 'real' pleasure.

My list started out pretty small but after viewing some wonderful responses I decided to 'try' out some of the responses. So here's my amended list:

1. my first sip of coffee in the morning

2. swimming laps and breathing deeply

3. fresh berries on my cereal

4. checking my email messages first thing in the AM

5. reading the NY Times

6. reading The New Yorker magazine (sometimes I don't get to issues for months but I can always find a new article)

7. listening to my son try and figure out a song on the piano

8. dinner with my husband and kids (even if we have heated discussions)

9. getting an email from somebody I haven't heard from for a long time

10. walking to the ocean especially when it's early morning and the water is like 'glass'

So there have been many additions....thanks to friends and family. I'm hoping that I will get more idea from other people's lists.

Thanks,

Hope