(Green frog by the pond. Photo by Robin. 2006)
An old pond
a frog jumps in
Sound of water– Matsuo Basho
Another old post revisited.
Archives
All posts for the month March, 2007
(Photo by Robin. 2006)
Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things. ~ Robert Brault
Ain’t that the truth?
It’s the little things that tend to excite me, bring me joy, or make me feel content with life. It’s the little things that can throw off a day, too.
Little things I enjoy:
- My granddaughter (of course she’s on the top of my list!)
- Holding hands with my husband
- Hugs
- A good laugh
- Spotting an unusual (to me) wildflower or mushroom while hiking/walking
- A long, hot shower
- Sitting on the beach, watching the waves roll in
- Time to read a good book
- Cooking a delicious meal
- Taking a few moments each day to do a gratitude list, mentally or by writing it down
- The Best Socks in the Universe (might as well link to them since, like it or not, it’s usually my top entry)
- My favorite comfy cotton hoodie
- A cool breeze on a hot day
- A cup of tea, any kind of tea
- A good conversation with my sons
- Deep, deep breaths, the kind that go right down to my toes (I can do that now that I don’t smoke)
- Smoke-free environments
- The scent of fresh air that wafts through the apartment when I open the windows
- Listening to the spring peepers at night
- Watching fireflies in the summer
- Picnics
- Snow
- Rain
- Sunshine
- Moonlight
- Watching someone I love enjoy themselves in some activity
- Sitting quietly, being in the moment
- Walking barefoot in dewy grass
- Letting the colors of a sunrise or sunset wash over me
- Floating in the pond
- The sound of thousands of bees buzzing in the wildflower meadow
Well, this could go for a very long time (and it’s sounding a little like one of those dating things: “I enjoy long walks on the beach, picnics in the park…”). Some of these things aren’t really little things, either (my granddaughter, for instance, may be young and small in stature but she’s a big deal in my life).
Let’s make this an interactive post. I know there are people out there reading. Time to speak up. What are some of the little things in life you enjoy?
(Yosemite. Photo by Robin. 2006)
And we who have always thought of joy as rising, would feel the emotion that almost amazes us when a happy thing falls. ~ Rainer Maria Rilke
I’ve had a couple of questions about the eggs in a previous post.
Yes, those are really eggs. Red-beet eggs are a Pennsylvania Dutch treat. They’re basically eggs pickled with beets (the beets are what give them such a lovely color). My husband grew up in Pennsylvania Dutch country and his mother taught me how to make them the way her mother made them.
I don’t have the recipe with me on our sabbatical adventures, but this one is fairly close to how I make them:
- 1 (15 ounce) can sliced beets
- 1/4 – 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
- 12 hard cooked eggs, peeled
Heat up the vinegar and sugar just until the sugar melts. The more sugar you use, the sweeter the eggs will be (stating the obvious here!). Add the can of beets, juice and all. Place the eggs in a jar, pour the vinegar-sugar-beets mixture over the eggs, put a lid on it. Refrigerate.
It takes a couple of days for the eggs to pickle and take on that lovely color. The longer they sit, the better they taste (up to a point; you don’t want to keep them for months or years or anything like that). You can reuse the pickled beet mixture for another round of eggs. After that it starts to lose its flavor.
My mother-in-law liked them on the sweet side. I like them vinegary, so the amount of sugar I use is somewhere between 1/4 – 1/2 cup. Some folks add onions. I’ve never tried them that way. I have used fresh beets rather than canned. You have to cook the beets in a little water first, then add the sugar and vinegar.
(Note: I posted an update with the recipe my mother-in-law gave me. You can find that recipe here. Enjoy!)
Other things
It seems my most popular entry is “My Feet.” It was kind of funny at first, but it’s beginning to feel a bit creepy. There are a lot of people with foot fetishes out there (if the search engine terms on my blog stats are a reasonable sampling) and the post I did about my feet has been drawing in visitors. I’m thinking about changing the photos, at least the second one although a part of me feels it’s ridiculous to care one way or another.
Still and all, it’s a little weird.
(Rain on the window. Photo by Robin)
A promise is a cloud; fulfillment is rain. ~Arabian Proverb
11 March 2012 update: I’ve been wanting to once again write small stones to go with my images, but haven’t been able to find the time because of traveling, gardening, and life in general. This week I am going to work on getting things in order so I can set aside the time as if I have a very important appointment.
In the meantime, I’ll release a few more posts from the private files. (A couple of years ago I made almost all the posts on this blog private. I’ve been wanting to switch them back to public, but don’t like to do it all at once since it means an email goes out to subscribers every time I switch one over. There are about 700 private posts. Nobody wants 700 emails from one blog.)
(Moon over the Bogs. Photo by Robin. 2006)
Sometimes I look at something and I think it’s so wonderful.
And then I realize I was pointing out a fact
That was as obvious as the moon.~ Hsu Yun
Bountiful Healing 