29 things I think are AWESOME!

First of all:  I invite YOU to tell me 3 of your favorite things in comments here, OK?  Won't that be fun? And go nuts and blog your own 29 or 30 or 10 whatever the days' date happens to be!

My best pal Sandra blogged the 27 (or whatever the date was) things she loves, is grateful for the other day.  I looooove that idea and got started! You can too!
I just rolled with it, adding items to the list all day, willy nilly, not thinking about it much...

1.  apple anything, pie, sauce, crisp, scones, muffins! SEE BELOW.  Frankly, raspberries, blueberries, pineapple too....
2. peanut butter--do you have any idea how much of that I eat?  I think my body is some kind of fast burning furnace and craves peanut butter and jam sometimes...really! But it is good for cookies or on pasta andandand... :)
3. Jam!  We make all of our jam.  Our favorite since fall since it is easy to make all year (berries and peaches have their seasons, right? apples available year round) is APPLE SPICE JAM! Jam making is fun and the wife and I cooperate on the task and then cooperate on the eating.
4.CATS, especially my Spike who was on my feet all night long, and now?  Here at the desk?  Again on my feet!
5.  small beagles!  Esp. MY small beagle Penny.
6. mountains!  see my post of a couple of days ago, where we climbed one!
7.  the sea!  When I was a kid we lived for awhile on the Connecticut coast which is where I first had swimming lessons...that was a chilly morning experience, but pretty smart to learn how to swim under difficult circumstances, right?  I remember when we moved from Chicago back to the east coast and our first trip to the beach brought us to Gloucester, Cape Ann and Rockport, Mass... about the prettiest area on EARTH...years before I was visiting the Florida Keys--most of Florida had been a crushing disappointment to me, it was NOT like Miami Vices best scenes, instead overcrowded, overbuilt, too many cars BUT there is a state park on the Florida Keys that is probably the prettiest spot in all of Florida, and reminds me of what humans have ruined down there.
I have a big conch shell I found there, can you believe it?  It is on the back deck now...
8. New York City!  The wife is returning here from there today, LUCKY GIRL.  As you guys know, we visit there often, 2 sisters live there, I lived and worked there in SOHO for an artist one winter in the 80s, my family all lived there for many generations AND the wife's family....it is one big urban playground, the best place in the world, and not as dangerous as it used to be!
9.  trains!  The wife rides the train home today, lucky HER
10. bikes! esp. my bikes!  I have not had as much chance to bike this year....
11. baking!  we bake everything....see below for more baking goodness!
12.  running! although with all the thunder and lightening out there this am, I am like "maybe not today..." I run in any weather, but maybe lightening is an exception....all that rain is probably killing my new basil and tomato plants, par for the course
13.  drawing!  see the bunny mugs below!  I have limited drawing skills...but love it so much, and it is amusing to me... the bonus I give my cat sitting and dog walking dogs is an illustrated note of our adventures....I think that is why my pet sitting business is EXPLODING and growing (adding...CHICKENS to the resume this weekend) because of the amusing drawings I make of people's pets when I care for them....
14.  reading! all my life my nose has been stuck in a book....my mom too, and her family, even her grandfather who worked in a factory with barely any schooling but read all the time....
15.  clay! glazing!  I made some fun stuff yesterday AND opened the kiln to see bunny things ...see below!  what a perfect occupation....
16. checkerboards!  I have come to realize that my neurotic self really like the tidy order of decorating with checkerboards....a favorite glaze scheme, as you know, is a turquoise and blue checkerboard...
17.  greens!!!!!!!!! all kinds of light greens!  you should the green thing I just ordered with a gift cert. I was given (the phone company so grateful for my contract they gave me a HUGE bonus), the wonderful and lush woods on the riverbank behind our house WHICH as you know we recently had painted green and, of course, the many green glazes in different shades that I use...
18. forget me nots!  mmmm...green and light blue...YES, that is the color combo we used to paint our house...
19.  wine!!!! the guy at the NY Times wrote that "wine is a joy" YES. Yes it is, a nice dry white is like a glass of sunshine.  So soft and lovely!  I will say in the evening to the wife "would you like a glass of joy?"
20.  COFFEE!  I try to like tea, but it is SUCH a distant second choice to strong, black, hot espresso....
it powers MY machine
21.  SUMMER!  Holy cats, we have the BEST summers in upstate NY, 70s and blue and green all summer long....my favorite day of the year????? JUNE FIRST!  Then you know we have 3 guarenteed nice months ahead....
22.  spring!  spring is an exciting preface to SUMMER!
23.  FALL!  well, fall is golden and colorful and hopefully not too cold and snowy, right?
24.  CHRISTMAS!  I like Christmas so much we GOT MARRIED on Christmas, as you know.  Quakers believe that no day is more sacred than another, but Quakers are not total killjoys, we live in the world, and I was surprised last year there was even a brief pageant the kids put together (Quakers also worship in silence with zero pageantry) and it was cute...a couple of carols and TWO babies (where one baby Jesus is cute and a good idea, you should probably employ another baby as an adorable bear in the manger...)
25.  my FRIENDS!  Trevor was over last night having the frosty brew on my porch...you would love my friends...of course, you reading this?  a beloved friend too!
26.  our house! it is such a nice house, on a river, VERY old, and now painted like a forget me not...
27.  birthdays!  MINE! and yours!  just like Christmas, BUT it belongs to you alone and you don't have to share, although celebrating them with others is FUN
28.  rock and roll....
29.  the wife!!!! good golly, gone for a few days, I miss her...

Like I say, go to comments and add your 3!!!!

I love bunnies, who wouldn't?  Catherine asks "I will need bunny mugs for my sister, do you ever do BUNNIES???" and its like "of course I do! And you should see all the bunnies around my house, driving my beagle NUTS and inspiring ME".

In other news, Bronwyn loaned me her vegan cookbook. I was madly going through it, recipe cards and pencil in hand like it was THE BEST HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT EVER.
And remember number one up there, how much I LOVE APPLES etc? There was a recipe there for APPLE PIE CRUMBLE muffins and I set my pencil down and baked those puppies right away and HOLY CATS they are SO perfect!  I did not have any cider, so I mixed a little applesauce with water, voila!