1. The taste of trout cooked in a frying pan outdoors.
2. Listening to Duke Ellington on a suitcase phonograph on the front porch.
3. Reading the sports section in the back of Caffe Artigiano while my daughter reads the Sunday comics section at seven o’clock in the morning when it’s a balmy 22 degrees.
4. Reading Kurt Vonnegut in a hammock and laughing out loud.
5. Lawn sprinklers.
6. Spending half a morning in a used bookstore.
7. Breyer’s All Natural Vanilla ice cream.
10. The sweat you get from a dish of good curry on a hot night.
11. Eggs Benedict with hash browns and Tabasco sauce.
12. Riding a motorcycle through the Kootenays.
13. The taste of peaches and blue cheese on a midnight picnic when the moon is nearly full.
14. The way smoke rises from an island in the middle of the lake, while the canoe paddle cuts through the still water.
15. Duck hunting on a Saskatchewan slough.
16. Helping a seven-year tomboy build a backyard tree house.
17. The sound of singing whales off the coast of Quebec.
18. Reading ghost stories in a rented cabin when the wind is high in the trees.
19. Walking through the lobby of an art deco building.
20. Watching a Buster Keaton film with somebody who’s never seen one before.
21. Snowmobiling across an open field.
22. Planning a trip to Venice.
23. Finding a box of Japanese comic books at a garage sale.
24. Driving a borrowed Mini Cooper out to Horseshoe Bay for fish and chips wrapped in newspaper.
25. My sister-in-law Jacquie’s homemade salsa.
26. The smell of snuffed-out candles.
27. Pear with other windfall fruit the day after a storm.
28. Finding that quirky video store where they have a whole section devoted to the films of Robert Lepage.
29. Unexpected invitations.
30. Line dancing at an East Indian wedding.
31. The smell of burnt matches and Christmas cigars.
32. Sex in the morning.
33. The taste of tarragon in gravy.
34. Those rare occasions when it somehow seems okay to drink beer at breakfast.
35. Half-price tickets to the Fringe Festival.
36. Reading Dr. Seuss out loud to a room full of grade two students.
37. Watching a friend perform on amateur night at a comedy club.
38. Going for donuts after a game of five-pin bowling.
39. Exchanging stories about UFO sightings.
40. The smell of fried onions at the fair.
41. Jumping naked from a railway bridge.
42. Being in the presence of a gathering of thousands of crows.
43. Scuba-diving off the coast of Salt Spring Island.
44. The cocky feeling of accomplishment from accidentally fixing a lawn mower.
45. Doing a couple loads of colours and watching a Sunday afternoon blues jam at the Wash N’ Slosh in Saskatoon.
46. Listening to Carlos Santana and eating grilled eggplant sandwiches on San Francisco sourdough.
47. Having tigers wander through your dreams.
48. Hot air balloons passing overhead.
49. The way friends sometimes get pregnant when they finally stop trying.
50. The way nothing happens quite the way you expect.