I've found a new favourite short read. It's an occasional column in The Guardian called, The Joy of Small Things. It's very occasional: only seventeen articles have appeared since the column first appeared in October but Oh! I feel inspired!
I'm a great lover of simple pleasures. A few years ago I wrote a post about a lovely book called just that - Simple Pleasures. It's a book which is never far from me. It's got more than its fair share of coffee splashes and pencilled notes. As I said then, it's not so much that I have the same simple pleasures as the writers of that book but rather that they help me to appreciate the sources of joy in my own life.
One of the pleasures featured in the Guardian column is the joy of a new dressing gown. I maybe ought to be ashamed of my dressing gown. It's at least fifteen years old. It's a towelling robe but in some places the fabric has worn out and there are holes. A few years ago I dyed it and really it needs the same treatment again and it may even get that treatment for it is an old friend. I love it! While I am wearing it I am at leisure: fashion and looking good are far from my mind and I am at peace. It has seen me through happy Christmas mornings when I open my presents and days when I am trying to shake off a cold. Ir wraps me when I am fresh out of the shower and getting ready to go out and it envelopes me in my armchair when sleep eludes me in the middle of the night. I keep looking at rather more respectable new robes but I love this old friend.
I'm sitting in this tatty garment as I type this. I hope you feel as happy and contented as I do.
Thanks for reading.
It IS a fun series. And I am in total agreement about the dressing gown. Mine is warm and comforting with two voluminous pockets and at least 15 years old and rather faded. Until I read your post I hadn't considered dyeing it, but now I'm wondering if that would revitalise its appearance. Not that it matters what it looks like to me - but maybe it would improve things when I answer the door to the postman, or oversleep and have to rush outside with the wheelie bin cos the lorry's coming up the hill...
ReplyDeleteYes, dyeing would be for the postie's benefit, not mine. And enjoy your dressing gown whilst you are taking your enforced rest!
ReplyDeleteI have one but rarely wear as I get dressed. I think the idea of wearing a dressing gown is somehow "not quite right" has been passed to me from my mum!
ReplyDeleteMy mum tried with me but that not-quite-niceness is a legacy I have resisted - very successfully!
DeleteLife is loved in a series of small joys. I think I need to book mark the link-thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeletePleasure! And a pleasured shared is a pleasure doubled!
DeleteSimple pleasures -- people should be more aware of them and thankful for them. I, too, love simple pleasures.
ReplyDeleteSmall pleasures are definitely important. I love my dressing gown which is 14 years old. I don't wear it in the morning as I get dressed but winter evenings after dinner its pjs and dressing gown.
ReplyDeleteI think dressing gowns become old friends
DeleteThanks to my beloved dressing gown, a somewhat elderly red terry-towelling model, I now have a 'name' in my neighbourhood.
ReplyDeleteA neighbour rang my doorbell one Sunday morning, at just after 11 o'clock and was visibly shocked when I answered the door wearing this garment, yet appearing to be quite well. She enquired after my health and was shocked all over again when I said I was very well, thank you, just enjoying a lazy morning with tea. toast and a book. I suspect the whole village has now heard of this slattern of a woman who doesn't get dressed until after noon on a Sunday.
I've just read several of those articles and find myself nodding at the examples like 'fresh, crisp bedding' and 'fresh air' . . . . I've bookmarked the link so as not to miss future articles. Thank you, Mary. x
It's a column of sheer delight, isn't it! Yes, it was the fresh sheets which I really identified with too.
DeleteTaking pleasure in the little things is one of life's biggest and best joys.
ReplyDeleteTattered dressing gowns (or as we call them here robes or housecoats) are usually the most comfortable of garments.
God bless.
Good to know that wherever in the world a dressing gown is still a great friend.
DeleteI just followed you from Sam, Coffee, Money, & Thyme. She mentioned this post and I knew I wanted to read it. I did not know that getting rid of an old robe was optional. I have had at least 15 years (probably more like 20), and though the cuffs have been splashed with bleach droplets a couple of times and there is some fraying here and there, it still serves its purpose. I don't entertain in it and TheHub still wears his equally old and tattered robe and he is the only one who sees it anyway.
ReplyDeleteSounds like your dressing gown is an old friend too!
DeleteCould not agree more about the dressing gown but I'm afraid that, despite my arguments, my husband is threatening to buy me a new one. He says he keeps feeling sorry for me when he sees me in it.
ReplyDeleteDivert his mind into buying you something else instead. That's as good as I can come up with. You have my sympathy!
DeleteI am going to take a look at that book you like, I am a retired librarian and love to read and Simple Pleasures sounds like a lovely philosophy.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy it - I too was a librarian a long time ago!
DeleteI am reporting back to tell you that I ordered that book "Simple Pleasures" that you recommend and it is a treat. It came to me all the way from England, to me in California. Each chapter or essay is short and has a great point.
ReplyDeleteWow, so glad you are enjoying it!
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