Cooking with and for friends and family. It is a way I show my love. Sitting for hours around a big table, talking and laughing and eating and telling stories, is one of my favorite things to do. (Cleaning my non-self-cleaning oven is not.)
Dancing. Once upon a time, I was a pretty good dancer, and loved the way it felt as though my soul was singing along to the music. From Viennese waltzes and polkas to salsa and rumba (with a partner who is a great leader), it’s a wonderful feeling. It’s been so many years since I’ve been able to do that, because of my balance and strength issues. But it’s my idealized goal for the end of the year – to get strong enough to be able to do a regular waltz again. Of course, I’ll need to find a man who’ll be my partner – none of my friends admits to knowing how. Hmmm.
Traveling! I adore discovering new places and getting to know the people and customs and food. I love history and culture, reading about the places, but also about the people. And their souls – the way you learn about them from their poetry, music, art, fiction, movies, plays, dance… In each of the countries where I’ve spent the most time, I’ve been adopted by a local family with ties that have continued over the years, and each of whom I treasure. Memories of long evenings spent in kitchens or living rooms, or gardens, laughing and sharing stories, are many of the best of my life. It taught me that there is a commonality of human experience that far transcends that of countries or language or gender.
Sitting in the sun, or lying in a hammock, while a gentle breeze cools me and the slight movement of the trees rocks me. I used to head for my mom’s hammock at the top of their hill with a quilt as soon as we finished the first catch-up, even if I was there in the winter – I didn’t care. It was so relaxing.
Road tripping!
Taking long Sunday drives where you pick a direction to start, don’t look at any maps and absolutely use NO PHONES! You eat where it’s interesting and smells good. Browse through stores or markets. Take advantage of serendipity.
Exploring new cities. Or new neighborhoods. New markets.
Watching movies. I love old movies. Foreign movies. But movies with good plots and writing, great characters and acting. Not big on blockbusters, for the most part, especially as they have come to be defined.
Lazy Sunday brunches (probably this is just a sub-entry under the first), once the worst of DC’s spring pollen has ended. Although it can be worth a few days of pain to sit in the sunshine with friends and great food, surrounded by flowers and blooming trees, with cherry blossoms blowing into little drifts like snow, or confetti of white and palest pink.
Exploring street festivals.
Investigating bookstores. Especially independent ones (Kramerbooks, Busboys and Poets, and Politics and Prose are three of my favorites in DC).
Browsing through stationery stores. Office supplies. Hardware. Garden. Home. Cooking. Especially, almost exclusively, individually owned stores where the people that work there have done so for years, and they know EVERYTHING about their subject and are willing to help you figure something out. And have lots of interesting little things squirreled away in bins and baskets, boxes and barrels. Or in their attic or basement or the shed out back.
Dreaming in treehouses. Still sometimes dream of having a treehouse I could actually live in. I gloss over the logistics like getting in and out with a walker, or groceries. My current apartment is on the third level of a building and all the windows look out on a huge tulip tree. Which in a few more weeks will feel a bit like a treehouse because all the leaves will hide all the sharp corners of this building and the next.
Getting handwritten letters.
Mailing POSTCARDS! I adore postcards. I’ve thought of trying to take all the ones I like best that I still have and mounting them between two pieces of plexiglass, then adding hinges to turn it into a room divider or screen. People could see the pictures and read the messages. I’d especially love it in an office. Having friends around the world has given me some interesting ones – maybe one day I’ll make the screen.
Trailing flowers and flower-scented balconies and lots of pots and boxes of herbs and old-fashioned scented geraniums on patios. Petunias, gardenias, and marigolds, damask roses, and moss roses. Jasmine! Moss gardens with fascinating rocks and boulders. Flowers of all kinds, but especially those with fragrance. Life should be full of flower fragrances floating on the breeze, tantalizingly.
Smelling hot limestone after a summer rain.
Reading. Did I say books? All kinds of books. I hated learning to read – I don’t know why, but it seemed … unnecessary. But once I did, you couldn’t find me without one. Even before they came up with electronic versions, there was always at least one book in my purse or briefcase/tote. I love mysteries, biographies, histories. Books that take me away, but also those that make me feel, intensely. I even admit to occasionally indulging in brain candy. Especially when sick. And rereading favorites. Why, when there are far more books than I’ll ever have time to read? Because books I really like often teach me something about good writing in that book that I need to go back for.
Reading wrapped in a quilt, on a covered patio during a thunderstorm. When I was a kid, I loved the wildness all around outside me, while knowing I was safe, dry and warm. It’s probably been 40 years since I’ve been able to do that, but it still ranks up there with the things I love to do. I also loved reading in my very basic treehouse, which was really just a single plank between two arms of a mesquite tree, that curved perfectly to form a sort of sofa for lounging back.
Getting to know people, hearing their stories. Especially old people, or those who’ve had hard, difficult lives and still laugh. Because laughter is as important as oxygen in life. And as critical to survival.
I look forward to hearing from you about the things you love (we’ll save the things we hate for another time, when we are feeling particularly pugnacious). And I’ll add more to this list as I think of them.
