Tell me about something good?

[elisem]

It's been a long time since I made a post like this. But right now, for various reasons, things are more difficult than usual, and it's just A LOT, as the saying has it. If you have a minute or two, please tell me about something good? It helps to read things like that. Doesn't have to be a big thing; it can just be HELLO THIS BEETLE IS SO BEAUTIFUL or maybe I TOOK A PHOTO OF THESE RAILROAD TRACKS BECAUSE THE COLORS WERE INTERESTING. Or maybe HEY LOOK THESE PEOPLE DID A LOVING THING. It makes my day's freight a little easier to carry.

Thank you in advance, and I hope you have good things and good people around you too.


And I guess I'll start, because that makes sense:

The way light comes through translucent things never ceases to interest and inspire me. From the light through the hibiscus petals in a photograph, to the light through my orange curtains, to the light on, in, and through the beads I'm going to work with in an hour or so, it's just always fascinating. It's such a good thing.

Comments

[sine_nomine]

I recently was at an event where I saw folks I met 30 years ago. It was pretty nifty.

Also, I know this remarkable human named Elise. She's preety good. ;-)

In all seriousness, I am so sorry for a LOT, but here to support.

[naomikritzer]

This year, I got back into the habit of reading actual books, and I have read a ton of them. Some of them were AMAZING, including some by people I know.

[redbird]

Almost every morning, adrian_turtle wakes up, comes into the study, and hugs me. This morning she added that it's "easy to get hugged now," because while we've been living together long enough to be used to the patterns of things like laundry, some ways it still feels new and different. (cattitude is sitting happily a few feet from me as I type.)

[oursin]

I was thinking only today, I did not buy this flat back in the day for the view from the kitchen window, but latterly I have been really loving the view into the tiny pocket park behind the gardens of this street and the changing colours of the trees.

And I remember that last winter I was able to see smaller birds than the obvious, indeed ubiquitous, pigeons and magpies, partly because they were not hidden among the leaves, and partly because next door have a birdtable in their garden, and I'm looking forward to this.

Once there were even parakeets, but that was a rare and one-off visitation.

[davidgoldfarb]

I'm visiting my family in California. (Which is a nice thing in itself.) To get in exercise, I walked from my dad's place where I'm staying to my brother's, and along the way I encountered several trees with beautiful autumn foliage. One of them was a huge ginkgo, and it was all covered with golden leaves and enough had fallen to carpet the ground beneath, and I walked onto that and felt like I was in a huge space that was all gold.

I took a photo but it didn't really capture the whole thing, plus I haven't figured out how to embed photos here.

Also today there is a new Doctor Who special and I am really excited to watch it.

[davidgoldfarb]

Alas, that isn't showing for me. Ginkgo leaves are beautiful things.

[sartorias]

I love watching my little dog work her puzzles. I love the startlingly beautiful yellow of a ginkgo tree. I love that last year's ducks returned--and I know it's them because suddenly they were outside my patio door, waiting for me to bring their duck food breakfast, which I'd last done in March.

[madgastronomer]

Today I am very happy with the solid, clinking feeling of my Tessera Oracle, a set of enamel and metal tiles that are just sooooo satisfying tactilely.

Today I am also pleased that when my BPPV hit as I started to snuggle with my wife and the room started spinning, I was already held in her arms.

And finally, today I am pleased with plans to buy a high-quality purple top hat and decorate it with Dionysian things in a completely over-the-top manner.

[azurelunatic]

That is an excellent hat plan!

[madgastronomer]

Thank you! There will be grapevine lace, crocheted ivy, sparkly things, a big bow, and brass pine cones, and I am looking forward to it enormously.

[china_shop]

I have a new little black cat, and she is a joy and also ridiculous in the way cats are.

[ursa_cerulean]

I'm having a busy Saturday at my shop again, after having been closed for six months and then two fairly quiet months.

[pameladean]

I told two people about Cress Delahanty and quoted a couple of paragraphs about THE HAT. And credited you with introducing me to the book.

