10 Little Things I Love for No Big Reason

OK, if Scottie and Amanda can do it.
1. Palm trees. Maybe it’s a California thing, but I love seeing a palm tree or two silhouetted against the sky. They’re so brave, all tall and spindly and higher than the houses and apartment buildings they flank. I even like the bedraggled ones that need to have their fronds trimmed. There’s one across the street that I can see from my living room, and I frequently check on it to see how it looks in different lights and weather.
2. Clean sheets. I love climbing into bed with clean sheets, all crisp and cool, like water with cucumber slices floating in it.
3. The scent of eucalyptus. It reminds me of this place. Though, when I heard the 120-foot ones along Kapiolani Road were going to be cut down this summer, I shed nary a tear. What with the falling limbs and buckling sidewalks, they’ve become a bit of a menace.
4. Daffodils. So yellow and trumpety and leonine. When I was a little girl, every February, daffodils would bloom in a meadow near our house, and I’d pick a bouquet to take home. Plus, they’re palindromic.
5. Little girls. I’m not much into babies, but little girls, about 4 to 7 years old, I love. They’re so unselfconscious and true to their inner spirit, not yet beaten down by the world. A couple weeks ago at the Y, I saw the most adorable little girl, with black hair and eyes, a navy sailor dress, and red tights. She just kept spinning in a circle, getting dizzy, and then spinning some more, joyful as her dress spun out in a circle, with no care for anything beyond the present joy of spinning herself dizzy.
6. Picnics. This one should be self-explanatory.
7. Satsuma mandarin oranges. They taste like Christmas. And there’s nothing like the vaguely illicit feeling of buying a giant bag out of the back of a truck.
8. Drinking coffee while reading my e-mail. Coffee and e-mail go together like, well, coffee and cigarettes, I imagine.
9. Tiny books of poetry. Small enough to tuck into a purse and read anywhere the mood strikes. Post-Apollo Press has a lovely series of tiny books.
10. Foggy mornings. Sleeping in on a foggy morning, staying warm and snuggly in bed while it stays cool outside, and there’s no sun shining in to wake me up early. Perfect.