Ink Tea Stone Leaf

To be posted as a necessary counterweight to that other post:

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“Little did they know,” one of the most evocative stock phrases in the English language.

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A fat stack of pancakes on a Saturday morning.

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Intricate and detailed set design, whether it be for films, theater, dioramas, theme parks, or whatever.

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Super Nintendo JRPGs.

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Reaching the part halfway or more through a thick biography or history book with the photographs and other documents that recap the story thus far and show what is to come.

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“Witchi Tai To,” by Jim Pepper

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A chai latte, with cinnamon if you’ve got it.

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Writing something nice, like somebody else might want to read it.

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A sunny day under a shady tree.

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Little birds who love the real good skritch.

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Finding the last piece of a jigsaw puzzle after it’s fallen on the floor or something, before you have a chance to give up and put the rest of the puzzle away.

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The indomitable optimism residing in the house along my morning commute that flies the flag of the United Federation of Planets, in spite of the furthering drift of the ascendant political values of our time away from those of Gene Roddenberry’s vision of pluralism, universal rights, and equitable economics.

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“Fortress Around Your Heart,” by Sting.

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When earnest high school musicians put together a full band performance in the cafeteria at lunch time.

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Straightening out my back, neck, and shoulders and remembering that I’m kind of tall.

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The majority of cultural references to that most famous of knights-errant, Don Quixote de la Mancha.

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Various unspecified yet viscerally compelling pleasures of the flesh.

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Realizing that something that was coming in the mail that looked scary is actually nothing to worry about (probably).

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Discovering a new paradigm for the organization of knick-knacks.

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An afternoon on the hammock with iced tea, jazz radio, and a good book.

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The comical antics of my green cheeked conure.

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The fact that the San Diego Padres sometimes make the playoffs.

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Star Trek (various generations).

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This video of R.E.M. performing on Rockpalast on October 2nd, 1985.

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Watching StarCraft 2 tournaments the day after they air in South Korea.

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Planning things without sparing a single thought as to whether people will think they are lame.

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Affirming my friendships.

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Doing all my little daily puzzles.

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This method I learned like fifteen years ago from Alton Brown on the Food Network for making brown rice.

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The podcast occasionally known as R U Talkin’ R.E.M. Re: Me?

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Natural twenties.

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When the answer to a question in a guessing game is something I have no familiarity with, except that it was also the solution to a clue in a crossword puzzle the day before and I still remember it.

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Sitting down to the first Italian meal upon arriving in Italy.

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School buses with accommodations for kids who use wheelchairs.

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When my wife identifies a beloved voice actor after hearing just a few lines, way before I would have caught on.

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“Naive Melody (This Must Be the Place)”, by Talking Heads.

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Professional baseball blooper reels.

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Picking just-ripe fruit from the tree.

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Talking about Pet Sounds or Smile with people who don’t think I am an absolute loon.

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A little alliteration (only a little).

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When a qualified professional destroys the stiffness and tension in my back.

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The word “prestidigitation,” and also the act to which it refers.

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Roses.

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Being done with yardwork for the day.

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A comfy comfy bathrobe.

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A cupful of breakfast cereal without milk.

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The presence of a florist next to my favorite cafe, so I can buy my wife flowers sometimes after I have my chai latte.

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Cutting a small watermelon in half, giving one half to my wife, and eating the other with a spoon.

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A line of tall pine trees on a bright summer’s day.

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Lentil soup.

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A heated toilet seat with attached bidet.

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Finding a pack of amber ales on a grocery store shelf that is otherwise full of IPAs locked in an arms race over who can stuff the most hops into each batch.

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Playing board games in the evening on the back porch.

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Finding a better way to phrase something I wrote.

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Sleep.

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Laying my spine out on a foam roller and working my shoulders real good.

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“The Back Seat of My Car,” by Paul and Linda McCartney

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Listening to the radio late at night.

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The little green dice bag my wife knitted for me.

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When public transportation has your back on those days when your car is unavailable.

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Finding out that somebody is OK.

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Havarti Cheese.

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Halibut and salmon, and all the other fish too, but especially these two.

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Natural Ones

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Spotting a car in my state with a license plate from another state, which also has a license plate frame from a dealership in my home town, which is in a third state.

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Playing Wordle with an unconventional starter word, and sticking with it until the day it happens to be the word of the day, and then continuing to stick with that starter word even though it likely will not be again for a very long time.

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Live shows by They Might Be Giants.

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Developing a stronger core.

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Taking a little swim in the river.

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Late Night TV comedians who annoy the tyrant in the White House.

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Classic 20th century comic strips.

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The crispest of sweet apples.

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Going on a trivia night date with my wife and winning third, second, or even first place.

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Loafers.

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Trying to figure out the date of a map or globe from its depiction of political boundaries.

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Making progress.

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Attractive and provocative skirts and dresses.

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“Sweet Blindness” by Laura Nyro (especially the slower live version).

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Metroidvanias.

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New England Clam Chowder.

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This article that Elvis Costello wrote in Vanity Fair back in 2002, “Rocking around the clock,” which recommends the best music for every hour of the day.

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Decorating the house for Halloween and Christmas.

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The fact that the word “Mexico” appears within William Shakespeare’s body of plays, a fact that is both predictable (Mexico’s existence having been known in Europe for decades by that time) and astonishing (because Shakespeare never ate one single taco in his life).

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Variations on the London Fog.

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“Don’t Talk” by 10,000 Maniacs.

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Erotic poetry.

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Hope, despite the times.

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Portraits of pets looking dignified.

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The joke in shows and movies where music you were led to believe was non-diegetic turns out to be diegetic.

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Over the Garden Wall.

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Young Frankenstein, preeminent among the classic films by Mel Brooks.

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Just kind of groovin’ while I sit in a place that has some good music playing.

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Wild turkeys on patrol through the neighborhood.

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Little kids who are just full of fun facts.

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Little mysteries that I don’t have quite enough information to resolve, yet the likely possibilities are intriguing and delightful.

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Having long since lost track of the number of times I have read The Lord of the Rings.

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Dill pickles.

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An ice pack on sore muscles.

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Silly jokes about the Amazing Spider-man.

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Pretty much every Beatles album from beginning to end.