A good night's sleep, chocolate, the happiness and satisfaction of sharing on AgingCare forum. Does anyone have some favorite things to think about? Yes, this phrase is from the song in the movie "The sound of Music". My husband and I often resort to using movie lines and song to improve communication. We were the only two in a gathering of people who heard the background music playing. We both had the same (cassette tape/CD). A connection bringing two people together. To this day, we crack up when one uses a simple movie line to make a serious point.
SO, What is one of your favorite movie line, some of your favorite things?
Unfortunately, chocolate tops the list for immediate gratification and redirection of thoughts, but it generally results in a headache later.
Best of all therapy though is getting out in the yard and gardening, or even just puttering around. Years ago a little rabbit became so friendly it accepted whole wheat bread from my hand. Then one day it moseyed up to my foot and just took a nap! The contact and connection with this furry little creature was just so soothing.
Once a butterfly landed on my hand. It was an amazing experience.
Music is of course high on the list. Reading, whether garden magazines or favorite author's novels is right up there.
Garden crafting, needlework (embroidery and quilting) are also favorite activities, as are cooking and kitchen puttering. Especially enjoyable is just impromptu activity - making something special - hearty soups in the winter, fresh veggie salad combinations in the summer.
Sometimes just a glass or cup of heated cider is enough to rechannel thoughts.
Sending cards to family and friends is a nice way to start the day. Just looking through beautiful cards is relaxing, writing the message helps the "reach out and touch" need, and the envelopes after decoration with lovely address labels, coordinating theme stamps to the extent possible, and other colorful stamps are nice just to view and indulge in some real enjoyment of the blend of colors and objects.
I usually choose a theme especially for the person. A relative who also loves military planes get a card with a Purple Heart or similar postage stamp, VFW or other military charity address label, with plenty of either stamps or glued on cut-outs of our favorite planes. It's not quite as exhilarating as going to an air show, but it creates that same sense of excitement.
Rubber stamps used to be a favorite for decorating envelopes. I had two of a charming Victorian cottage, in the summer and in the winter. For summer correspondence, I used rubber stamps and various colored ink pads of flowers; for winter I used reindeer, snowflakes and sleighs. Sometimes the envelopes were so pretty I didn't want to send them!
This is a little off the chosen topic, but I'm speaking also to those things that give me pleasure and induce relaxation.
I'm anxious to see where this post goes, thinking it will around and around as we each share and stray a little bit from the original questions.
I've just posted something on one of Jude's threads that you may enjoy. Have you ever seen Jacquie Lawson's artful video cards? They're extraordinary. Her site is .....jacquielawson with the standard prefixes and suffixes (eliminated her here to avoid having the link deleted).
Oh yes, Jacquie Lawson's video cards, they are really nice. My boss uses that website for all the holidays and birthday greetings :)
SendMe2Help, I think folks just scroll through the messages page by page until they find a thread to which they want to respond. I don't believe there's any way to tag threads. You could just keep bumping the thread up to keep it more visible.
Boiling up kettles a new tea pot to christen
Brown plastic bin liners tied up and left
Robbed of a life - I feel bereft
Cream coloured diapers and crisp panty liners
Doctors and nurses Oh is there anything finer?
Wild geese that dragged me back here just to care
Yes I can moan and yes I do dare
Her in pyjamas with tea stains all over
Refusing to put on her nice new pullover
Silver white hair that she brushes all day
God help you if you take her mirror away
When the Cow snarls
When her words sting
When I'm feeling tied
I'll simply remember my lot in this life
And then commit suicide
Just a parody and no I won't - I wouldn't give her the satisfaction!
I just cannot be laughing this hard, the endorphins are killing me.
My very old clock that I managed to fix
Having a clean tidy room that I like to be in
These are a few of my favourite things
Tightly made beds with crisp ironed sheets
A week that goes by without people to meet
Watching the swans as they glide silently away
This is a favourite of mine every day
Mulling over albums with pictures of Dad
Remembering all the fun times he and I had
Laughing and giggling and speaking pig latin
While mum scowled and snarled in her blouses of satin
When she kicks off
When she starts to scoff
When I'm feeling blue
I'll simply remember that this is a phase
And then talk to all of you
Because you really are my life line xxx thank you
Being outdoors. Floating down Oregon's gorgeous rivers catching trout, pulling up on the bank and frying some up for lunch, then continuing on down.
