The people who seem to be most content don't focus on a time years ahead when they hope to have whatever they imagine it takes to be happy—money or time or a wonderful relationship. They live in the present and take their pleasure seriously. And they create their own pleasures.
We decided that the best way to create a book about simple pleasures was to ask people to tell us about the small delights in their lives. Some people talked about pleasures that they enjoy over and over, like the little girl who told us without hesitation that her greatest pleasure is “having my Dad rub my back with the palm of his finger.” Others told of isolated moments of intense pleasure that kept coming back in their memories—an emotional chance reunion with a family long gone but not forgotten, the incredible sense of wellbeing after a prolonged illness. Still others talked of soothing comforts in their lives—ranging from hot water bottles and special foods to the cherished constancy of a special friend.
Some people not only talked about their pleasures but gave us instructions for creating them. That led to an idea that grew, and now the book is packed with recipes for comfort foods, both healthy and outrageously decadent, to satisfy every conceivable palate—recipes such as chocolate chip cookies and garlic soup and sun tea and jalapeño corn bread. You'll also find tips for making your own massage oils, foot lotions, potpourri and many other simple sensual delights. And garden tips and kitchen tips and things to do for fun, like tractor tracks in the snow and the dictionary game.
Finally, we added a sprinkling of quotes from many centuries and many places. The reason certain quotations survive in people's memories is that they have a way of capturing the essence of an experience or feeling, so you find yourself saying, “That's exactly it!”
We believe that the secret of happiness in today's helter-skelter technological world is to learn how to enjoy less than we can afford. We need to rediscover the pleasures our grandparents knew when life was quieter and slower, when children without TVs knew how to amuse themselves, when pleasures were made, not bought—and enjoyed all the more because of it. We hope you'll remember many of the simple pleasures in your life that you may have drifted away from, and come away with many ideas for adding new pleasures into your life.
David Greer
Spring
Lilacs in dooryards Holding quiet conversations with an early moon.
—Amy Lowell
Home
“April prepares her green traffic light and the world thinks Go.”
—Christopher Morley
A Job Well Done
I'm a window cleaner and I get very attached to the windows I work on. I know their individual personalities, their mineral deposits, bad seals, and BB holes. I remove every speck of bee gunk, snail trail, fly crud, and bird doo that desecrates “my” windows, as well as the damage inflicted by that natural enemy, the painter. I bring garden clippers and prune bushes and plants that dare to interfere with my windows. As I drive my route, I get great enjoyment from seeing my glass glistening in the sunlight.
“We will have to give up taking things for granted, even the apparently simple things.”
—J.D. Bernal
THINGS TO DO
Healthier Cleaning Pleasures
When the weather starts getting warmer and the days longer, you know it's time for a good spring cleaning. There's great satisfaction in a major cleaning project, but the result should be a clean-smelling house or apartment, not one over-whelmed with chemicals or artificial scents of some mythical forest glade. How many plastic containers of chemical spray cleaners do you need under the sink, anyway? They aren't good for you or the environment. Fortunately, nontoxic cleaning substitutes are within easy reach.
Baking soda is a mild cleanser for kitchen and bath fixtures; just sprinkle it straight from the box onto a damp cloth or sponge. A couple of tablespoons dissolved in a quart of water can be used to wash the interiors of refrigerators and freezers, neutralizing odors. Add a tablespoon to coffee pots and vacuum bottles, then fill them with water to freshen them, too. Still on supermarket shelves, venerable Bon Ami cleanser (with the drawing of the chick that “hasn't scratched yet”) is a little more effective than baking soda, and doesn't contain chlorine, phosphates, perfumes, or harsh abrasives.
Borax or baking soda with lemon juice will handle soap film in the bathtub and shower. Adding a couple of teaspoons of vinegar to a quart of water produces a handy glass cleaner, and there's even a less pungent solution for the dishwasher—equal parts of borax and washing soda (sodium carbonate, often labeled as “detergent booster”). Discolored copper pots? Try a cleanser from early in the twentieth century: a tablespoon of salt mixed with a half-cup of vinegar.
There are also all-natural air fresheners made from the concentrated oils and essences of orange peels that can neutralize odors, not just cover them up. Orange-based fresheners are available in hardware and larger natural-food stores. Cedar oil spray can freshen pet beds and closets and renew the scent of cedar chests and shoe trees. And, for more than a century, Mrs. Stewart's Liquid Bluing has been added to the laundry rinse water to whiten sheets, shirts, and other fabrics that have yellowed or grayed with age. Mrs. Stewart—whose no-nonsense portrait is still on the label—would be pleased that she's still teaching us a thing or two about housekeeping.
Psychic Cleanup
When I accumulate too many people, experiences, and fatigue in my life, I get emotionally and spiritually disheveled. The sign that this is happening is that I have a dream full of cluttered, kaleidoscopic images. Then I know I need to set aside a day for a good old-fashioned clear-out. When I wake up on the appointed morning, I go on a cleaning binge in my trailer. I put away books and tidy up papers, empty the old cream cheese out of the fridge, and wash my clothes. I clean up my body, too, by drinking only juice and maybe going for a very long run. I unplug the phone, keep the radio turned off (news is clutter), and if anyone comes to visit me, I say, “I'm sorry, I'm not talking to anyone today.”
At night, the clean-up ends when I go to bed in fresh, clean sheets and read something peaceful and uplifting. Then I have a good long sleep, free of cluttered dreams. The next day I feel completely replenished, with all my psychic garbage hauled away.
“What a gift of grace to be able to take the chaos from within and from it create some semblance of order.”
—Katherine Paterson
THINGS TO DO
“Scent”sational Idea
Take your favorite essential oil (peach, rose, and vanilla are very nice environmental scents) and rub it on the light bulbs in your bedroom and the night light in the bathroom. The room will be infused with scent as light heats up the oil. For a “higher tech” approach, you can also buy inexpensive clay light bulb rings that hold the oil. Good sources for the oils, as well as all kinds of other yummy simple pleasures are: Body Time catalog and stores (510-524-0360), The Body Shop catalog and stores (800-541-2535), Bare Escentuals catalog and stores (800-227-3990), Cost Plus stores, Earthsake stores, Green World Mercantile (415-771-5717), Red Rose catalog and stores (800-374-5505), and Hearthsong catalog and stores (800-432-6314).
“We should all just smell well and enjoy ourselves more.”