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.
I've been into TikTok lately and sometimes there's this really awesome pianist that does at-home piano bars. It makes me so happy as do all of the people that come in for them. Sometimes he has gigs that he's allowed to broadcast on TikTok and that makes me happy, too. And the regulars come in, too.
Wide window sills Yes, it's a bit random, but I chanced to be reminded of it this evening, so I'm putting it in. When I was a kid, my house has wide window sills. Wide enough for a kid to sit on. And in the summer, I used to sit on the window sill and read for hours after my bedtime, sometimes till 4am or so, I suspect. The only risk of being spotted would have been if my parents decided to go into the garden, which they basically never did after about 6pm, any time of year. Some of my friends' houses had or have yucky, narrow window sills, and I always viewed them (the sills, that is) with disdain. My current house also has nice wide window sills everywhere, and while I no longer need them as ad-hoc midnight seating, they're still handy for plant pots, ornaments and things. It's only a little thing, almost inconsequential really, but that's what little pleasures are all about, so I'm putting it in this game.
Posting on behalf of something or someone else: Seeing a frog, jumping out of a lap, and nosing at said frog in order to make it jump and then finding it and nosing it again and making it jump.
Discovering that the Internet has the lyrics to the songs on Faust Tapes inside it. J'ais mal aux dents, J'ais mal aux pieds aussie J'ais mal aux dents, J'ais mal aux pieds aussie J'ais mal aux dents, J'ais mal aux pieds aussie
Moving your limbs I'm not so keen on getting too hot, or too cold, or rained on, or achey or blistered or whatever, but physical activity is undeniably a net plus even if there are a few flies in the ointment.
Perpetrating names like Boots, Bewts, Butes, Bootes, Marchinup & Downagen Solicitors and Commissioners of Oaths on the Americans in my Space 1889 game. Count Oberluft and Baroness Von Klyster have also made appearances.
@Muse I'm trying to cultivate the habit of smiling at everyone, especially people working in shops. If it helps just a tiny bit I think it's worthwhile.
A warm, but slightly overcast day with a pleasant breeze. Means I can sit in the 'garden' and 'work', and see WTH I'm doing on the laptop. Yes, I would be more productive if I sat indoors at my desk with a keyboard and the bigger monitor, but perfect days like this are rare and should not be squandered. And I've squandered more than a few, so let's start appreciating them.
The prospect of baking a cake tonight for the first in-person team meeting for a while tomorrow & being able to make it lactose-free for one particular colleague who often misses out.
I wasn't very bold, was I? Maybe a good thing. You'd all want to come to our team meeting for a piece of Devonshire Honey Cake (see the BBC's Good Food website recipe)
My mother, who was quite a good baker, once decided to make honey cake. It wasn't good at all, and nobody wanted to eat it, so we left it out for the birds. After about a month we came to the conclusion that neither the birds nor any other beast would ever touch the stuff, so we had to throw it out.
I also have a honey cake story. My mother, also quite a good baker, once decided to make honey cake. The whole house smelled of honey while it was baking, yet the result was an ordinary sponge cake that hardly tasted of honey at all. Maybe it’s like brewing coffee, where the optimal temperature for extracting the flavour will send the flavour flying off into the air given any chance. Is there a baking equivalent to the espresso machine, that bakes the cake in a sealed oven?
The recipe calls for boiling the honey, butter and sugar together. I kept it under a boil - I reckoned I'd lose all the honey aromatics by boiling. It seemed to work. But the cake needs 50% longer in the oven than the recipe states. The prospect of going to try out a new (to me) car later this afternoon. It's got heated seats.