Magazines.

A favorite gift item in my household is periodical subscriptions.  Their arrival in the mail is always a bright point in my day*, providing me with a dose of beauty, an insight into humanity, a new perspective on a topic, or new information.

This Christmas, I started receiving the Oxford American.  The first issue, the music issue, arrived with armed with a compact disc featuring Tennesse music.  The pages contained little known stories of the Memphis blues and Nashville country stars and important figures.

Excellent Periodicals

Dappled Things, which has featured the work of my favorite Oklahoma poet, never fails to offer images of beauty, in words and pictures.

My very favorite periodical, however, is one that elevates the everyday tasks of cooking, cleaning and gardening to new heights.  It introduced my husband and I to the brilliant brunch of the OKC Museum of Art Café, which we assumed was out of our price range, like its dinner (its not: ricotta pancakes for $8!), and created the end of summer birthday brisket tradition.  It appreciates the time spent sitting on porches and the simple beauty of a dinner party.

Here's to Southern Living.

I flipped this right-side up in iPhoto, I promise.

*The arrival of anything in the mail that is not bills is a bright point in my day.  That's why people get addicted to online shopping.