My Favorite Things

Oof! It's already going to be February in a couple of days - and considering that 2020 just started (I still have to stop myself from saying 2019), the year is definitely getting off to a fast start. At the times when I'm not moving from one task to the next, I can remember my favorite things - or write a post about the song, My Favorite Things! I hope you enjoy listening to this popular song, that I successfully turned into a jazz song. John Coltrane could do it, so why can't I?


Listen to the song here
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Although this song was written in 1959, its lyrics are still relevant today. Maria, the character who sings this song in "The Sound of Music," is about to leave her family and take on a big responsibility. If you look at them here, you'll notice that the song isn't about things she wants. She's simply observing things around her, like raindrops sitting on flowers, a kitten's soft whiskers, geese flying, ponies, bells, beautiful white dresses, snowflakes, the arrival of spring.... and, best of all, the days when she gets to eat apple pie!

Image by GLady from Pixabay

Image by Michal Jarmoluk from Pixabay

Image by blogmood__ from Pixabay

Those things simply came from her taking time to observe the beauty of nature. When she's feeling sad, looking at those things makes her not feel so bad.

Maybe running from one building to another is actually helping us to build stress. In the winter, it might be hard to get outside for a walk, but you have windows. You can use them.

(I sometimes find myself looking out the window to observe trees hidden between the houses. Other times, I'll try to get to the window at 5 PM - and hope the skies are clear - to see the pink gradient in the sky.)

Instead of thinking about what you don't have, take time to observe the things around you. I know that I definitely couldn't have come up with all those ideas - different shapes of trees, leaves falling off so they don't freeze (and producing beautiful colors at the same time), snowflakes growing into hexagon shapes - especially given only 70 or 90 or whatever number of years I have.

I'm going to change the lyrics to the song a bit.

Raindrops on roses and bright purple tulips,
Filling up teacups with splashes of music,
This little song that a black piano sings,
Are these a few of your favorite things?

~Liya

Image by Liya from Tea with Liya! Ideas often appear in my head and I get the urge to write them down, but they aren't always musical ones.