The finer things in life

Well, for me…

A steak dinner cooked by my gf.
Cuddling aforementioned gf,
Reading The Hobbit, next to my water feature so it sounds like I’m by a stream, with a hot cup of tea. :slight_smile:

What are they for you?

A warm, strong hug from my husband.

Getting lost in a great book.

Being out of debt.

I find that as I’ve gotten older, waking up without a head/neck/backache is a very fine thing. :slight_smile:

I’m having a hard time remembering when I woke up that way. :frowning:
As time goes by it has become nice just waking up to a new day. :stuck_out_tongue:

[ul][li]Traveling with my wife.[/li][li]Pleasant memories of the past that just sneak up on you.[/li][*]Not having any worries (honest!) :o [sup]OK, except my back.[/sup][/ul]

A nice cigar.
A top shelf drink.
A nice cigar and a top shelf drink.

Enjoying any of the above with a good friend.

The end of a semester. That sense of finality.
The beginning of a semester. Clean slate.

The way my little sister squeals when I come over to visit.

Reading in bed. Immediately after turning off the light having my sleeping husband roll over and snuggle into my back. Sleeping ‘spooning’.

Sitting at the computer with my cat snoozing in the basket on my desk. Occasoinally he reaches out to bat at my arm, and kneads the air as I rub his belly.

Apricot japonaise from the cafe in the main street. (Japonaise being a thin meringue made with crushed hazelnuts, in this case with sweet-sharp stewed apricot and cream between the thin meringue layers. The cream has a slight honey flavour, and the whole ‘cake’ is covered in the honey cream and flaked toasted almonds.)

Discovering something new and taking pleasure in it.

Watching your children succeed.

Going fishing with buddies you have known since grade school.

The Internet.

Appreciating the great outdoors and the natural world around you.

Good sushi.

Not having to worry about money.

the view of Camden Harbor and Penobscot Bay from the top of Mt. Battie in September

lamb pasanda

a Tom Jobim bossa nova

the scent of sunlight on his skin

a perfect season

a laughing family

One million unique hits to my websites.

wood stove.

(snuggling close with a lover by woodfire heat beats anything that can or will be mentioned by anyone in this thread, or anywhere else for that matter.)

Good chocolate

Cherries in January

Money in the bank

A house full of books

Vacations by the shore

My daughter’s blue eyes

Sitting in a jacuzzi while smoking a cigarette and drinking.

Waking up and knowing that i can hug my lady.

Going on the dope and knowing there will be something of interest to me

aww. all nice thoughts. i share them. but i also steal without guilt from randy newman:

They say that money
Can’t buy love in this world
But it’ll get you a half-pound of cocaine
And a sixteen-year old girl
And a great big long limousine
On a hot September night
Now that may not be love
But it is all right

OMG! One of my very best friends in college lived in a beautiful home right on Rt.1 at the base of Mt. Battie! I spent a few days up there one winter (maybe 1972?), what a beautiful place!

Thanks for the memory! :smiley:

(Hey, Bill, you out there somewhere???)

Relaxing in the hot tub with my hot man sitting beside me.

Sitting around after dinner with a bunch of friends talking about og and everybody and everything.

A pair of big hands reaching over to cuddle me in bed.

Rue DeDay’s or his designee’s Monday Morning Post.

A cup of coffee and the comics on Sunday morning.

Sipping a cold beer and getting lost in thought while rocking on my back porch.

Lying on my float in the pool feeling the cool water and the warm sun at the same time.

Sitting on my back porch, sipping a cold beer and smelling the new mown grass right after I finish up mowing.

The list of colonial exports, from history class: coffee, tea, chocolate, spices, silk, dyes, gold, ceramics, and precious wood.

Chintz curtains, oriental carpets, repousse silver, hardcover books, barley-sugar bedposts, watercolor botanicals, down pillows, and cut-crystal carafes.

Cognac, sherry, kir, Italian reds, chicken roasted with onions and apples, seafood, red caviar in January, sashimi in July, filet mignon with mashed potatoes and creamed spinach, really good curries, scones with raspberry jam, and 85%-cocoa chocolate.

Scottish cashmere, English tweeds, Italian bags and shoes, perfectly fitting cotton tshirts for $10 each, pearls, silver, gold, big rocks of any description.

Almodovar, Ray, Bergman, Bertolucci, Fellini, Truffaut, Zhang.

Austin, Bronte, Dickens, Thackeray, Forster, Proust, Powell, Mann, Carey, Marquez.

Stammtisch at the coffee house, hours in bed in the middle of the day, big family dinners, one-on-ones with people you used to know, knowing people who know what one ought to do, being spoiled.

Art museums. Symphony concerts. Cathedrals. Landscapes. Preserved houses. Great libraries. Famous restaurants.

Being in Manhattan.

Chicken & Dumplings from Cracker Barrel.

Christmas lights.

Smiling babies.

Wanting to get back to that really good book I’m reading.

That feeling when you discover a really good, old song you’ve never heard (just when you’d thought you heard all the good music out there).

Being sent home from the dentist with a clean record (no cavities, root canals needed, etc.). :smiley:

“I love you, Daddy.”

Everything else pales in comparison.

Crushing your enimies…
seeing them driven before you…
and hearing the lamentations of the women.

A few bottles of scotch, a few cases of dark beer, a boxes of steaks, and a housefull of friends. Best served on a mild day in late May.

Variously:

A bag of Reese’s miniature peanut butter cups, my mom’s chicken and mashed potatoes, cheesecake, freshly baked bagels at the local bakery, and hot lentil soup. Roses, gardens, forests and parks, rivers and ravines, fog, dew, frost, rainbowsm and sunbursts through clouds. Monarch butterflies, the sounds of many birds singing together, cloudy rainy days, paddling on the lake before sunrise. A good book, a warm spot on the couch, a cup of hot chocolate, the sound of laughter.

Life is so good. :slight_smile: