simple pleasures, what are yours.

A hug from my dgc and hear them bemoan that we will be on holiday and will miss us.
Seeing an email from my transatlantic ds.
Having dh's bacon sandwich for breakfast.
A wagon wheel with a cuppa.
Reading a really engrossing book.
Getting into a freshly changed bed.

A beautiful view always soothes my soul - rolling hills, green and pleasant land.

A hug from my DGC and KNOWING I'm a special person to them.

Sitting on the sofa and our little dog jumps up because he just likes being with me.

Really good chocolate and really good coffee.

and I am with you * Coolgran* that freshly changed bed is hard to beat!

Opening the curtains to sunny day
Everything about the GC
A beautifully tended garden.
Being told 'that was delicious' after a meal I've cooked.
My laundry blowing in the breeze on a sunny. day.

A cup of tea in bed with the old man in the morning. Bliss. Then a hot shower. Watching the GC reading a good book and knowing (or suspecting and hoping) that's my influence. Hearing my son reading to them both before bed time.

Simple things really.

Sunshine
Playing with G C
A nice walk and a latte

Spending time with my grandson of course!

Sitting in the garden on a sunny day with the dog, a cup of coffee, a good book and a crossword.

Hanging out a line of laundry - I know exactly what you mean ninathenana!

My early morning routine after DH has gone to work. Good coffee, fresh OJ and the papers. Then contemplating an interesting day ahead. This is an everyday pleasure that I never cease to appreciate.

Strolling along the seafront with a gentle breeze and the sea gently lapping the shore.

Sitting down with my first cup of tea, easing away my early morning backache.
Seeing young green shoots on the trees at this time of year.
Opening the curtains to sunshine and blue sky
The smell of laundry fresh from the washing line.
Putting the last stitch into a sewing project.
But most of all, seeing the love on the faces of my grandchildren

Mine will seem very selfish but it is having an hour away from my H who has Alzheimer's and his incessant questions. They start first thing and go on until bedtime so I will take an hour out and sit in the bath with a book.
It does mean I am better able to cope the rest of the time knowing I can take that hour. Also a very good friend takes me out for a coffee one afternoon a week, no other money spent but a decent conversation, oh bliss.

Good strong coffee in the morning, (I don't drink instant anymore) A really good book, fresh white bed linen, Very early morning, drinking a coffee and looking out my kitchen window on a day when the sunshine bathes the grass and trees that lead down to the Thames. Beautiful National Trust properties, Richmond Park when the Rhododendrums are in bloom, or even the Bluebells which carpet Isabella Plantation in that park. Walks in nearby Bushy Park and around Hampton Court gardens. The English countryside on a sunny day. Off to beautiful Sussex for a couple of days, the joy of going somewhere lovely without having a plane journey involved, nearly forgot cat watching

Getting to my beach hut really early and being the only person on the beach for at least a hour

Lying in bed and looking at the mountains

Listening to a Welsh male voice choir singing Myfanwy

Looking on Google Earth at the place where I was brought up, seeing the houses my extended family lived in and the streets I played in

The love of and for my grandchildren

Sitting in church listening to an organist rehearsing

The sea. Buds opening in my garden. Blackbirds singing. Sean Bean . Waitrose coffee ice cream. Dogs. Clean sheets. Driving in my car with the lid down.

This is fantastic, keep them coming.

Ooh forgot to say the appreciation of my grandchildren when I cook them a roast dinner which I did yesterday, because they both seem to enjoy it even if their father doesn't anymore newly converted vegan liked the veg though. Also making my granddaughter happy when I take her swimming, cinema etc., grandson too young at the moment for these pursuits.

All my dgc but especially DGS2 and DgD3 now smiling with sparkly eyes. Fresh bed linen, cooking a nice meal, drinking hot chocolate on the kitchen window seat watching the birds on the feeders.

Washing outside, blowing in the breeze.
Shower, hair wash, clean bedding, early night and a good book with my cat joining me for cuddles.
Chat on the phone with friends who live a fair distance away from me now
Out for coffee or lunch with friends- enjoy the chat and company
A clean house

My family, all 14 of us, from 86 to 4 years old!
Gardens
My allotment
Countryside
Springtime
Birdsong
Dog walks
Sunshine
Sandy beach somewhere warm

These ideas are lovely, as is the idea of the appreciation and gratitude others have for the simple, and often free, pleasures of life. Many of mine are outlined above but some others are:-

-that my daughter phones me several times a day. Often it is to vent or complain but I so love that it is me she trusts and chooses
-my daft son's daft banter
-walking with my dear OH. We find it hilarious that our children think we are bereft without them there when the truth is that we are super-compatible and always have been
-coasts, countryside, old buildings, trees, animals & birds, nature in general
-reading
-sunshine
-Art
-the views out of my windows. Not all spectacular but all green and pleasant
-not having to teach full time any more. Retirement is the gift that goes on giving
-freedom. I look at the lives of women round the world and count my blessings.

Finishing a crossword
Filling up the freezer with meals
Long warm bath
A new book to read
Listening to The Archers
Spending happy times with family
Having a vase of daffodils in the lounge
Having the scales saying I have lost weight
Just gently dropping off to sleep in the conservatory on a sunny day

Walking on the warm sand of a beach barefoot looking for interesting shells/pebbles for DGC whenever we are on holiday,
Going for walks with DH and just chatting, he is a lovely sunny natured and interesting person and after all these years together we still have plenty of conversation.
The first cup of tea in the morning ( a common theme it seems.)
Losing myself in a good book sitting somewhere warm and quiet in the garden or conservatory.

annsixty Life must be difficult for you.?

Smell of daffodils (we used to process with them at School on Founders Day!) or freesias. Especially if they have been bought by DH.

New magazine to read

Crunchie bar with my coffee (despite the guilt!)

Ironing finished

Sun on my face

Seeds brough back from Canada starting to sprout.

Granchildren arriving (and occasionally grandchildren leaving!)