I also, after more than a year of wearing no jewellery at all, put on "Intuition for Breakfast" for Thanksgiving. It was a tiring and somewhat muddled dinner, though successful overall, and that little piece of labradorite glinting blue at the right angles was just lovely to behold.

P.

[jazzfish]

I finally found a replacement source for my favourite tea, so now I get to have Good Tea in the mornings.

[sraun]

I finally got to meet my new sister-in-law, after she married my brother about six years ago.

[anne]

I just made a pot of potato -and-leftover-roast-squash soup, and it's delicious. Cumin, garlic, ginger, and Chinese red pepper flakes. I'll eat it with a blop of yogurt (a blop is a little bigger than a dollop, in my family's idiom).

[sovay]

If you have a minute or two, please tell me about something good?

Autolycus sat on my desk for hours this afternoon and chattered like a Siamese-voiced machine gun at the fat sparrow just out of reach in the yew tree outside my office window. It was very fluffy and should obviously have been in his mouth. He batted at the glass; the sparrow fluttered away; it came back and he chattered again. Only when it became too dark to see if the sparrow was still there did he lose the hunting hunch of a cat ready to spring through double glazing in pursuit of delicious prey.

[jjhunter]

I reconnected with one of my favorite people from high school last week, and found out this week that she would be in town to see family for the holiday, so had the very great pleasure of having her and her little sister over for dinner at our new place (which itself is a great joy found after much hunting).

The local arboretum is full of oaks gone russet that glow against the late afternoon sky. Small dogs and small children writhe about happily in the leaves. I made various salads with deep green leafy vegetables and pomegranate seeds for events this week, and they were well-received.

I have a new pair of Elise earrings coming to me in the mail soon, and just looking at them online made my feet feel like dancing.

[resolute]

I went to the goth expo in Minneapolis today, and it was full of people all just LOVING THE THING THEY LOVE. Little kids, and folks older than you and me, and everyone in between. Just, so many people walking around being enthusiastic about stuff.

It was great.

[ckd]

Despite needing to do a bit of nearly last minute improvising around Thanksgiving plans, I still got to spend time with Liza and have tasty pumpkin pie.

[heavenscalyx]

Tomorrow I get to go home for a month. I have only been home once, for 2 weeks, since the beginning of May. I am so ready to have my people and cats and house.

[dewline]

I finally made the time to see about getting my mother's watch fixed.

Also, I got luckier than usual with bingo today. The prizes were small: three and five dollars each time, and so what?

[radiantfracture]

If you like thinking about the qualities of light, you probably already know the paintings of Mary Pratt, but in case:

https://www.aci-iac.ca/art-books/mary-pratt/key-works/jelly-shelf/

[azurelunatic]

I'm getting chemotherapy and I'm tolerating it well and the side effects meds are doing their job! Death to my cancer cells!

[landingtree]

I'm working in a bookshop, and today a fluffy tabby cat I'd never seen before wandered in off the street and walked around the general fiction for five minutes before wandering out again. It's sunny outside. Customers come in cheerful, chatting to each other about astronomy books. A small child was very excited to browse and choose something for her aunt to buy her.

[ivorygates]

We got the living room excavated and it looks pretty good!

I have gotten back to posting on DW and it's a bit like a bicycle but I'm kind of pleased with myself.

[shewhostaples]

My little baby smiles and babbles and is an absolute delight.

[cgbookcat1]

My newest cat likes to sleep curled up against my leg with her tongue sticking out. It's incredibly cute!

I am not naturally inclined toward jewelry, but I have several of your pendants and enjoy them.

[niqaeli]

I wrote words today! And we got the Christmas decorations out of the garage yesterday and a few are up already making the house more winter-cheerful. <3

[jenett]

I have spent all day outlining a trilogy (which I will be delighted to discuss with you as appeals at some future point). My brain is very tired now.

I also have a very warm cat curled up against my ankle, which is very soothing.

[aurumcalendula]

I'm really enjoying archery and I recently discovered there's two different bubble tea places in my area.

[vass]

Thank you for the opportunity. It's late spring here, and there are SO MANY birds around. Magpies, ravens, rosellas, cockatoos and corellas, sparrows, some little birds smaller than a sparrow, whose names I haven't learned yet. I'm trying to learn their calls.

