The Simple Pleasures

A few days ago a friend asked how I managed to do so much.  I don't think I do achieve much but I replied saying, amongst other things, that I rarely sat and watched TV or movies without doing other things because I felt guilty if I did.  Yesterday Heather posted on Simple Pleasures.  So yesterday I got some DVDs to watch.  Early evening came and I had a lot of ironing to do so I watched the film The Painted Veil.  I am a great admirer of Somerset Maugham, have his collected works and have read most of them.  The film is beautifully shot in China and although I can't recall the book the film certainly reeks of genuine Maugham.  This seems to have given me a taste of relaxation and later in the evening I sat and watched Wall Street, a rather good 1987 film about the corruption of industrial espionage and insider trading on the Market. 

Today has been a very simple day culminating in The Family (less David) coming for dinner and afterward watching the film Mao's Last Dancer which Wendy brought down.  I had been recommended to read the book by some friends and was keen to see the film.  

During the film Catherine - a friend from Scotland to whose wedding Wendy and I and the two youngest children had gone last June - rang.

Everyone seemed to enjoy the meal.  After the nibbles I'd done Kumi Kumi - a sort of pumpkin - stuffed with  a meat  sauce with cauliflower cheese for the adults and meatballs in a tomato and herb sauce with pasta for the children.  Children never cease to amaze me.  Fortunately there was enough of everything to feed an army.   Everything, that is except the cauliflower cheese which I'd decided to go easy on because I 'knew' the children wouldn't want any.  Wrong.  The children who a while ago wouldn't look at cauliflower now wanted it in large measure.   They also ate the Kumi Kumi.  Anyway no one starved and the fridge will supply me with meals for the foreseeable future!

So the simplest of evenings turned into the most pleasurable of evenings.  In fact it's been a couple of days of appreciating very simple pleasures.  Thank you Heather for making me aware.

A family relaxing watching the film and talking to Catherine 12000 miles away - amazing!