Bee keeping. On a good, warm day, watching the bees dance around the entrance as they enter and exit the hive is mesmerising. You then follow their path upwards, as a steady stream of foragers comes and goes from gardens as far as three miles away. There's the soporific drone of the hive at work, the smell of flowers and wax and of wood smoke from the smoker. You move through the frames slowly in a Zen-like state of mind, and watch delicious, amber honey build up in the frames. Can't beat your own honey.
my truck 1966 Ford Pickup converted from a half ton to a 3/4 ton. a 390 big block engine rebuilt by yours truly. 4 barrel 650 cfm edelbrock carburetor with electric choke. dual exhaust with flowmaster super 40 mufflers(beautiful sound to me...) painted turquoise by my step grandfather. and rum! i never mix the two though
I can't believe this thread has gone through seven pages without a single mention of good shoes! There are two items that I will happily open my wallet for, and those are good shoes and good mattresses. Good shoes makes for happy feet, and good mattresses makes for happy backs. Apart from that I can sign most of the points raised previously, though I have yet to splurge for a mechanical keyboard - and I'm reluctant to do so because of the noise. - Good wine shared with good company - Cold beer on a hot day - Good coffee (personal favorite Monsoon Malabar - it is just so smooth compared to the normal kind you get in vacuum sealed bags at the shops)
You know, I've just realized something. I don't have any of these things. My pens are Sakura, same as my pencil. My shoes are worn-out hand-me-downs, I can't have coffee any more, I never drank alcohol, my kitchen is full of dull knives (wife on permanent coumadin therapy,) my monitor is a passable TN and my keyboard is a scissor switch. All my clothes fit badly now (weight keeps rubberbanding,) my diet is a medically dictated thing (and a sorry one at that,) I only own a few books now, I don't even have speakers for my PC let alone a stereo system (and nothing of my own to play on one if I did) and my 55 gallon aquarium sits dry at a friend's house. I have a stick to lean on, a decent jacket and the world's best wife and kid. If I walk for fifteen minutes in my back yard, I have a lake that isn't on any maps. There's no road access to it, and the trail to it is barely beaten down. I have friends I can always rely on. My cat is large and furry. I can't afford to enjoy (or even try sometimes) your better things in life. But you can't buy most of mine.
You can't buy the pleasure others experience, even if it is derived from materialism. Everyone has free things in life that they really enjoy, I haven't mentioned mine because they have become so integral to my happiness that I don't consciously think about them often. Materialistic things just add to my usual state of happiness.
I already knew that, and I wasn't trying to accuse people of rampant materialism. I simply don't have access to the things you guys do, and for the most part have to make do. If I didn't have my wife and son, I'd go crazy. Having so little and what little I have is mostly junk or worse, it's the stuff like being able to escape it and go for a walk in the woods that keeps me anywhere resembling sane. What some of you take for granted is stuff I'd just about kill for. My tools are makeshift, my pots and pans are abysmal and even my clothes are falling apart (and with my disorder and the sizes it leaves me, very few places have something that will fit, and you can toss fashion out the window-if it fits, I get it) but with my wife and child there, it doesn't matter. Nothing does, but them. It's why I can be so content with my lot in life with almost none of the things you guys have. I happen to have a nice computer, which I assembled through horse trading and lots of sweat equity, but I can't even shave myself any more. You guys may be looking at the material things that make life better, but even those of us without that can be well contented. I don't have a phone, watch or a decent pair of shoes. But I feel I'm rich, rich beyond compare. There's something to call a finer thing in life. (I'm not saying this to make people feel bad. I found contentment in life, and I wanted to illustrate that it works no matter the circumstances, because while mine are bad, I am still as happy as a person can be. It's more of an illustration, even if it's completely true. Wherever she is, I want to be, and no amount of bad circumstances will change that.)
I totally agree, if you have a healthy relationship with your family then you are emotionally far richer than most people. I spend most of my money on food, the look on my girlfriends face when she sees the food I make her is worth every penny.
Everything is a matter of perspective and I think that's important in this thread. In each persons life the thing that makes it that bit finer will be different because of context. Kind of what I was trying to say when I commented earlier on the kids and family topic. You sound content - some places teach that is the big hard step, the next small step is to enlightenment. Glad you posted here. G Sent from my HTC Desire HD using Xparent Red Tapatalk 2
Actually, here's where I get a touch soppy - the relationship I have with the vast majority of my family is most important to me and definitely one of the finer points of life for me. There are enough of us that we constitute a small clan but we're still a rather close family. Living in different parts of the country (and different countries for some) we don't see as much of each other as we'd like but we're still as much friends as blood relatives. On the more materialistic side it has to be: Coffee Keyboards Proper Ale Whiskey Books
Having good lighting, a fast computer, good speakers, done with college for ever, feeling great after a 10 mile run, a very comfortable chair and just sitting back absorbing all the finer points at once. My list could go on and on. In a great part of my life at the moment. Another thing which needs to be on there is owning any modern product from Bang and Olfsuen. (This is yet to be fulfilled)
Going canoeing on a perfectly still Loch Lomond on a clear day after a night camping on Inchcailloch with mates. Pausing half way and hearing nothing but total silence and taking in some of the most beautiful scenery I've ever seen. Sitting down for a relaxing dinner with my wife - a medium-rare steak with a glass of red. It doesn't even need to be expensive steak/wine. The one time I have ever played a 9' Steinway model D grand. I only had a couple of minutes to play a few chords for a recording project in uni, but it was simply gorgeous. Sitting down and listening to some music through my Sennheiser HD25 headphones. That immersive experience that blocks out the outside world entirely.
Having taken an active decision to improve my handwriting a few years ago I splerged a little on a pen. It was 30 moon notes (euros to non-brits) on a waterman pen. As a practising product designer, I spend my life dedicated to thinking things through, improving things, and I decided to turn some of my attention on my written expression, as its usually akin to a drunken dyslexic monkey with numb hands who has managed to stuff a pen up his anus and is swinging from a tree to write. After many months of struggling to do so, I have pretty much given up on neat noted form. I still ****ing love my pen though. Oh and I bought a "starter" double edged razor "kit" because I am so disenfranchised with the whole cartridge razor thing, it can suck the farts out of my ass. Materialism is ****. Lets face it. But for me and the things I buy to improve my life, or just even enable me to do something has an attached sentimentality, memories of searching for the perfect one and it's use are what I hold dear. Even just taking a breath and appreciating your own hard work in something is surely something to hold dear in this "finer things of life". Even the rumbling fart you occasionally let out in a lift leaving you wondering if you need to do a bomb damage assessment for collateral damage.
A good meal. It doesn't have to be fancy or even remotely opulent. Just a meal you can enjoy with a nice drink on the side. And French Fries. I love those fried flemish creations.
So after a few days and a good many cups of coffee, my lovely lass prefers her Monsoon Malabar from MacBeans, and by no narrow margin. As for the Blue Sumatra I got for myself, it's not so clear cut, I find the ACco to be more of a morning cup, and McB to be a more relaxing after work cup.
good set of tools.. universal tools- was never a big fan until I found myself using them a lot.. faster to grab one tool that collapses on itself that dig through the tool box for the right size oh and p noir.. the hooch of hoochies and lantini coffee or covrone.. or pince covrone