The way light comes through translucent things never ceases to interest and inspire me.

You and Delany, to judge by the title of his memoir.

[hunningham]

I got a vase by Joanne Wason for my birthday (very like this one). The glaze is creamy white, with little speckles - like a good egg. And it feels amazing when you hold it, soft and almost creamy. Some pots just beg for the hand, and this is one. Also met the potter when we were buying it - she's an old lady. I love the way potters don't retire, but just keep on making beautiful things and getting better & better at their craft as they age.

i have a friend

[siriosa]

(for over 50 years now) whose heart is so pure, she fully expects everyone around her to be kind. and ppl knock themselves out so she's not disappointed. she has often told me how fortunate she's been in her places of employment: almost everyone is just so darn nice. i have gently suggested that she's doing it, and she rejects that hypothesis out of hand. she would *never* force anyone to do or be anything. they're nice because they're nice, not because she's using mind control or something. i roll my eyes. after 50 years, i know i'm not gonna win this argument.

[mrissa]

A few of us spent Thanksgiving Eve with my best-uncle, because he can't make it to our houses and we can't all fit in his place, and this is his first year without my best-aunt in 70 years. We're going back on Thursday for her birthday and bringing him in supper. That in itself would be a good thing, we're taking care of best-uncle. But also he told us a story about her that makes me really happy.

When he was president of his company and in charge of approving "salary adjustments" for each year, she would keep track of when that was coming, and she would announce, "All right, Phil, we're going shopping." And she would take him around to the grocery store and Target and the pharmacy and that, so that he could see how much it cost to buy a bag of potatoes, children's socks, a bottle of aspirin. "She wanted me to see how much those people needed raises," he said. "She never wanted me to be one of those company presidents who'd say, oh, the workers are making enough money, the shareholders needed theirs. She remembered when we didn't have anything, and she knew there were people who still didn't, and she wasn't going to let me forget." And he sounded so proud of her when he told that story, and I can just see her with her two canes striding through Cub Foods and pointing out to him just how much a bag of frozen peas would set you back.

[maribou]

I have three beautiful tabby kittens who were born in April on my birthday (one of those coincidences that amuse the universe), and they make me laugh and swoon and be fascinated, every day. They recently hit seven months old and are developing into personable young gentlecats.

[aamcnamara]

I had a bit of a drive today and I got to see tree branches outlined with snow, fields covered in white, and a whole flock of crows (I think) flying together-but-separate and then settling down into a field--lovely contrast and a lot of personality! It wasn't a flock of birds all moving together, groups of three or six were each doing their own thing, flapping or gliding or ...

[queenbookwench]

I had a really great Friendsgiving!

And my friend's son wanted to DM a D&D oneshot for us, and he did an outstanding job :) We had _nine people_, which is hard anyway, but if I hadn't already known I'd never have guessed he was a.) a high school freshman and b.) only DMing for the 4th time!

Also, my friend M and her son L turned out to be big fans of the WoT books, and are enjoying season 2 of the show (season 1 not as much!) and WoT stuff always makes me think of you and smile, even though I've never read any of them.

[carbonel]

I went to New York for a work trip the week before last, and I wanted something to wear with my mock turtleneck and black pants that would dress it up a bit. I found a necklace I bought from you years ago with stones in neutral colors and one wandering wire oval that I bought because it was the right length and it would go with anything, and it was just perfect with that outfit.

Also, despite that being a work trip, I am now mostly retired and have more time to do Other Stuff that isn't work, especially traveling and spinning.

[ndrosen]

I met old friends at the farmers’ market Sunday, two humans and two hounds. Sarge the beagle let me pet him, and Bailey the longer-legged hound greeted me and nuzzled my hand. This is a big change, because when she was recently adopted, she was very skittish; now, after many months with her new mistress, she is much more outgoing, comfortable with people, and apparently happier.

[rosefox]

A good thing is that I found you on here again! I don't know how you fell off my reading list, but you're back on it now.

Also, the holiday love meme is running again and it makes me so happy to see all those people being nice to one another.

I hope you get many good things.