# simple pleasures



## science (Oct 14, 2010)

Watching and listening to the rain fall on our balcony, where my wife keeps a small flower garden, while reading the (bad) news of the world on the internet - it reminds me that one of the keys to life is enjoying the simple things. 

There's a lot of good stuff out there.


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## samurai (Apr 22, 2011)

@Science, great, evocative imagery you've conjured up there, congrats! Now how about adding to that watching *The Seventh Seal or Through A Glass Darkly *with the rain pounding outside? Not sure it's pleasure though, maybe something more like having a secure feeling  At any rate,keep on enjoying the rain and your balcony! :cheers:


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## Krummhorn (Feb 18, 2007)

One of my favorite things is lounging quietly on our back patio looking skyward on our mostly clear nights ... during our monsoon season the spectacular lightening and echoing thunder add another dimension to the evening sky. The two extremes of nature at its best.


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## Serge (Mar 25, 2010)

Krummhorn said:


> One of my favorite things is lounging quietly on our back patio looking skyward on our mostly clear nights ... during our monsoon season the spectacular lightening and echoing thunder add another dimension to the evening sky. The two extremes of nature at its best.


Re: _simple pleasures_

Popcorn?


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## samurai (Apr 22, 2011)

One of my simple pleasures in life--especially as I grow older and ever more lazy--Oops, I mean sedentary {euphemism for the same thing, I guess}, is to have a nice cigar with my soda {no Scotch, at least not yet!} after a good meal.


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## Philip (Mar 22, 2011)




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## mmsbls (Mar 6, 2011)

I'm not sure how simple our pleasures must be, but for me sitting in our living room with my wife and reading is pretty high up there.


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## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

I've always thought that life's ultimate luxury is doing absolutely nothing in a comfortable chair.


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## Polednice (Sep 13, 2009)

Walking into my faculty library and smelling the old books. Am I weird for that? One time, a book had a _very_ heavy smell - like ten cigars - and because I have very sensitive breathing, I could barely draw breath for the next hour. I haven't smelled books much since...


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## TxllxT (Mar 2, 2011)

Strolling along the sandbeach barefooted: every square metre is full of newly created wavefootprints from the sea (+ with eastern winds:  jellyfish ).


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## TxllxT (Mar 2, 2011)

Philip said:


>


In Amsterdam you need more locks: on both wheels + an extra one for the bridge or around a tree.


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

TxllxT said:


> In Amsterdam you need more locks: on both wheels + an extra one for the bridge or around a tree.


Odd how things work. Hours after I posted this, while my wife and I were at work, someone evidently tried to break into our house from the balcony. They cut the screen, fiddled with the lock and then evidently gave up.

Sometimes I really wish guns were legal in Korea.


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## haydnfan (Apr 13, 2011)

The morning cup of coffee! The aroma, the taste... yum.


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

I like rain, and cloudy days. Not too much rain, but just a little. It makes for the perfect mood for listening to solo piano music.


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

Another simple pleasure is doing dishes the old-fashioned way, with your hands in hot soapy water.


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

Huilunsoittaja said:


> I like rain, and cloudy days. Not too much rain, but just a little. It makes for the perfect mood for listening to solo piano music.


I love rainy weather now and then. People think I'm crazy, but it really is such _romantic_ weather. I also love massive thunderstorms on the prairie.

As long as it doesn't last several days.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

Stilton cheese with fresh figs and an old vintage Port.
Blinis with Beluga Caspian Sea caviar and champagne Roederer Cristal.
Foie gras entier with Château d'Yquem.

Ah... the simple pleasures of life!


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## Philip (Mar 22, 2011)

Almaviva said:


> Stilton cheese with fresh figs and an old vintage Port.
> Blinis with Beluga Caspian Sea caviar and champagne Roederer Cristal.
> Foie gras entier with Château d'Yquem.
> 
> Ah... the simple pleasures of life!


Hmm that's a pretty complicated pleasure if you ask me...


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## samurai (Apr 22, 2011)

science said:


> Another simple pleasure is doing dishes the old-fashioned way, with your hands in hot soapy water.


Are you sure about that being *pleasure*?! Simple, yes, unless there are 50 guests' worth of dishes to clean up! I'll take the dishwasher--as long as it's not me--every time.
p.s Sorry to hear about the attempted burglary/break-in at your house. The main thing is that you and your family are safe. Be well.


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## Polednice (Sep 13, 2009)

samurai said:


> Are you sure about that being *pleasure*?! Simple, yes, unless there are 50 guests' worth of dishes to clean up! I'll take the dishwasher--as long as it's not me--every time.
> p.s Sorry to hear about the attempted burglary/break-in at your house. The main thing is that you and your family are safe. Be well.


