• all of my coffee cups, lined up on the shallow shelf above my three kitchen windows:


• my 1950's chrome and formica kitchen table, with original gray crackle formica (I can ignore the burn mark, which I covered with duct tape and drew a bandaid on once):


• the Dr. Suess-looking copper sculpture my sister made me:


• the Harley-Davidson ring I found in the Top Foods parking lot in Union Gap, WA, summer 1994:


• the hummingbird at my feeder just now (tough to get those little hummers to sit still for photos; I'll try again later)


• my new fleece bedsheets, which are very warm (I kid you not, they make these; get thee to Bed, Bath and Beyond. And my bed's too messy for a photo-op right now)

• the really good, resinous incense I get at Minglement – this week it’s Honey Amber, but Copal is my favorite:


• my back, which is not hurting today and didn’t hurt yesterday (I am discovering better pillow positions and back sleeping):


• always, that view to the west (okay, this is southwest):


• the Norwegian National Anthem, Jeg, vi elsker dette landet ("yes, we love this land"); never have I heard anything in the frozen language register that moves me so:

Ja, vi elsker dette landet,
som det stiger frem,
furet, værbitt over vannet,
med de tusen hjem.
Elsker, elsker det og tenker
på vår far og mor
og den saganatt som senker
drømme på vår jord.
Og den saganatt som senker,
senker drømme på vår jord.

Literal translation:
Yes, we love this country
as it rises forth,
rugged, weathered, above the sea,
with those thousand homes.
Loving, loving it and thinking
about our father and mother
and the saga night that sends
dreams to our earth.



• the knowledge that, come hell or high water, my Sissie and I are going to Finnmark in summer 2008. I’ll sell my car if I have to!

• Svenska pankaker:


• four-season salad with gorgonzola, pears, sugared walnuts and raspberry vinaigrette (no pic - I ate the muthah)

• my new wireless router, which allows me to do this anywhere in my house

• the Cajun’s proximity, in time and space (he’s not the only thing going, but he’s a good thing, indeed)

And I almost forgot (and added later):

• frozen puddles:


• self-cleaning kitties (Molly is, Buck isn't):


• and honkers: