50 activities

From Smackdowns For Your Inner Critic: make a list of fifty things you love to do. Right now. Then do one of them today.

1. Read novels.
2. Bake cookies and eat them.
3. Go for a walk.
4. Take photographs.
5. Write poetry.
6. Knit.
7. Go to the movies.
8. Listen to music in the car.
9. Draw.
10. Clear the kitchen table.
11. Play piano.
12. Hang out with friends.
13. Go camping with Marian and Brenna.
14. Sit and watch dusk fall over Lake Fletcher.
15. Stand and watch the Eramosa River.
16. Take a bath with fragrant oils.
17. Light candles.
18. Dine out.
19. Travel somewhere new.
20. Go to an art gallery.
21. Go to a museum.
22. Call Danny.
23. Have a glass of red wine in the evening.
24. Eat cheese.
25. Garden.
26. Order seeds in the winter.
27. See morning sunshine through the bedroom curtain.
28. Hike the Bruce Trail.
29. Go birdwatching.
30. Play Settlers of Catan and the various expansions with my friends.
31. Meet Sarah for a writing session in the evening.
32. Have a cup of hot chocolate at The Cornerstone.
33. Browse at The Bookshelf.
34. Share potluck dinner with Denise and Robyn on our evening shift at Out On The Shelf.
35. Make maps of imaginary places.
36. Watch DVDs at home.
37. Make jam or chutney.
38. Shop for art supplies.
39. Make paper.
40. Identify an unfamiliar wildflower.
41. Walk barefoot on soft grass.
42. Look for fossils on the beach.
43. Build sand castles.
44. Talk to one of my online friends on the phone.
45. Go to the farmers' market.
46. Go for a drive in the country.
47. Go dancing.
48. Make lists of words that sound good.
49. Sex.
50. Smell roses, lilacs or lily-of-the-valley.

What I chose

dakoopst wanted to know which of my list of fifty activities I love I chose to do today.

Some of my favourite things just happen, like seeing sunshine through my bedroom curtains this morning.

Others might be part of my routine. I didn't make jam or chutney today, but this morning I put a special treat in the slow cooker, chicken curry (using a homemade spice blend I mixed, roasted and ground last night). Then, in order to do some nagging paperwork, I cleared off my lovely oak desk for the first time since before Christmas. It wasn't as big a problem as the kitchen table, but from the writer's perspective it's an even nicer work space.

Of course the whole purpose of this exercise was to inspire yourself to do something today you would not normally do. So as a reward after that annoying paper work, I sleuthed online to find seeds of Kotlas tomatoes, a delicious Russian heirloom variety I grew in 1995 and have not seen since. I couldn't find any, but several sources said Sprint is the same thing. It's available from Upper Canada Seeds, so I ordered a packet along with another old favourite, Red Brandywine, and my new experiment in a yellow cherry, Burpees Jubilee (the little yellow pears I tried last summer tasted like wax). So that was my fun for today. I don't mind buying other vegetable seeds from Stokes or a hardware store, but am very, very picky about tomatoes.

26. Order seeds in the winter.

I'm covering somebody else's shift at OOTS tonight, so it's time to scoop a serving of curry to take along. It smells so good! There's another favourite thing I forgot to add: throwing a lot of yummy stuff in the crock pot and seeing what comes out.

I will also take my knitting along to the library, then I have a planning meeting with my writing partner. Maybe I will look forward to a glass of wine when I get home from the pool later, so there's another few things from the list. Altogether it adds up to an excellent day.