Simple Pleasures - Robert Taylor Simple Pleasures Series

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but I might spend six months working on it, and it still gets away from me. Sometimes when this happens, I let it sit for a week, without practicing at all. And then one day I sit down at the piano and it's there. Without being forced, without straining, the piece just appears under my fingers—a perfect, fleeting gem. That happy moment of discovery is worth the months of searching.

       “Whenever I play, I throw myself away. It doesn't matter where I am. I close my eyes and leave this earth.”

      —Mary Lou Williams, jazz pianist

      THINGS TO DO

      Your Own Perfume

      With essential oils, you can create your own perfume, based on your mood at the time. All you need is an eyedropper and a variety of oils. Kimberley D. Wheat, buyer for Bare Escentuals, offers her favorite secret recipe; she calls it “Little Black Dress”: 2 drops ylang ylang, 1 drop patchouli, and 1 drop bergamot added to 1 teaspoon jojoba oil. “Apply to pulse points!” Remember, essential oils are to be used only externally. Be sure not to ingest them; they can be toxic or even fatal. Be sure to keep them out of the reach of children, and test each one on a spot on your arm before you use them liberally in baths or as perfumes.

      Dressing for Bed and Breakfast

      I used to read magazine articles by mothers on how to save time. One of the tricks was to bathe the kids at night and then dress them for bed in shorts and a t-shirt so they'd be ready to go in the morning. Now when I go to bed, I often dress myself for the next day in a T-shirt and my long, cotton, wrinkle-proof skirt with the latticed waist and the material that stretches down to my ankles. When I do this, I think of those mothers. It's such a pleasure to get up in the morning and stay in my bed clothes, and it feels so good to walk to the store for milk without even bothering to get dressed.

       “Life, within doors, has fewer pleasanter prospects than a neatly arranged and well-provisioned breakfast table.”

      —Nathaniel Hawthorne

      Hegel at Dawn

      When I was doing my doctorate on Hegel, I once woke up at three in the morning, and went to an all-night restaurant. For reading material I decided to take along a volume of Hegel. Much to my surprise, it was all much clearer and more plausible than it had ever seemed in the daytime—perhaps because my mind in the hours before the dawn had not yet lapsed into its mundane ruts. Nowadays, one of my greatest pleasures is awakening very early in the morning and slowly savoring a few paragraphs from a choice philosophical treatise.

       “Ink runs from the corners of my mouth.

       There is no happiness like mine.

       I have been eating poetry.”

      —Mark Strand

      Cleaning Eye Glasses

      Towards the end of the day, when I'm getting tired but still have a lot of work, I wash my face and clean my glasses, and then I'm good for another few hours. It's just a little ritual, but it leaves me feeling fresh and renewed, and I have the comfort of knowing my glasses won't slide down my nose. I also take pleasure in taking other people's glasses and cleaning them too.

      THINGS TO DO

      Natural Hair Care

      A simple, effective, old-fashioned rinse is simply vinegar, preferably cider vinegar. Mix 2 tablespoons in 2 cups of warm water. Work through hair after shampooing and rinsing, then rinse again with clear water. For light hair, use lemon juice instead of vinegar. This will help restore the natural acid balance of the scalp and get rid of all traces of soap and shampoo.

      For an all-purpose hair conditioner, combine 3/4 cup olive oil, ½ cup honey, and the juice of 1 lemon. Rinse hair with water and towel dry. Work a small amount of conditioner into hair, comb through and cover with a shower cap or plastic wrap for ½ hour. Shampoo and rinse thoroughly. Store remaining conditioner in the refrigerator.

      The Artist's Journal

      I have a journal in my studio in which I paint and write and break every artistic rule. I don't say, “I must never do this,” I just put down whatever comes out of my head. Sometimes I think what I'm doing is brilliant, but it doesn't matter, since no one ever has to see it or judge it—I don't have to read what someone says about it in the paper. When I'm expressing myself in my journal, I feel drunk with color and material.

       “The greatest part of our happiness and misery depends on our dispositions and not on our circumstances.”

      —Martha Washington

      THINGS TO DO

      Newsprint Roll-Ends

      If you feel the urge to express yourself in a big way, or if your paint-crazed child is constantly running out of paper, pay a visit to your local newspaper and ask if they have any roll-ends for sale. Newsprint comes in gigantic rolls that are often discarded when they're close to being used up. You can get them for a song (cheap) or, if you get lucky, for a smile (free).

      The End of an Illness

      There is nothing more wonderful than the first day after a long illness (in my case several years); when you walk down the street and feel well, the lightness is wonderful. So is the first moment of unsolicited well-being, not reactive but gratuitous. When you're recovering from a chronic or long-term sickness, you can summon the energy for reactive well-being long before you have any of those freefloating bursts of simple joie de vivre. They are the last thing to return as health returns.

       “Is it so small a thing

      to have enjoy'd the sun,

      To have lived light in the spring,

       To have loved, to have thought, to have done?”

      —Matthew Arnold

      THINGS TO DO

      A Spring Tonic

      Cultures throughout the world swear by garlic soup as a spring tonic and all-around cure for that under-the-weather feeling. No one knows if it is merely the pleasure in the taste that is the pick-me-up, or whether garlic has mysterious health properties. But give it a try when you're feeling blue and see if it works for you. Don't let the huge quantity of garlic scare you off—when cooked it turns very mellow.

       Garlic Soup

      4 heads of garlic

      1 bunch parsley or thyme or marjoram, tied into a bundle with string

      1 quart chicken broth, vegetable broth, or water

      juice of 1 lemon or lime

      salt and pepper to taste

      lightly toasted bread or croutons (optional)

      Break up the heads of garlic into cloves, and discard the papery membrane, but don't peel the cloves, and place in a 4-quart soup pot with the herbs. Add the broth or water, cover and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for about 30 minutes, until garlic is very soft.

      Strain the soup through the fine disk of a food mill or puree in a blender or food processor, and push through a medium-mesh strainer with the back of a ladle. Add the lemon or lime juice, salt and pepper, and bread if desired. Serves 4.

      The Perfect Backhand

      The ball comes over the net to

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