And it BURNS! Ow! It burns so much! :'(


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## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

I'll have to agree with science in that washing dishes is a simple pleasure for me if I'm in the right mindset for it.

For me, simple pleasures usually involve walking. Walking around the neighborhood, mainly, and occasionally walking out to get a cup of coffee and just sitting there and drinking it.

Reading a book is pretty high up there too for me. I just often prefer walking because I can think a bit more clearly and freely; most of my outlandish/comedic/contemplative thoughts happen while walking.


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## Polednice (Sep 13, 2009)

World Violist said:


> For me, simple pleasures usually involve walking. Walking around the neighborhood, mainly, and occasionally walking out to get a cup of coffee and just sitting there and drinking it.


Walking is one of my favourite activities too; particularly when listening to music. In fact, that's often when I have some of my most overwhelming, sublime experiences - it's certainly what I do whenever I need to bring my rage down from 100 to 0 anyway


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

samurai said:


> Are you sure about that being *pleasure*?! Simple, yes, unless there are 50 guests' worth of dishes to clean up! I'll take the dishwasher--as long as it's not me--every time.
> p.s Sorry to hear about the attempted burglary/break-in at your house. The main thing is that you and your family are safe. Be well.


If there are ever 50 guests in my home, we'll have problems worse than the dishes to worry about. Hopefully they'll be 50 really thin guests, and all wearing effective deodorants!


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## Sofronitsky (Jun 12, 2011)

Huilunsoittaja said:


> I like rain, and cloudy days. Not too much rain, but just a little. It makes for the perfect mood for listening to solo piano music.


A thunderstorm broke out right before I was due to play in my first big hall. It was beautiful


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

A bowl of strawberries and cream and an old Dr. Who episode starting up on the telly. (I'm up to 1975 in that series, having started from the 1963 beginning.)


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## haydnfan (Apr 13, 2011)

Reading a novel and then having an epiphany, some insights applies to your life and you see something from a different perspective.

A little bit simpler pleasure is of course finding cds in the mail.


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## Wicked_one (Aug 18, 2010)

Walking through a rainy day alone or with my girlfriend laughing at the other people who try to take cover and if I'm alone thinking of the big secrets of the Universe or humming parts from Mahler's symphonies. 

I've noticed that most of us are rather romantic with all the clouds and rainy days  I like that. Oh, and windy as well. thunders and lightnings would be perfect.


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## Meaghan (Jul 31, 2010)

Huilunsoittaja said:


> I like rain, and cloudy days. Not too much rain, but just a little. It makes for the perfect mood for listening to solo piano music.


Speaking of rain and solo piano music, this is not _so_ simple, and also something over which I have no control, but one time I was practicing the second movement of Beethoven's "Tempest" sonata and then a thunderstorm started. It has that rumbly octave motif that makes me think of distant thunder, even though it's the calm movement, so it was very cool to hear _actual_ distant thunder while playing it.

Simpler: I like to put a chair in the middle of my backyard and sit in it and look at the giant tree next door. But I haven't been doing this lately--apparently, this time of year, the tree produces large quantities of fluff and fills the air with it for a three-block radius, and this makes breathing problematic. Right now, the fluff tree if fluffing prodigiously, so I mostly stay inside.


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## presto (Jun 17, 2011)

The title of this thread reminds me of a little movie I made a few years ago-

http://www.youtube.com/user/mrbigarms?feature=mhum#p/u/29/swRM0shc9lE


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

Philip said:


> Hmm that's a pretty complicated pleasure if you ask me...


 Well, I was being sarcastic.


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## Kieran (Aug 24, 2010)

science said:


> Another simple pleasure is doing dishes the old-fashioned way, with your hands in hot soapy water.


Or the _real _old-fashioned way - leave them for your missus!


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

Kieran said:


> Or the _real _old-fashioned way - leave them for your missus!


Yeah!

And then, after she's finished throwing them at me, I can sleep the real old-fashioned way too: outside!


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## Wicked_one (Aug 18, 2010)

science said:


> Yeah!
> 
> And then, after she's finished throwing them at me, I can sleep the real old-fashioned way too: outside!


Outside in the romantic pouring rain with heavy clouds on the sky and wind through trees


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## samurai (Apr 22, 2011)

Wicked_one said:


> Outside in the romantic pouring rain with heavy clouds on the sky and wind through trees


That sounds an awful lot like my Army basic training back in 1974 at Ft. Dix, New Jersey!
The Drill Sergeants never told us it was supposed to be romantic, though. :lol:


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

samurai said:


> That sounds an awful lot like my Army basic training back in 1974 at Ft. Dix, New Jersey!
> The Drill Sergeants never told us it was supposed to be romantic, though. :lol:


You were supposed to figure that out yourselves.


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