Everyone has little things in life that are special to them. Here're five of mine, in no particular order.



CROSSWORD PUZZLES AND SCRABBLE I group these two pleasures together because they are both word exercises. I have been addicted for most of my life. Sometimes I play email Scrabble (via the site Scrabulous.com) with my mother. Or I play, on the same site, against the computer, which is tough. The computer produces words I've never heard of and sometimes can't even pronounce. And anyone who claims that I did crossword puzzles during trials is lying!



TAPIOCA PUDDING There are some dubious activities that I've been able to curtail, such as smoking (stopped in '77) or arguing with daughter #2, but giving up tapioca pudding is not presently on my agenda. I love this stuff. I even get it in Chinese restaurants, where it is typically of inferior quality. It is really good with animal crackers.



HIKING ALONE My wife and I hike together all the time and I enjoy that. But hiking by myself is even more pleasurable because then I am truly alone in the wonder of nature. I can dawdle, sniff, inspect, photograph, all at my own pace. It is the closest I ever get to a religious experience.



TREE MARVELLING Trees excite and enthrall me. I want to come back as a tree, preferably a live oak or a banyan. Perhaps some of you recall my post "The Man Who Loved Trees." In my photo gallery there a number of photos of trees(e.g. "Embracing Aspens"). The young trees that I have planted around our house get my extra-special attention. They're like my babies. Maybe I was a tree in a prior life...



GIN & GINGER ALE (OR TONIC) WITH LIME One of the enduring mysteries in my life is whether I like gin because of lime or lime because of gin. Who is John Galt? In any event, lime and gin go together like ... well, Bogie and Bacall. I usually drink it with ginger ale but it's wonderful with tonic water as well. As long as you have lime to go in there too. And summertime is gin time! There was a time when I envisioned myself retiring onto a boat on the west coast of Florida with a full stock of gin and limes to help me float leisurely among the 1,000 islands. Ironically, I ended up living in a juniper tree grove (gin is flavored with juniper berries) in Utah.

Those were the five special things that occurred to me this morning. Anyone else want to post their own?

Comments:

You and my mom would get along so well, she loves crosswords..and puzzle books..Great blog

What a good idea, Steve. I like your answers - and three of them are on my list: tapioca pudding, gin and tonic, and trees.

comment by catdancer on June 30, 2008 6:28 PM ()

very cool

reply by looserobes on July 1, 2008 6:58 AM ()

Years ago, I spent a lot of time hiking alone. Come to think of it, as a teenager growing up in Seattle in the mid-20th century, I was alone in the virgin forest of south Seattle. My parents were extraordinarily permissive, and I am certain it was not that they didn't care - I was their only child. I agree that being alone in the wilderness is a great experience. It can also be dangerous. In Alaska in 1951 I found that out. I encountered a brown bear, whose foot prints were the size of dinner plates. I think that is when I started losing my hair. Another time, I got onto a patch of quick sand beside a river, and had it not been for a scrubby alder tree within reach, I might not have gotten out of it. I will give some thought to my own 5 favorite passtimes...

comment by mindanaomike on June 29, 2008 5:46 PM ()

I spent a lot of time off alone as a kid too, in Miami, where there were no virgin forests, or even virgins. My mom was a single parent w/o the time to keep track of me.

reply by looserobes on June 29, 2008 6:09 PM ()

Line 2, should read: Everything 'she' said. . .

I love your answers Steve and when I got to #4 I read it with relish and began to scroll down to leave my comment - then I read Lynnies comment, everything you has said is, true, but honest, I am not a 'quirky nut' I do, believe that we can receive and absorb, lots of 'spiritual natural' power from them - perhaps it's a bit of Pagan Druidism, that still float about in my genes - I dunno, but I know it's there

Great list. Good way to get to know ya better. I enjoy word games too, but don't make the time for them, however, I'll ck out the Scrabulous site. A few years ago, a girlfriend and I tried out and were selected for "Pictionary", a pilot game show that never launched. Now you've inspired me to post my five!

comment by november on June 29, 2008 3:32 PM ()

Forgot to say, that if I came back as a tree, I'd wanna be an aspen or birch.

reply by november on June 29, 2008 3:33 PM ()

Steve, your answers are always a surprise to me. Tapioca pudding with animal crackers!! I buy ready-made Jello tapioca pudding because my husband loves it, too. The trees are what I love!

My Mum 'Augusta' wants to 'be' a tree, she prays and draws the powers and magic forces from them. I leave her to it, it's not that i'm against people who like trees but she talks to them and I think she can here them talk back lol. I love her all the same

Yup, I'm going to snatch this idea! I can't deal with 50 questions or 100 things nobody should know about me, but I like this idea!
I like you comment about hiking alone. I used to be able to do that before I moved to where I am now. There is really no accessible woods around here like there was at the old place, just roads.