Knitting isn’t free, but it can be cheap. There are lots free, creative patterns online. It’s nice to be able to go sit and people watch or listen to the radio while still being able to do something constructive. Like working a cross-word puzzle, but at the end you have a pair of socks to keep or give as a gift.
(threadjack on MN parks) - Wild River State Park has excellent camping sites (assuming you like some distance from your neighbors) and is a pretty nice park.
Interstate State Park* is nearby and is much more scenic, but the campsites aren’t very good (I recommend camping at Wild River and making a day trip to Interstate)
If you camp at Beaver Creek State Park, I recommend site 27 (tent only) it is by far the most private, and not TOO far from water and the showers.
Tieing some posts together, making a campfire is one of my favorite parts of camping.
Brian
*There is Interstate State park across the river in Wisconsin as well. Just as scenic and perhaps better campsites
Please don’t, ducks aren’t meant to eat bread. Feeding them also influences their migration patterns, increasing their reliance on humans. Link.
The game thing is cheap enough, especially if you invite friends and have everyone bring a snack or drink.
Yeah, that’s really good…although perhaps because one always budgets lots of time for floating down a river, and giving yourself “time without responsibility” is the real secret to relaxing.
Dogs! I have a story that ties together dogs AND lying in the grass.
When Simone was first with us, as a semi-feral seven-month-old puppy, raising her took a LOT of my time and attention (she wasn’t house-trained, or anything-trained). I don’t think anyone had “raised” her at all, or given her any attention before she was found on the streets. Plus it was a stressful time in our lives for other reasons.
One day early in our relationship, Simone wanted to go outside, and I leashed her up. This was in April or May. Out we went. She led me over to the biggest oak tree in our immediate neighborhood, on a little grassy hill. And then, instead of peeing, she laid down in the grass with a little sigh.
At first I was irritated – we were scheduled to pee, dammit! Silly puppy lying in the grass! But I wanted to give her some time, so I sat down too, leaning against the tree, grumbling, thinking of things I had to do.
The spring breeze moved over us in long strokes, hissing through the new leaves overhead like surf on a beach. Birds chattered sleepily. Tiny insects wandered in the grass. Nothing else happened, externally.
Internally, a great deal happened. I felt myself letting many things go. Simone lay with her chin on her front paws, her muzzle surrounded by rich green blades. No longer half-deranged by her high energy level. No longer staring uncomprehendingly at the artifacts of the world of humans. Her golden eyes regarding me steadily, calmly, knowingly. “See?” she seemed to say. “I may be an uneducated puppy, but I know something important.”
Great puppy story, Sailboat. 
Whoa, today in the Northeast, there is an explosion of Red Admiral butterflies migrating up north! They’re floating around everywhere! I’ve never seen a Red Admiral until now - How sweet is that?? (and today my honeysuckle blossoms were buzzing buzzing buzzing with bees.) Butterflies and bees, two absolutely free pleasures.
Kiddie pool! Today was the first day it was warm enough to put my daughter in it. It kept her busy for 30 minutes, which is the toddler equivalent of forever. I have visions of many summer afternoons with lounge chair, popsicles, and the kiddie pool.
I had to stop myself buying a wand bubble maker thingy in the shop today. Ooh the fun I’d have had waving that around making giant bubbles!!
Playing music.
I don’t get teched out easily, but when I do, I have a table full of instruments (mostly various flutes) to play with. I pick one, more or less at random, and sit down to play…and I mean “play” the way one plays with a toy. Not really trying to do anything in particular, or perform a specific melody. Just noodling around, letting the sound come out.
I totally heard that story in my head as a Selected Shorts on NPR, sailboat. That was great - thanks for sharing.
Walking the beach, any beach always does it for me. I space out, love collecting shells and rocks.
Get a kids sand box, if there’s no nearby beach, throw in a bucket of water and work on your sandcastle building. It’s just not a day at the beach for me if I don’t build a sand castle. (good idea to cover it if there are neighbourhood cats and such!)
Hammock swinging, even indoors, is awesome. Best with a view but a good book will do.
I live near to a local park where there are free festivals almost every weekend. Have an ice cream and sit on a bench, let the world go by. It’s as good as a parade!
(Loved it Sailboat!)
You’re not kidding. A while ago we went to the wedding of one of my wife’s cousins. Just before they decided it would be fun to tube down a stream near the place. My wife’s family has been living in this town for about 200 years, one of the towns bears her maiden name, and their is a cemetery exclusively for her family. So I foolishly thought the family knew what it was doing.
Not hardly.
They weren’t aware that the stream had a lot of bends, so it took about twice as long as they thought. They also didn’t know this was a case of white water tubing. I wound up traversing a log across the stream from the bottom.
My wife of course had chosen not to go.
Disarming bombs would be slightly more relaxing than tubing, if you ask me.
I must be getting old, but one of the best times I’ve had in a long, long time was just sitting outside with my grandsons (4 and 7) one night, looking up at the sky and chatting about the constellations, differences between stars and planets, how far away things are, and so on. I think it’ll turn out to be one of my fondest memories.
I love listening to the wind blowing through the trees. Especially since I got my hearing aids. I was missing the high notes. It’s a beautiful, soothing sound, like the ocean only better.