{"id":85781,"date":"2026-05-22T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T06:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.opinionpublica.tv\/portada\/?p=85781"},"modified":"2026-05-21T16:39:51","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T22:39:51","slug":"six-things-to-add-delight-to-your-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.opinionpublica.tv\/portada\/six-things-to-add-delight-to-your-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Six things to add delight to your day"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Six<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve worked at The Times\u2019s Midtown Manhattan headquarters for several years, but I had never thought to ask after the welfare of the birch trees in the building\u2019s atrium, never mind suspected that \u201ctheir existence is a struggle,\u201d as our reporter found. I like tales of things that flourish in onerous conditions. Herein, more ideas for flourishing under any and all conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On this week\u2019s list:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Stargazing trains<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Bortle scale is used to measure how bright the night sky is in a particular location, from 1 (the darkest, least light-polluted spots) to 9 (big cities). As a resident of a Class 9 spot where Milky Way visibility is \u201cNone \u2014 Not visible,\u201d I\u2019m drawn to the idea of stargazing trains, after reading about them in The Times. Sign me up for a \u201crolling night-sky revue\u201d into the New Mexico night, replete with \u201clive music and professional astronomers who share their celestial knowledge and stories as the train rumbles into the vast Galisteo Basin south of Santa Fe.\u201d Cost: $139, includes champagne.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Not saying too much<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last week\u2019s Good List included my odes to voice memos and snail mail. In my zeal, I mused about sending a telegram. I made good on my musings and sent one to my dear friend Sarah. We\u2019d fallen out of touch for a few weeks the way you do when life becomes frenetic. A telegram requires an economy of language (you still pay by the word!), so you don\u2019t waste space with excuses for why you\u2019ve been out of touch. It\u2019s a dramatic gesture, an attention-getting means of saying, \u201cI want to be in touch!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It worked. \u201cYOU SENT ME A TELEGRAM! I love it!\u201d Sarah texted upon receipt. \u201cI thought I was being summoned to an international court or something.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though the telegram was more expensive ($34, plus 75 cents a word for delivery within 24 hours) and took more time (you fill out a form online and enter payment info) than just sending Sarah a text, it was paradoxically easier to reconnect in its limited space. When too much time has elapsed, the blank space of the text message or email can be daunting: Do I need to elaborate on how busy I\u2019ve been? Such excuses always seems sort of feeble; who isn\u2019t busy? Maybe I\u2019ll do it tomorrow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The telegram forced me to just communicate the facts without caveats. You can see what I sent in the photo above, signed with Sarah\u2019s old nickname for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I tried to mimic the telegram\u2019s urgency in a more economical way. I texted my friend Chelsea, \u201cGive me a five-word summary of what\u2019s up with you.\u201d She delighted at the challenge, replying, \u201cNo men, learning Spanish instead.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Putting parameters around communication is a good way to tiptoe back into contact when the vastness of all you want to say is keeping you from reaching out at all. Try the five-word text update, or maybe a time-limited phone call. Or go ahead and splurge on a telegram, and let me know how it goes. My own telegram worked: Sarah and I are back to our daily texting cadence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Classic rock before it was classic<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Check out the YouTube archive of the BBC music series \u201cThe Old Grey Whistle Test,\u201d which ran from 1971 to 1988. You can see an impossibly young Elton John playing \u201cTiny Dancer,\u201d watch the sweat bead on Bill Withers\u2019s brow as he performs \u201cUse Me.\u201d But my favorite is David Bowie in red boots with a blue guitar singing \u201cQueen Bitch.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Our Mona Lisas<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The writer and filmmaker David Friedman heard someone refer to Leonardo da Vinci\u2019s painting Ginevra de\u2019 Benci, on view at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, as \u201cAmerica\u2019s Mona Lisa.\u201d It set him wondering what other works of art have been cited as other museums\u2019 Mona Lisas \u2014 that is, their most prized artwork, the reason people visit. Friedman found 17 such treasures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the National Museum of African American History and Culture, it\u2019s a photo of Harriet Tubman. At the Mob Museum in Las Vegas, it\u2019s a bullet hole-ridden brick wall. Now I\u2019m considering all the Mona Lisas lurking around us. Does your home have a Mona Lisa, something that lures people to visit? Can one\u2019s personality have a Mona Lisa?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. A possibly addictive word game<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve just been introduced to Uncrossy, created by the game designer Rob Jagnow. In his bio, he says, \u201cI love games with simple rules and complex behavior that make you say, \u2018I should have thought of that!\u2019\u201d I definitely would have never thought of Uncrossy, but I\u2019m grateful he did. (Unlike Parseword, which appeared on the first installment of The Good List, you can go hog wild in this game\u2019s archive. Puzzler beware: Your afternoon may be toast.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6. Travel cake<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was introduced to the concept of  \u201ctravel cake\u201d at a performance by the pastry artist Kristin Worrall last weekend. In a twist on a live cooking show, Worrall constructed a lemon cake while a voice-over explained the components and virtues of a tight-crumbed, near-indestructible dessert, one that would hold up on a long journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps travel cakes are more familiar to regular bakers or those who regularly arrive with treats in their bag. I, for one, was intrigued to learn that the category includes poundcakes and fruitcakes, dense and unfussy, fine if left unrefrigerated, no frosting, maybe a glaze. Of course I knew these cakes existed, but I never considered they were part of a greater taxonomy. I\u2019m now fantasizing about voyaging by stargazing train with a tightly wrapped loaf in my luggage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One more thing: Last week, I wrote about a tool that finds empty movie screenings near you. David Burt, a reader from Billings, Mont., and his wife, Rebecca, recently found themselves alone at a Wednesday matinee of \u201cSong Sung Blue,\u201d which features the songs of Neil Diamond. When Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson performed \u201cSoolaimon,\u201d one of their favorites, David wrote \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My wife got up out of her seat and walked to the front of the theater and was dancing to the music. She invited me to join her. It was a wonderful experience, and only one we could do since we were alone in the theater.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What we did not know was that the theater had a video camera situated near the ceiling that recorded our dance. We are friends with the manager and the next time we saw him he showed us this video. He said the owner of the theater loved that we danced during the movie. \u201cThat\u2019s what movies are supposed to make us do,\u201d he said.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you find yourself captured charmingly on a security camera this week, I hope you\u2019ll tell us about it in the comments. Send video and all other good things to me via email. And you can check out past editions of The Good List anytime. More next week. \u2014 Melissa<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n