When the Dog Bites

No, no, no. I did not get bitten again. That was so early March. But while no new tragedies or insanity has befallen my family, some are lingering.

Tonight I began to think of the journal I kept when I was in late high school in the late 1980s. I have that journal somewhere in a box in the basement. It's floral covered with big unlined pages and I wrote my idealistic thoughts and observations in it - as well as my Top 10 Lists of Boys I Liked - using a fountain pen.

One day I decided to make a list of my favourite things. It became a full page of sensory detail. When I found the journal and the list a few years ago, I was happily surprised by how many of the things on the list I still liked.

So given that the dog has bitten - literally and figuratively - this month, I thought I would create a list of my current favourite things. Please feel free to share your own list in the comment section below.

Summer rain on a flat metal roof.
The smell of the ocean.
Dark coffee and the baristas who remember how I take it
Grana Padano cheese
Pino Grigio in a thin wine glass
Cashmere socks
Wind
Choral music on a winter's night
Sting
Cross-country skiing
Swimming
Naming things, pets and people
Laughing until tears pour down my face
The back of a baby's neck
The leg muscles of a runner
Twilight (not the book nor the movie)
Stewart & Colbert
Arugula from the garden
Purring
Wit
Trying to speak another language and the accompanying charm it requires
Skinnydipping
Collecting sea glass
Scented violets
Three year olds
Dancing
The montage at the end of the Olympics that makes me cry
Freesia
Cedar
Henry Moore sculptures
Michelangelo Bound Slave sculptures
Cinnamon
Making a feast
Dark chocolate
Montreal bagels
Thunderstorms
Someone making food for me
A clean counter
Flowering bulbs in the winter
Pussy willows
The ache of bare trees in late autumn
Forgiveness
Garbage trucks that take it all away
Good neighbours
Finding the perfect gift
Robins
The ideas of children
The laughter of children
Goofy teenagers
Room temperature drinking water - cool but not cold
Playing Hide and Seek
Thursdays
Dreams
Line-dried cotton sheets
Dictionaries
The right word
Black licorice
A good story
Magenta
Farmers Markets: particularly ByWard, St.Lawrence and Santa Croce
Olive trees
Orange blossoms
Brushing against a tomato plant
Painted toenails
Bedtime conversation
Whales