Splashing about in the pool. Better yet, teaching my big pibble how to splash around in the pool and float in her raft. haha... we are water girls :)
Tinkering around my house, tending the garden and creating my back yard sanctuary.
That's about it... I do have some favorite things I used to do. No need to go backwards though :)
A few of my favorite things..
Early morning coffee on the deck with my babies.
Creekbanking and floating down the river in an inner tube (Jeanette...I know we're related)
Falling asleep while watching old B&W movies..especially horror flicks.
This will be one of my favorite places when the sun is too hot to go outside.
Watching fireflies in the evening or just before the sun sets.
The smell of grass after it rains
The way raindrops sit on leaves
Snow when it is pristine and white
The sun setting over the sea
Corn fields waving in the breeze
New borns - every single one of them human or animal
Things that scare me
The look of sadness I see in my Mum's eyes sometimes
Her frailness
Her utter dependence on me
Despite all the angst the trust she places in me not to harm her in any way
The potential to hurt her when I have to help her move
Crystals in snow which appear to be rhinestones or diamonds.
The myriad colors of leaves in the fall.
The soft patter of rain as it touches the house.
Horses groomed and ready for a show
Kicking up the leaves in the autumn (fall)
Making sand castles on the beach
Standing on the shore feeling the sea wash the sand from underneath your feet
Hearing little children giggle
Laying by the ocean listen to the waves crashing on the rock or lapping on the shore
The mewl of a kitten calling for its mama
Young lambs friskily jumping in the fields
Waterfalls
Rainbows
Have you noticed that what we love is nature?
Watering the flowers early in the morning when the birds are singing and turtle doves are cooing in the distance.
Watching kittens and puppies sleeping in a little pile with their Mamas by their side.
Getting in my little truck that used to be my Daddy's and getting a soda at the drive through and going through the countryside, seeing all the pretty freshly plowed fields...and that smell of damp earth.
Watching Mama sleep when she's feeling good.
Getting cards in the mail.
My first cup of coffee in the morning, especially on a cool fall morning.
A visit to a Dairy Queen on a similarly hot day.
Watching the clouds lazily drift by.
Watching ducks, geese and swans leisurely paddle around a pond or lake.
Freshly picked herbs, especially lemon balm, spearmint, oregano or sage.
And isn't the DQ awesome....especially a good old banana split or peanut buster parfait!!!
I love the smell of the grass when it's just been cut.
I know folks hate dandelions, but I love them...their little sunny yellow faces....
I love the feeling of putting on a fresh clean cotton gown after a good hot bath with lots of lavender scented baby powder...
remembering all my favorite things and seeing others, reminds me that there will always be a way after all this..because the things that bring me the most joy are simple and do not involve one other person to enjoy or obtain them...
During the Beatles Era, a mated pair of mallards took up residence in my parents' neighborhood. My sister named them Loretta and JoJo, after the Beatles' song. They would waddle down the dirt road, stopping occasionally to rest or explore one or other of the neighbors' yards. Eventually at the end of the season they would disappear.
Sometimes they would return after a few years, sometimes it was much longer. We saw another pair in the same favorite place this year, and of course Dad and I decided that was either Loretta and JoJo or their children or grandchildren with their spouses.
It was so pleasurable, so relaxing and soothing to watch them leisurely explore yards, waddle around, rest for a while, quack occasionally, and sometimes come up when someone offered them something tempting to eat.
Those are some of the very special pleasures of spring and summer.
Peanut buster parfaits are definitely a treat, along with banana splits. Or dilly bars and buster bars....and I'm getting a chocolate craving again.
Dandelions - they're pollinator food! I love all my dandelions and would never cut them. Once I saw a little bird dining in a dandelion plant. I think it was an oriole but it was years ago and I don't remember for sure.
Clean sheets and clothes, dried in the wind, are incomparable to those dried in a machine.
Your closing paragraph is so insightful and touching. I couldn't help thinking of the Memories song from CATS. Thanks for sharing.