A chance to exchange notes on the little everyday things that cheer you up when you're down, or make an ordinary day into a better one. Winning move unaltered.
Introducing my children to great films from before their time as they grow up - While Mrs Phil is poorly in bed, 'little' Miss Phil and I have watched 'Raising Arizona', 'Airplane!', 'The Big Lebowski', 'Shaun of the Dead' over the last 4 nights. Admitedly, she'd seen two of them before, but it was good to bring her up to speed on the Coen Brothers. Maybe 'Full Metal Jacket' tonight, or perhaps 'Withnail and I', which neither of us has seen.
[Phil] However, what I find with MsCdMJr is that any film that dates from before 2004 is greeted with a comment of "That's so old!" [pen] That was cfm, not me. It is a good line, though. Mind you, we should remember that the author of Charlotte's Web was also a co-author of the odious Strunk and White Elements of Style, and so not someone that I particularly acknowledge as a judge of good writing. :-) Sautéed mushrooms
Being able to make a comment on a complete stranger's website/blog/whatever and get a reply from someone who lives potentially thousands of miles away.
Walking a fast half-hour circuit of the village last night under a clear and almost-full moon, seeing the stars and flashing lights of the planes circling for Rotterdam and Amsterdam airports, and hearing the very last of the summer crickets chirruping in the grass.(And the imaginary dog trotting along beside me, of course)
Watching football managers lose their rag or becoming, as they would put it, "disappointed". (SM) I'm with you on that. I have just made one of these. Prior to that a contour map of the entire North Downs at 1:80,000. The wonders of Photoshop.
Sky-watching. In particular, watching the sunrise over the sea from the deck as the overnight ferry pulls into home port, with a cup of coffee and a chocolate croissant; seeing mammatus clouds with my own eyes for the first time, a shooting star, and a night-sky full of stars out in the country. All over the past week or so.
The smell of tertiary butyl alcohol. A bit like isopropanol (de-icer, various cosmetics) only more so. Minty and a bit camphor-like. Rather nice - even better than ether.
[CdM] Hear, hear! Via Facebook, I've just regained contact with an Estonian fireman I use to chat with about 12 years ago. The downside is the cyrillic script on my FB timeline now!
In that case: Arriving home from work to discover that your teetotal wife has opened a bottle of red wine, to make lasagne, and the rest of it requires drinking. I love getting out of the car to the smell of lasagne, as it means I don't have to feel guilty about opening a bottle, just for myself.
Boxy concrete buildings built on a grassy slope overlooking big swaths of nature. Only realized how nice this makes me feel the other day when looking at some pictures.
The memory of having met and conversed with Samuel R Delany face-to-face, and of loaning him a copy of Driftglass when he had nothing for his scheduled reading and thus saving the day. 8oP