Thursday, April 21, 2016

A list of pleasant things

Sometimes, you have to look for something nice to elevate the day.  Other times, you don't have to look hard.  Here are some nice things I've noticed lately:


Cleaning house - or worse still, putting in time on exercise equipment - is so, so much nicer with an entertaining, fluffy audiobook read by somebody with an English accent.  I find it funny that in England, people refer to a Canadian accent.  I wonder whether they seek out Canadian accented audiobook readers?


You wouldn't expect this to taste nice, but if you chop up a mixture of Brussels Sprouts, Napa Cabbage, Kohlrabi, Broccoli, Carrots, and Kale and saute them in a pan full of onions softened in olive oil, then throw salt and pepper on top, then drizzle a little maple syrup over it...


 ... you have a pretty delicious lunch or side dish.  Okay, of COURSE it tastes nice, it's got maple syrup on it.  Fish oil would probably taste nice with maple syrup on it, not that I'm prepared to test that statement.  Still: it's a delicious way to get those greens into you and an alternative delivery system for precious maple syrup for the pancake lovers among us.


Mann's Power Blend is helpful.


It cuts out the whole 'chop up a mixture of' step from the previous Nice Thing entry.


One more maple syrup thing: it's pretty nice to find out that maple syrup is thought to have neurological benefits.  Because it's delicious.


You know sometimes when you notice something moving out of the corner of your eye and you start a little because you thought you were alone and you know it could be something icky like, I don't know, a mysterious intruder or a life-threatening mobile banana, but then it turns out to be a robin hopping along on the other side of your window?  That's so nice.


Getting up from your knitting chair to clean the kitchen and then discovering that somebody else loaded the dishwasher for you is super nice, unless you live alone, in which case it's a bit creepy.  But we'll go with nice for now.


Sometimes when your tea provider of choice changes packaging it's distressing, but if you open it up and find a new pattern printed on the interior of the cardboard?


Ahhhhh. 

Okay, this particular pattern kind of makes my eyes go squiggly, but Taylor's gets an A for effort.  They could have done plain white, and instead they went for colour.


The photograph slideshow on Netflix while you're trying to figure out how to cast your show to the TV screen are incredibly nice.  I'm so grateful to all the photographers, every time I look at them.  Sometimes I look at them instead of Netflix, even.


Closing your eyes for five minutes and waking up and having that much sleep actually be enough to refresh you is not just nice, it's awesome.


As is walking outside without a coat on, not because you were in a hurry and thought you could get away with it and now you're freezing and/or wet and now full of regret, but because it's so warm out you don't need one.


Everyone I see on the streets around here looks 20-45% more relaxed this week because the weather suddenly warmed and the breezes softened.  Spring is such a relief, every year, even when you know it's coming, and even when the winter wasn't especially hard.  It's the air, I think - it just smells different, and feels different too.  Isn't it funny how that feeling never gets old?


What's your favourite pleasantness today?


6 comments:

Su said...

Glorious sunshine!

Mary Keenan said...

ohhhh, lucky Su!

Su said...

Going into the kitchen and discovering I had a dishwasher would be nice! Honestly, I wouldn't care who put it there!

Mimi said...

There was "mist on the moors" tonight as we drove home. It was actually bands of mist in the pastures, but "moors" sounds so much more romantic.

Mary Keenan said...

Mimi, that is such an enchanting thing - when we were in Newfoundland we drove across a long patch of unpopulated land with many streams and the water/air contact resulted in all kinds of them. Gorgeous, if a bit scary at night in moose country!

Mary Keenan said...

Ha, Sue ;^) Sorry to rub it in about a dishwasher. I can relate - we have a very nice dishwasher at the cottage, he's called Pete!