Pax Nortona – A Blog by Joel Sax

Elkit, dear Elkit always gets included in the best memes. Or rather, when she sees one she likes hanging off a blog, she pulls out her mental camera, studies the photograph, and makes her own version of it. I cribbed off her negative for this one.

My list:

1. The smell of the first rain.
2. Listening to a good piece of music while driving through beautiful country. (It has to be while driving. I never could get into the Walkman experience because I like to be able to hear the sounds around me. Especially that of a mountain lion sneaking up to dine on the trail mix in my stomach.)
3. Being with someone who is experiencing something good for the first time — especially if I have been the agent of that experience.
4. Reading a good book that deepens my knowledge of familiar territory.
5. Being in mania. (Got to watch this one. Never go on a trip without booking a return flight.)
6. Driving fast on a desert freeway, watching the saltbrush rushing past. (I even have a name for this — “The Miles”. And I came up with that before Michael Cunningham’s book “The Hours”.)
7. Finding a small nuance in a spectacular landscape that most people overlook and then composing a photograph of it.
8. Seeing someone get better, whether or not I had anything to do with the recovery.
9. Vultures and eagles soaring in the wind.
10. The antics of my cats and my wife’s friendship. (Family hour! The ultimate pleasure!)