Favorite Things "B" Ready

Want to be happy? Edit out more than a few minutes of the broadcast news. Fill in the comment section at the end of this post. Write down your favorite things which start with a "B". As your favorite things, people and memories come to mind, you will find yourself filled with gratitude. Which is a leap towards happiness.


I'll go first. This list is nowhere complete- but it is a good start to get your creative juices going.

Books- I cannot weigh which is of more important to my happiness- my garden or my library. But I can say what I am reading now. Betrothed by S.Y. Agnon. It is the first story in a set of the Nobel Prize Winner Library that sits on a shelf in the study.

Birds- When the movie Mary Poppins opened- my parents let me sit through 3 consecutive showings at the La Mirada Theater. "Feed the birds...." is still my mantra

Bees- As a child I was dreadfully afraid of them. Uncle Frank was bitten while riding a motorcycle. Terribly allergic- he turned blue and fell over. Almost died.

My husband's family gave me a different viewpoint about the buzzing. When my father-in-law, the late Kenneth A. Plunk was just 14, he left the farm in Oklahoma to live in Arizona. He heard a man who wanted to work hard could make a good living there. His first job was as a beekeeper.

He was a man who knew his honey- both the one he married and the amber liquid we buy in jars.

Butterflies- It was finally cool for enough days in a row that they weren't floating about the garden for three days. But they are back.

Beetles- the lady kind. They eat aphids- which I do not like at all.

Baskets- There is something special whenever a utilitarian object is elevated through art.

Baseball. When I was a little girl, JoAnn Turovsky's father would play catch with us. Watch the Dodgers on TV. Explain the greatness of Sandy Koufax. Because of my friend's father's influence- what I wanted most as a child was a mitt. My parent's said we couldn't afford one.

How special it was dating my husband to go to his much younger brother's baseball games. Eric Plunk went on to play MLB for something like one month shy of twenty years. More importantly, our sons would tell you, Eric, is one of the world's great uncles.

Billie- Eric's wife and Aunt Extraordinaire. They met while he was playing Minor League Baseball in Kentucky. Her mom owned a restaurant- she was a waitress- he was hungry. This photo of her (wearing my favorite color- blue) was taken one of the years she and her husband, Eric Plunk, hosted us in Maui at Thanksgiving time when Eric was one of the professionals in a Fantasy League.

Beach- I'm not a beach bunny. But when you have the right company- you can have wonderful memories. Our boys- the brothers Trevor (l) and Kenny (r) have always been best friends. Young moms out there- somedays forget "the list". It may get things like the laundry done on time. But looking back- you won't remember folding the way you will remember the places where you were tumbled by waves and had to deal with sand in the swimsuit.

Okay- Tag you are it. Send over names of your favorite things starting with the letter "B"

Used with permission, photos are by Gene Sasse, http://www.genesasse.com/ except the last two, which are part of my private collection.

JoAnn Turovsky grew up to be the principal harpist with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the Los Angeles Opera Orchestra, the Long Beach and Pasadena Symphonies, and is a member of the contemporary music ensemble XTET. She has been the professor of harp at the USC Thornton School for the past 25 years. She is also on the faculty of the Colburn School of Performing Arts.