# The finer things in life **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 6, 2005, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-finer-things-in-life/283352 "2005-01-06T05:52:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![klintypooh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3da27b/32.png) [@klintypooh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/klintypooh)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-finer-things-in-life/283352/1 "2005-01-06T05:52:57Z")
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. 🙂 What are they for you? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Wing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/51bf81/32.png) [@Little\_Wing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Wing)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-finer-things-in-life/283352/2 "2005-01-06T06:14:26Z")
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. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-finer-things-in-life/283352/3 "2005-01-06T06:36:37Z")
> [@Little Wing](#): > > I find that as I’ve gotten older, waking up without a head/neck/backache is a very fine thing. 🙂 I’m having a hard time remembering when I woke up that way. ☹ As time goes by it has become nice just waking up to a new day. 😛 [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] ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-finer-things-in-life/283352/4 "2005-01-06T06:41:48Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Bites\_When\_Provoked](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bites_when_provoked/32/18073_2.png) [@Bites\_When\_Provoked](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bites_When_Provoked)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-finer-things-in-life/283352/5 "2005-01-06T06:42:46Z")
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.) ---
**Author:** ![ccwaterback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-finer-things-in-life/283352/6 "2005-01-06T06:50:26Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-finer-things-in-life/283352/7 "2005-01-06T07:05:23Z")
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 ---
**Author:** ![butter\_pie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aca169/32.png) [@butter\_pie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/butter_pie)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-finer-things-in-life/283352/8 "2005-01-06T07:18:22Z")
One million unique hits to my websites. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_loblaw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f19dbf/32.png) [@bob\_loblaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_loblaw)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-finer-things-in-life/283352/9 "2005-01-06T07:58:57Z")
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.) ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-finer-things-in-life/283352/10 "2005-01-06T08:08:00Z")
Good chocolate Cherries in January Money in the bank A house full of books Vacations by the shore My daughter’s blue eyes ---
**Author:** ![Sandlegs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@Sandlegs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sandlegs)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-finer-things-in-life/283352/11 "2005-01-06T10:09:20Z")
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 ---
**Author:** ![josejones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5fc32e/32.png) [@josejones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/josejones)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-finer-things-in-life/283352/12 "2005-01-06T12:12:30Z")
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 ---
**Author:** ![Merhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@Merhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merhouse)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-finer-things-in-life/283352/13 "2005-01-06T14:02:41Z")
> [@Zoe](#): > > the view of Camden Harbor and Penobscot Bay from the top of Mt. Battie in September 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! 😃 (Hey, Bill, you out there somewhere???) ---
**Author:** ![swampbear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampbear/32/467_2.png) [@swampbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampbear)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-finer-things-in-life/283352/14 "2005-01-06T14:17:42Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-finer-things-in-life/283352/15 "2005-01-06T15:03:42Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![partlycloudy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/partlycloudy/32/3114_2.png) [@partlycloudy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/partlycloudy)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-finer-things-in-life/283352/16 "2005-01-06T17:06:22Z")
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.). 😃 ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-finer-things-in-life/283352/17 "2005-01-06T17:16:21Z")
“I love you, Daddy.” Everything else pales in comparison. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-finer-things-in-life/283352/18 "2005-01-06T17:34:11Z")
Crushing your enimies… seeing them driven before you… and hearing the lamentations of the women. ---
**Author:** ![Redwing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/dfb087/32.png) [@Redwing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Redwing)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-finer-things-in-life/283352/19 "2005-01-06T17:43:18Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-finer-things-in-life/283352/20 "2005-01-06T18:03:54Z")
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. 🙂 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-finer-things-in-life/283352.md?page=2)