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Simplest pleasures

Looking up.

We spend so much time with our eyes fixed a few feet or maybe even a few hundred feet in front of us. I will walk outside and just gaze at the sky. In the morning the clouds lit from a rising sun, in the afternoon the birds busy about their business or planes arching across the sky and at night, which is my preferred time to look up, I especially enjoy when I can see the milky way along with the myriad celestial bodies.

One of the most beautiful things is when there are low clouds and for about 10 minutes before sunset or after sunrise, the sun gets beneath the clouds and underlights them. Like most beautiful things in life, it's fleeting.

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I make it a point to be outside around sunset when certain kinds of clouds are in the western sky. I like watching them go from yellow to orange to red to pink/violet/purple.
I saw certain clouds in the western sky Monday night. I kept checking on them as the sun went down. I was richly rewarded!:)
Sunset over Sacramento - 8-8-2022.jpg
 
I'll also say the aroma of freshly cut grass. And along with that is the sense of a job well done when the yardwork is finished. Sitting on the patio, cold beverage, and smelling the grass.

Another one is when driving down the road, and you turn on the radio, and actually hear an old favorite playing. Almost every song I like evokes some sort of memory that usually brings me some inner peace, even for a moment.
 
A lazy river on a kayak at daybreak. The sun picket fencing through the trees. Fish jumping. Deer grazing. Eagles and hawks flying overhead. Turtles plunking into tumhe water as I go by. Snakes sunbathing on rocks. Lava hit insulated cup of the perfect color coffee. Just enough current to love the kayak, bit not too fast. All I gotta do is hold the paddle in the water to steer with my right hand, coffee in my left.

Yeah.....


Second place is a kayak at sunset in the marsh near our beach place with two cold beers. Cranes flying over. Thousands of dragonflies buzzing around. Fish jumping. Neighbors waving from their docs. Sky on fiyuh. 5 mph breeze.... just enough to feel in my beard.


I can close my eyes and go to both places.
 
A moose bit my sister once.
I like doing odd jobs around the house and taking the occasional break, but yesterday I went for a hike with my wife and youngest daughter at about 10,000 feet in Colorado. Saw one moose and lots of alpine meadow close enough to the tree line to see where the trees ended. My feet weren't happy by the time we finished (they're not very good any more) but it was a nice way to spend a few hours with them. When your kids get to 26+ years and are living on their own, a chance to spend a few hours with them becomes one of MY favorite simple things.

A photo or two....
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Did you get a photo of the moose?
 
Making the granddaughters laugh uncontrollably. It's getting harder and harder lately. I like to make people laugh in general.
Little kids' laughter brings so much joy to me! They don't wonder, "Do I sound funny?" or "Do my teeth look okay?" They just LAUGH, loud and hearty!