I Love . . .

I Love Fall - "Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns." Those aren't my words; they belong to George Eliot. Although they're not my words, they are my sentiment. There's something about the sight, scent and sound of fall leaves or a patch of plump, round pumpkins that excites me, making my heart skip a beaat and my breath quicken.

I Love Crème Brûlée - If I could only have one dessert for the rest of my life, it would undoubtably be crème brûlée. I love the slight bitterness of that delicate sheet of crunchy burnt sugar on the top, and that unbelievably rich custard inside. I eat it in teeny-tiny bites, savoring each taste and wishing it would be “bottomless.”

I Love Bookstores - I especially love a bookstore with a place to sit down and read comfortably. I go to my favorite sections of the store, pull a half-dozen titles from the shelves, and sit down to sample each one of them. Usually at least one hooks me, and I end up reading far into the book before leaving the store. Even though I read mostly from my Kindle these days, I’ll never give up the bookstore habit. It gives me a “high.”

I Love a Heart-Wrenching Love Story - I love to cry my way through a movie. One night last week I watched The Bridges of Madison County. I had recorded it on our DVR a few days before, and that night seemed the right time to watch it. Until then, I must have been the last American woman not to have seen that movie. I think it came out back in the mid-90s. Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep were wonderful in their roles, and, at the end, I was wiping tears from my eyes. Ahhh. What a great ending!

I Love Blue Jeans - No. Not “skinny jeans.” I couldn’t fit into a pair of skinny jeans, and if I could it wouldn’t be a pretty picture! But there’s nothing more comfortable to me than a well-worn pair of loose-fitting, faded-denim jeans. They speak to me: “Relax! Don’t worry! Do something fun!”

I Love the First Day of School - I started kindergarten in 1954. I was calculating the other day, and considering my own school years, my years of school-volunteering, and my various jobs in the field of education, the first day of school has been more meaningful to me than New Year's Day for something like 46 years! To me, it still means a fresh start and new adventures.

I Love Crayons - Uh huh, I’m sure this is intertwined with my love of the first day of school. In elementary school I always had a new box of crayons to take with me on that special day. When I walk by the crayon aisle in a store, the smell draws me in, tempts me to buy! I find the smell intoxicating and almost irresistible.

I Love the Coast - I love watching the waves roll in and lap the beach on a warm day, or violently crash against a rocky crag during a storm. I love finding sand dollars or agates at low tide. I love the smell of the salt air. Going to the coast has to be the one thing I miss most about living in Oregon. For some reason, my writing was always more creative and thoughtful when I did it at the coast, too. Sadly, I wasn’t much of a photographer in those days, so I wish I could go back and capture all the amazing sights I saw.

I Love a Thunder Storm - If I returned to Oregon, though, the one thing I would miss most about New Mexico would be the thunder and lightning storms, and the accompanying pounding rain or hail. During our monsoon season, we can count on these awesome displays of God’s power on an almost-daily basis.

I Love a New Pair of Shoes - I have a hard time finding shoes that fit my feet, but when I do, I love them! I can hardly keep my eyes off my feet when I first get them. And I love the smell of the new leather. I think I need to go shopping for a new pair of shoes.

I Love Vanilla - I’m just a “plain vanilla” type of person, I guess. I love the smell, I love the taste of it in a recipe (I always add more than the recipe calls for), and I even put vanilla in my hot chocolate! Chocolate is good, but vanilla beats it all to pieces in my book.