Mmm, Mmm Good

I noted in yesterday's post, that the first thing I thought of when I read this week's Sunday Scribblings prompt, "Good," was Martha Stewart's line, "It's a good thing." Well, the second thing that comes to my mind is Campbell Soup's slogan, "Mmm, mmm, good." The third thing is also a TV slogan (one which is no longer legal to show on TV, which shows my age) - "Winston tastes good like a cigarette should." Whatever that may mean...Sometimes I feel like Chance the gardener in Being There - I'm such a product of the television generation. Which scares the heck out of me...but I am who I am, and that's all that I am, I'm--wait, I'm not Popeye the sailor man! See what I mean?
However, I do think spinach is a good thing (though I'm not sure, now that I think about it, whether or not Popeye influenced that decision, since I loved spinach as a child, too - hmm...)

Anyway, this is what's trickling down from my stream-of-consciousness this Sunday morning on the topic of good.

Good (insert before each):  afternoon; book; boy; bye; dog; evening; food; friend; girl; gracious; gravy; grief; imagination; joke; laugh; morning; music; night; one; party; picture; read; song; thing; time; weather; year. (I couldn''t stop myself - I had to alphabetize them - how OCD is that? ok - enough of that - thank goodness, huh?)

My personal list of good things (at least partially, which is still probably too long): spinach (still on my mind from 3 paragraphs ago) - even though it's recently gotten a bad rap, it's still my favorite veggie (I'm weird, I know). Pepsi (rather than Coke). Fiestaware. Cupcakes.  Birthday parties (look -  I put a  'C' before a 'B' and  I started the list with an 'S' - baby steps; but am I good or what?). Art supplies - they're all good - I love 'em all. Toys - anything that winds up, moves, or that you can draw or build or imagine with (yeah, Tinker toys!)...Chocolate (especially if it's dark!). Strawberries (especially if they're covered in dark chocolate). Fudge. Butter (not good for the arteries, but adds so much good flavor). Cream of mushroom soup (add it to almost anything - instant casserole! It's a good thing). Artichokes. Asparagus. Banana bread. BREAD (of any kind). Blueberry muffins. (uh-oh, I'm doing it again!) Pumpkin pie. Stuffing. Any kind of potatoes (all good - I haven't discovered a bad potato dish yet). Quiche. Trader Joe's (I wish we had a Whole Foods Market - now that would be a good thing!). Baskets. Mattress ticking fabric (I don't know why I love it, but I do). Little gingham checks. Vintage oilcloth (especially if it has a fruit print). Cabinets or desks with little drawers - lots of little drawers (my dream is to someday own an apothecary cabinet. I think it may be a past life thing. :)  Miniature anythings  (it could be a miniature roll of TP and I would probably exclaim over how cute it is...I don't know if that's a good thing - it's sad really). Clay pots; potting tables. Violets. Lilacs. Any blue or lavender flower. Herb gardens (especially with lots of mint and parsley). Fairy gardens. Daisy chains. Geraniums (is there any easier flower to grow that's half as cheerful? If a stem breaks, just stick it in the ground - instant new plant. It's a good thing when you're as clumsy a gardener as I am). Cats and dogs. Frogs and goldfish. Rabbits and squirrels. Hedgehogs (though we don't have them here, so it's easy to think they're good). Deer; horses; chickens. Raccoons. Hummingbirds, dragonflies, ladybugs. Owls, bluejays and robins. OK, I don't want to turn this into an Ark manifest - you know I love all creatures great and small by now. Seashells. Acorns. Pinecones. Smooth stones. Streams and waterfalls (better than rivers); the ocean (more than lakes). But anywhere with water is a good thing, and better than somewhere without.  Almost all children's books are good in my book:  Little Women. Wizard of Oz. Peter Pan (of course). Fairy tales (the old ones - Red, Green, Blue -- I think there was a Yellow one too, but for some reason we didn't have it; I probably would have drawn it if we did, since I did in the other ones - that's how I was most often not 'good' as a kid, was by drawing or writing on things, especially books. I was ahead of my time - altered art hadn't been discovered yet :)  Hans Christian Anderson. Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, Danny Kaye movies - well, almost all old movies (pre-1965; don't ask me why that cut-off date, but somehow I feel it's there--for TV, too), especially animation/cartoons, comedies and musicals.  There are other good things after that date, I just became more selective.  The Smothers Brothers, Carol Burnett, Monty Python were good things that came after that time.  So was Twilight Zone, Outer Limits; Northern Exposure; Scrubs; Star Trek; The Simpsons; Malcolm In the Middle; The X-Files. More recently, Oprah, Ellen DeGeneres; Desperate Housewives, and Lost are the "good shows." Oldies-but-goodies rock and roll (Johnny B. Good!), but also a lot of newer alternative rock (but not rap or hip-hop for me). Swing music makes me want to let the good times roll. The silly music Dr. Demento collected and played was always good for lifting my spirits - is he still around? I should find out. Other good music - both the blues, and bluegrass (and some older country music - not so much the newer stuff). Some jazz; some classical. Flamenco or gypsy guitar. World music is the section where I most often find 'good stuff' nowadays. Good reading nowadays? Anything by Ray Bradbury;  Alice Hoffman;  Natalie Goldberg;  Barbara Kingsolver; Bailey White; Garrison Keillor (often); Tom Robbins (most of the time); Stephen King (quite often); Gabriel Garcia Marquez,  Isabel Allende (usually) - are all good at capturing my  attention and sparking my imagination.  I know being up-to-date on current events and the news is a good thing - and I'm glad we have newspapers, but the really good part (as in "Give me the good page"), for me is always the section that has: the comics; crossword; horoscopes; "Dear Annie;" and the movies.  That's most of the really good stuff I think, though I'm sure there are plenty of good things that I've left out.

