Chapter 44: What simple pleasures of life do you truly enjoy?

Originally written October 19, 2021

Little Darrell Terrell and me, the day in 2019 when I adopted him at Santa Fe Animal Shelter .

Simple pleasures I enjoy?

Here are a few:

• I already mentioned this in the chapter on my morning rituals, but I love petting my cat, Little Darrell Terrell, when I first wake up in the morning right before I get out of bed. Sometimes, before I’m “ready” to wake up, he gently pokes at my head with his paw, I suppose to subtly urge me it’s time to pet the cat.

• The aroma of coffee drifting into my bedroom in the morning. My automatic coffee usually starts making the pot shortly before I wake up. I usually first notice it while I’m petting Darrell. I recently realized that I like the smell more than I like the coffee.

• Drinking my coffee, listening to the radio and reading on my front porch when it’s warm enough to do so. Sometimes, during fly season, the pinche little moscas try to ruin this simple pleasure. So, for the next several weeks I’ll have to wear my long gym pants so the little bastards don’t drive me completely berserk.

• Getting mail that’s not a bill or junk mail, especially from from someone I love. Lately when this happens it’s mostly been postcards from my oldest grandson, Gideon.

• My afternoon walks, which I’ve faithfully been doing, with few exceptions, at least six times a week for the past 10 months or so. Some days it’s hard to get off my fat ass and force myself out the door. But usually, once I’m a few steps beyond my driveway I’m very happy to be walking, especially when the weather is cooperative.

A sign on El Camino Rael trail northwest of Santa Fe

• Speaking of my walks, when I drive out to some of my favorite walking paths just outside of town, just smelling the New Mexico air and the pinion trees is a pleasure of its own.

• Hearing a song I’ve never heard before that twists my head off. Even though I no longer write a music column for the paper and don’t get a fraction of the promos I used to, I’m still on the prowl for great music. For instance, recently I just “discovered” a Lou Reed song I was totally unaware of -- “Dirt” from his Street Hassle album. For reasons I’m not sure of, I’d never owned that album, and if I’d ever listened to the whole album, I’d forgotten “Dirt.”

• Listening to an old favorite song with new ears. Just today, for example, while still hurting from the news that Bloodshot Records was shuttering, I was listening to a Bloodshot playlist on Spotify when a Sarah Shook song started playing. It was “Keep the Home Fires Burnin’” by Sarah Shook & The Disarmers.

Here's a live version of that song:

To be accurate, the above song actually isn’t a real old favorite. It’s only been out a little more than four years. But it actually brought tears to my eyes because it sounded so good.

Same thing happened with “Cerrickfergus” by The Chieftains, which I played last week upon learning of the death of Chieftains chieftain Paddy Maloney.

Some other simple pleasures of mine:

• Having a car with a air conditioner that works in the summer and a heater that works in the winter. I didn’t realize what a pleasure this was until this year when I got my new (well, newer) car and got rid of my old Nissan and its fucked-up climate control system.

• The site of a full moon rising over the Sangre de Cristos.

• Seeing Halloween decorations while walking through my neighborhood. Yes, it makes me nostalgic for my boyhood — and for the days my kids were young enough to want to go trick or treating with their dad. But I’ve come to believe that today’s Halloween decorations are far superior to what we had in the past.

My grandsons, Halloween 2015

• The aroma of green chile roasting in Santa Fe parking lots in August and September.

• The aroma of the barbecue smoke at Salt Lick in Driftwood, Texas. I enjoy waiting for my food nearly as much as eating it there.

Family style at the Salt Lick

• The gorditas at Dona Clara’s restaurant on Airport Road.

• The taste of chile rellenos practically anywhere in New Mexico.

• A good hot bowl of pho.

• Chinese dishes with shrimp. (I recently had some nice Szechwan shrimp at Lulu’s.)

• The rice I’ve recently been making in my Instant Pot. It’s the bulk wild rice blend I’ve been buying at Sprouts. I usually mix it with vegetables and sometimes meat. But sometimes I’ll just eat a spoonful of it cold right out of the refrigerator.

• Writing on my computer while listening to music.

That’s what I’m doing right now. [Note from 2024: I just enjoyed this one of Sierra Ferrell and Nick Shoulders singing a Hank Williams classic.]