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Things I Love

This is a “Things I love” meme that I found at Cathy’s blog.  She assigned me the letter T.  A little holiday fun and a good time to reflect on some of the things that mean a lot to me.

Ten things I love beginning with T:

1. Tea with cream and sugar, although I mostly drink decaf now because I find the caffeine aggravates my migraines.  Right now I am drinking Ginger Peach Decaf from The Republic of Tea.  My husband and I love the tradition of High Tea and the best one we have had is at the Butchart Gardens in Victoria.

2. Twilight, that time between day and night when the light is so stunning and mysterious, shadows lengthen and evening is about to begin.

3. My Terrific husband, who wrote me the sweetest love notes while he was away on his student retreat.  Twelve plus years together and I am so blessed to have his unfailing support and love in my life.

4. The Turning of the earth and her seasons, cycles, and rhythms asking their profound questions of the human journey.  They provide me with an anchor and compass point.

5. Trees!  I love them all:  bare trees, trees with falling leaves, flowering trees, trees in full foliage, short trees, tall trees, evergreens and deciduous.

6. Time and Talking with good friends.  Friendship is one of the beautiful gifts of life.  Making time for friends is a priority for me.

7. Taking a bath, I love the whole ritual of bathing, lighting candles, filling the tub, adding the bath salts (I am not a bubble fan), sinking into the enveloping warmth of healing waters, releasing my body into its embrace.

8. Taking photos: Photography is a practice of deep seeing for me.  I am hoping Santa will be giving me a zoom lens for Christmas recommended to me by one of my readers!  (I realize using “taking” twice is kind of cheating, but this is harder than it looks!)

9. Teaching, I love creating an environment of safe and stimulating learning for others.  I love engaging participants in the creative process and helping them on their own journeys of discovery.

10. Tofino!  A beautiful remote town on Vancouver Island where my husband and I are taking a retreat to over Christmas for several days.  I love all of British Columbia, but when we visited Tofino last year I truly fell in love with its wild beauty.

BONUS: 11. Trish‘s music!  And if you go over to her blog at Story Midwife, she is giving away a free song of hers!  Go over right now and request it, her voice is so wonderful (right after you leave me a comment requesting a letter so you can play too, it wasn’t so hard after all and lots of fun!)

If you want to play, leave a comment and I will assign you a letter!

-Christine Valters Paintner

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24 Responses

  1. Hi Krina and welcome. I agree that the islands are beautiful too. I have spent time on Saltspring and Mayne and adored them both. I am smitten with BC and have a secret desire to become Canadian. :-)

  2. My top 10 “H” list is now posted on my blog :)
    and I am offering to pass this idea along to my friends as well.

    It is a helpful exercise to take an inner-inventory!

    Thank you with hugs,
    Bette.

  3. Lisa, I give you an “F” for frogs.

    Chartreuse Ova, I give you an “E” for eggs.

    Rachel, thanks for the tea recommendation. I give you an “I” for Ireland. :-)

    Thanks all for playing! I can’t wait to see your lists. Once you post them I will link to all of them here.

  4. This is such a wonderful list. I would take a letter if you felt like it. Also – yet another tea suggestion. Aveda makes a wonderful tea, Calming, that I just love. It is caffeine free, naturally soothing, kind of throat coating, smells delightful, and a bit sweet. Oh – I am just craving a cup talking about it. Blessings.

  5. I too, love most of the T’s you mention, but I don’t want cream in my tea and I haven’t been to Tofino. This looks like fun. May I have a letter please?