It's amazing to me to think how often we use the word 'good' in everyday conversation - such as
on the telephone:
Good morning!
It's good to hear from you! How have you been - good, I hope?
Good; good to hear that...
Did you have a good trip? Well,at least the weather was good...I bet it's good to be back home.
Me? I've been good...It's all good.
Family's been good, too?
Goodness! Well, it's certainly good it wasn't any worse than that...
Oh - that's a good thing!
Good grief - would you look at the time!
It's been good talking to you...
Have a good time--
Goodbye for now!

I've taken way longer than I intended with this post already, so I'm going to dam up the stream of consciousness for now and call it good.

For more good (and quite likely, better) things to read, see Sunday Scribblings.

Comments

[artzyjuide]

GOOD grief, Tinker, you keep posting pictures of all that GOOD stuff, Candy Corn, Lollipops, M & M's, and all that stuff that is not GOOD for you and I am trying not to eat that stuff and lose a couple of these pounds so you post those GOODY yum pictures and I start to drool all over my shirt and that isn't GOOD at all so now I have to go change out of my GOOD Sunday clothes and put on something that is droolworthy. Oh pleeeeese stop making me BAD!!!

[Gemma]

Tinker, Your list is really good... except for the minature TP...(No good)Especially like Chocolate,all the flowers, world music, Barbara Kingsolver and Gabriel Garcia Marquez. :-)

[Marilyn]

This post cracked me up. And I'd never really thought about it, but we do sprinkle our casual conversations with a lot of "good's," don't we? :)

[Ninnie(Terri)]

Love this post. Lots and Lots of Good Things in it.

[Pacian]

Wow. Pretty comprehensive I should imagine. But there's probably loads that you've left out as well. Funny how we can accrue so many personal 'good' things of a lifetime isn't it?

[Kamsin]

Being in a foreign country where one of the only words I understand is "good", I have been noticing just how much I hear it! But anyway, this is an awfully good list, made me smile!

[Lisa]

Goodness! I enjoyed the heck out of this. :)

[Paris Parfait]

Delicious list - I'm with you especially vis a vis Fiesta ware (I have a big collection), dark chocolate and Isabel Allende (I have all her books, including her latest - in Spanish - yes I know, being a little ambitious here - I remember those same television commercials/slogans and your candy photograph is adorable! Yummy post. xo

[Tammy]

Hi Tink, I missed my daily dose of you out in the mountains :) I was raised on massive doses of tv. Loved your great list and the ocd :)
HUGS

[Kai]

Good golly miss mooly, thats a good amount of candy you've artistically placed..lol..
What a neat post Tink!!
Peace, Kai.

[bonnie]

Such a good list! I love it that you were a little OCD in alphabetizing it! Good job!