The Best Things in Life Are...

As I was traveling through Blogland on my magic carpet today, flitting here and there, I touched down at Four Miles North of Nowhere and enjoyed reading Kath's "10 Favorite Freebies." It started me thinking, wondering what free things I enjoyed in my life and was taking for granted. I had difficulty holding my list to 10, however, as you will see below.

1. a glorious sunset turning in to a star-filled night sky
2. a symphony of rain
3. sleeping in on Saturday morning
4. a well-crafted thought or two
5. a visit with a good friend
6. giving & receiving a word or note of encouragement
7. holding hands with my husband
8. a hug from my spouse or teenage boys
9. a shared smile or laughter
10. grace (because Someone else paid for this)
11. poodle devotion - I have no idea why she loves me and willingly spends the day curled up by my side.
12. a stroll through Green Lake Park - Years ago this was almost the only park inside the city, and even more recently it was opened to the public without a fee. People visit daily to stroll with their children, practice traditional and more popular dances, share in impromptu musical performances, play mahjong, drive the motorized boats, and feed the Siberian seagulls.
13. stickers & journals - with a supply on hand, I can waste a glorious amount of time using the first to decorate the latter
14. working a puzzle - almost all of the puzzles I own are prints of this amazing American artist's work.... Heronim (Harry Wysocki)
15. I am a firm believer in rereading favorite books
16. a trip to the library (unfortunately, there is no English language library where we live)
17. any opportunity to go shell hunting on the beach
18. free blog backgrounds and images, especially vintage ones (see earlier post)
19. web info on things that interest me (for example: female illustrators)
20. online recipes

I really better stop at 20, but I did want to include an advertisement for National Public Radio (NPR) which hosts "Car Talk" and the Public Broadcasting System (PBS.org) which airs great kids television, BBC productions, and "Antiques Roadshow." Oh, it goes without saying that reading your blogs is a tremendous free pleasure for me as well.

Thank you to the Graphics Fairy for the great image used in this post.