the little things
things you can do with your eyes closed · pull-apart bread loaves · not raining on anyone's parade · sports films: The Natural, Field of Dreams, Caddyshack, and Hoosiers · geraniums on the windowsill · bananas' vitamin B6 · the lace cap of an old-fashioned maid · being loving to your spouse · walking in the early morning · broad purple pools of shadow · the willfully upbeat, cheery squitter of female presenters on children's TV · bocci balls · homemade cookie baskets · foot-pumped organs · a surprisingly cool day · acacia · fiber obtained from the leaf stalks of a species of banana · seeing a red conflagration at dawn · sensory minutiae · something nice that grandparents do for you · meditative cats · cruising the Arctic in an icebreaker -- exploring its farthest, coldest reaches · an afternoon at the beach and a night of chamber music · a cloud-light almond-flavored ladyfinger · early American sermons, journals, and histories · a mind humming with ideas · the pleasures of walking · genial, old-world charm · a children's fair or arts-and-crafts fair · visiting Quebec City