It’s Saturday, the day of my favorite morning. I start Saturday out by driving to the Farmer’s Market at 6:00 A.M., an hour before it opens. I park my car at the edge of it, where it will be easy to put my purchases in the car when they get too heavy. Then I walk to Peet’s for a cup of coffee and some conversation with friends. Used to be, Saturday morning was journal time at the cafe, and I treasured that. Over time, I made friends with some of the weekend regulars and now I go for the friendship. It’s lively and often smart and invariably interesting.
I stay for an hour and a half or so, and then I go to the market. I put two Chico bags in one pocket, my camera around my neck and some cash in the other pocket and begin to browse. It usually takes one trip around, shooting photos and checking out the booths before I buy anything. The first photo, lately, is of the odd cactus of the week at the incredible cactus booth. I never realized what a truly odd plant that is until this year when some incredible specimens have been showed off there. There are perfect round balls, giant flowering phallus-looking things, tiny little primary colored ones…always something breathtaking, sometimes breathtakingly funny.
Above is the food I bought today. I left out the rice and the beets and the organic multigrain seeded loaf I bought from Tin Roof Bakery. I looked at the bounty as I prepared the still life above, and thought that I’m going to have to be diligent to get it all eaten in only a week. I might have to overeat vegetables. What a concept!
As for the Experiment, I’d give it a pretty good for today. We cleaned up the house on Friday evening, so it feels cool and comfortable. Plus points there. I made a pot of beet borscht. Plus points there. Didn’t eat it yet because I want to eat it cold. Minus points there because I didn’t eat much of anything else except a few chocolate chunk/almond cookies from Trader Joe’s. Oh, and the blackberries. I did some grading, but no exercise. I spent too much time reading a too-long book (not-to-do list) and surfing around (ditt0).
On another front that often occupies me, I went to look at a house that is for sale in an area I’d like to live in. I’m tormenting myself with whether to fly into action on selling my house, or just let it go. I spend a lot of mental energy on this, which I won’t bother explaining here and now. But I think I had to sit around and think about it beneath chapters of a giant book I’m reading. On some level I have to make a decision about that.
Anyway, overall I realize that in some ways it is easier to take care of myself well when I am working, because I don’t have as much time available to use well. I don’t have time to just let it slide by while I’m thinking about something else. Good thing to notice! There’s no telling what all I might accomplish if I shift my attention a little. What about you, where do you find your attention wandering?
I’ve allowed this blog to lie fallow for about a month now. Maybe exactly a month. I know that’s not the way to keep people reading it, but I was in a funk. I needed some paper writing time, except I didn’t do much of that either. My camera was broken and in the repair shop for a couple of weeks, I traveled three weekends in a row and it got really hot. I guess all that just amplified the areas of unbalance that always lurk at the edges of things. So now the camera is fixed, I’m home and it is lovely cool weather. So I think I’m going to relocate that missing balance. I bought my week’s vegetables at the farmer’s market today for the first time in a month. And I took lots of photos there, too. Tonight Mayaoel and I are going to the fair to take some moving light photos. Makes me realize how critical it is to keep doing what makes you happy, filling in the corners of your being with the things that smooth out the rough spots. Creativity, water, sleep, clean laundry. It all matters, doesn’t it?
