Little Things

Man is fond of counting his troubles, but he does not count his joys.  If he counted them up as he ought to, he would see that every lot has enough happiness provided for it.  ~Fyodor Dostoevsky

Precisely the least, the softest, lightest, a lizard's rustling, a breath, a flash, a moment - a little makes the way of the best happiness.  ~Frederich Nietzsche, Thus Spake Zarathustra

Be happy.  It's one way of being wise.  ~Colette
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Little things make me happy.  I'm pretty sure this is the best way to be.  Here is a list of some of the small things that have brought me joy lately.

• indigo buntings - I looked outside my window yesterday to see a small sea of brilliant blue birds.  I thought they were bluebirds at first, but as I looked at them, I realized they were something quite different.  All of my feeders were empty, courtesy of my usual contingent of feathered and furred friends, so I went to Walmart to buy 40 lbs of seed to refill everything.  I don't know how long they'll be here, but I want them to have food while they are.
• buttermilk - Mom brought me a carton of buttermilk the other day.  I always forget how much I love it.  Glass by glass, I've been enjoying the tartness of it.  I need to get it more often.
• shiny nail polish - If I have a retail weakness, it has to be for shiny nail polish. Every time I go by a display, I stop and look.  It's not like I don't have more than enough to last me the rest of my life.  Somehow, though, there's always another cool color.  
• my cast iron Lodge pizza pan - I've made homemade pizza for years and years, and I've had tons of different pans.  A few months ago, I decided to splurge on a cast iron one made by Lodge.  I love cooking in cast iron; nothing makes better fried chicken or cornbread than a cast iron skillet.  I didn't know what to expect from it, but it makes some of the best pizza I've ever turned out.  It does something to the crust that makes it fantastic.
• waking up to rain - Even though it can be really horrible when I know I have to get out and do stuff in it, waking up to the sound of rain is soothing.  This morning, I woke up at 4:00, something that's not unusual.  Hearing the rain and knowing I didn't have to go anywhere made that thing that tenses up in me every morning when my eyes fly open in the darkness unknot.  I rolled over, smoothed a hand over Dillon (who stretched and purred), and pulled the covers up a little higher.  
• new greenness - As I've been driving lately, I've noticed that incredible show green appearing again.  Every shade of green from the palest and most delicate silvery-green to rich deep dark green spreads over the hillsides.  When the sun is out and the skies are nearly cloudless, something about the combination makes my heart surge.  It's like it wants to fly away into all that glorious color.  

Little joys.  These are the things from which larger happiness is made.  I'm going to keep looking for them.