Some time ago, my sister "tagged" me, asking me, along with some others, to list six "unimportant things that make you smile". I am finally getting a round tuit, as they say. If this were done properly, I would pass this assignment on to six others, but I believe it has made the rounds to the extent that I do not know of six people left whom I would be comfortable burdening with the task. So, as a couple others have said, if you feel the spirit move you to make your own list, hey, go for it. Here's mine. (No pictures. Sorry. Lying on the couch with Pachelbel's Canon playing and not really inspired to snap relevant pictures. So , hey, Pachelbel's is the only "Canon" working tonight, eh?) OK, here we go:
1. Lying on the couch, listening to Pachelbel's Canon. Where'd that one come from?
2. Finding that rare CD I've been looking for. I was in a workshop over in Bowling Green, and when it was over, it was late in the afternoon so I stopped by Finders Records, one of the few indy record shops left out there, and a darn fine one at that. DEEP inventory. I was able to find about four CDs I wanted along this huge wall of pre-owned CDs. Among the finds was one by Mary Fahl, the owner of the haunting voice that led a short-lived group called the October Project about ten years ago and gave it its distinctive sound. Listened to it in the car on the way home. Still haunting. (I say "still"; the CD dropped back in 2002). Anyhow, it was good stuff, and tracks 1,6, and 11 made me literally smile as I drove, so it fits the criterion.
3. Before we leave the world of music, I am compelled to add this one: making stuff up as I go along on the keyboard, or even the guitar, where I am not nearly as comfortable, but the whole exercise is great for my blood pressure and frame of mind. I can get lost just noodling on the keys. And, yes, I've been known to smile whilst noodling.
4. Walking trails, wondering what's over the next rise. Just this evening, Linda and I took to the nearby county-owned park and listened for a while to the stream gurgling past the shale outcroppings. A "babbling brook:" One of the best sounds in the world. We hope to walk a few more trails this summer.
5. Petting a dog. Yep, a pretty simple act, but when you are "between dogs", as we are, you forget how therapeutic just having the ol' girl or ol' boy around can be. So we have petted a few other people's dogs in the interim. I believe we will go the summer without a pooch, so if we want to up and take off, there are no worries back home. Plus, it doesn't seem right just yet. But by fall, don't be surprised if this blog features some pictures of some new four-legged household addition.
6. That elusive thing we call "family time". The cell phone vibrates, I look down, and it says "Emily" or "William" or "home". That alone can make me smile, before I even answer. Weekends like the upcoming one where, here and there, we will see both of our offspring, and our elusive (because of an insane work schedule) son in law. Vacation plans that include at least one of them. A weekend "retreat" where we are all holed up, together, poring over a board game or watching 8mm videos from ancient family history. This last one really does not qualify because, although it is making me smile, just writing about it, it is clearly not unimportant.
7 comments:
Pachelbel Canon did wonders for my stress levels at Ohio State, but I think my only copy is a now-ancient cassette copy of Burcho's vinyl LP, and that is in a box somewhere in the attic.
I tend to use Kottke a lot for the same purpose these days, but now he's on the iPod.
And I have no keyboard to noodle, and I was never any good at keyboard noodling, so if I am not actually sailing, I am wishing I was and planning how I could be.
Are we going to see you in Boston this summer? Looks like I could spend a few days trolling around the beaches and parks with you this time around.
Smiling is important, so anything that makes you smile is automatically important.
If Taco Bell's Cannon does it for you, great. Heck, I think it's important and it doesn't even make me smile. To me, it's the music from the movie that marks Mary Tyler Moore's career transition from sweet young Mary Richards to nasty old beeee-och (and I didn't even see the movie). Then I think of how Lou Grant made the same transition from funny old lovable curmudgeon to serious old nasty curmudgeon, when he went from running a Minneapolis TV station to pseudo Woodward/Bernstein newspaper wanabee. Then I remember how his TV lackey Murray quit and joined the Love Boat and his newspaper lackey Mason Adams went on to hawk Smuckers Jam, which later used Willard Scott to celebrate lovable people turning a hundred. Which makes me think of Pachelbel again, who's only hit needed about 250 years to hit the charts when some bright guy decided to replace the choppy strident baroque strings with syrupy modern ones.
And now Ed Asner is the voice of the lovable curmudgeon in the Pixar hit, "Up". So there you go.
Hey, is that Rip?
Gerald- man, you are off on some tangents! What was that? Six degrees of Taco Bell?!
Nice list, by the way. I think it's neat that whatever list I read, I find that I could pretty much pick the same thing.
Marg: That's Rip.
very interesting! we waited 3 yrs to replace our beloved "Red" and I am glad - don't think we were ready before now and boy are they alot of work - puppies anyway.
your unimportant things are surely what makes life worth living!
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