Weekend shenanigans

No, there weren't actually any weekend shenanigans, sorry for the misleading title. I did have a wonderful time with my dear one this weekend. Things just seem to be getting better and better. Saturday was very productive. We had a leisurely breakfast at my house, then threw the dog in the creek (like throwing Brer Rabbit in the briar patch...we didn't throw him anywhere he didn't want to go). He was one happy dog, swimming around in a nice patch of deep water, chasing sticks. It was a little treat for him, and it's good for his skin. He's very itchy. Maybe I should look into some of the anti-itch sprays for dogs we have around the house. I cleaned his ears out the other day, and I brush him fairly regularly, so he's looking good these days. He's also pretty skinny, which is good in that he doesn't have to haul around an overweight bulk on his arthritic legs. But we don't want him to get TOO skinny.

After throwing the dog in the creek, we went home and sat for about forty minutes, which was good. Then I sent my dear one to the gym to work out while I worked on my writing for an hour or so. She came back all sweaty and flushed and pleased with herself. We had lunch together, and then we set about cleaning the back room. We accomplished one of our two objectives--we cleared off one wall and moved stuff from the center of the room up against that wall. Then we were able to vacuum the sadly dirty carpet beneath. Now the majority of the space in there looks orderly. If we can get rid of Gabe's piece of furniture, throw away the trash, and move my dear one's brother's belongings out of there to the basement and other storage areas, it will look really good. We may need to send that carpet out for cleaning, and we may need to get rid of it altogether, although I hope not, because I like it. Oscar likes to lie on it, too, now that it has been uncovered. My other objective for cleaning that place was to clean out the little closet there, and although I made some progress on that, I haven't completed that objective yet. Still, the place looks about a hundred percent better. There are still corners and places that need to be cleaned out. We need to get the ceiling fixed and the linoleum fixed (or covered with a mat). I don't know if we'll ever do anything with that space other than store things. Oscar likes to hang out there. It's his favorite place.

My dear one had a gig at 49 West in Annapolis, so we drove over there. That place has pretty skimpy vegetarian options. It wouldn't matter if they had a really good salad, but they have some rabbit salad with lettuce and pale tomatoes and canned black olives that no one in her right mind would want to eat. It turned out to be a chore for my dear one, with lots of errors and a crappy-sounding monitor and just not much fun, but in the second and third sets she seemed to loosen up a bit and enjoy herself anyway. It's a hard job she has.

Sunday was a busy but fruitful day. We split up--me to the farmer's market, my dear one to Shopper's Food Warehouse. I bought peaches and corn and a ton of tomatoes and peppers and cukes and eggplant and chard and feta. I was making a peasant salad for a potluck we were going to with my sweetheart's sangha. This is her Pennsylvania sangha, with her teacher Dai-en. I put in rinsed purple onion, and cucumber, and a variety of peppers, and both red and yellow tomatoes, and raw corn off the cob which was so sweet and yummy and was my favorite part. I put in a ton of fresh herbs and later some feta cheese. It would have been great to put in some kalamata olives, but I didn't have any, and it was already a fairly expensive salad anyway, for someone who is as poor as I am. Salt and pepper and olive oil and red wine vinegar. Yum! I was pleased with what I made, because it was seasonal, it traveled fairly well (though not perfectly), it had great colors and strong flavors, and it was good for you. Can't beat that with a stick. My dear one made a banana chutney that was very well received. It was yummy.

At the farmer's market I also got biodynamic sourdough bread that is AWESOME and some delicious blackberries that I just ate the last of. I love blackberries so much. I want to plant some at my dear one's house.

We started out late to get to our destination. We were going to an event in Harrisburg PA, and we started out about forty-five minutes after our time because my dear one got into a clothing vortex. I was leaving her alone at the time, although I might have done well to stage an intervention. It all worked out OK anyway. We ran into traffic, then, and later, around York, a terrific thunderstorm with jagged lightning across the sky, scads of rain, visibility limited to about twenty feet, and even a good pounding from fair-sized hailstones. Very dramatic. Global warming, anyone? Then we got a little lost in Harrisburg, due to faulty directions, but we eventually made our way to the park where everyone was supposed to be looking at lotus blossoms. Caught up with everyone there, snuck a quick peek at the lotus blossoms, and waited out another soaker under the picnic shelter. I met Dai-en for the first time, and her two students Yuko and Dai-shin. Dai-en looks just like her picture. She's a short, somewhat round Buddhist teacher with a shaved head and black buddhist robes. She greeted me very warmly, saying, "You must be [Gilmer]!" and adding she has heard a lot about me. My dear one thought I would like her, and I do. My dear one said it would be like meeting her "mother," so it was a pretty big deal. But it seemed quite nice. Yuko is a real sweetie, a very friendly Japanese woman about my age. I liked her a lot.

After the rain let up, we convoyed back to another member of the sangha's house where we had a potluck. That was good food. I sat beside Dai-en (her title is NiOsho) and kept my mouth shut at first. Then she asked me about where I was from, and I said PA, and we talked a bit about Boston, and I mentioned I had spent two years in Tanzania in Peace Corps. So then I told some Peace Corps stories, including the one about having malaria when my parents were visiting. At one point I realized the whole group was listening to me. It was fun, though, and I liked talking to those people. I knew everyone's name (except one I forgot) and I felt sort of on good behavior but like I was doing well.

We toured that same member's creekside house which is being renovated preparatory to being sold. That was neat to see. Then we went to this Presbyterian church downtown in Harrisburg where there was a peace meeting commemorating the victims of the Hiroshima bombing, which anniversary was that day. We heard some speakers, including some kids. We came in at the end of a talk by a veteran who had been at Hiroshima shortly after the blast, so we missed most of that. I felt glad. There's a sort of sick fascination at that that is compelling but uncomfortable, and I don't know whether to be appalled by the horrific tale or appalled at my own fascination with it. So I was glad we didn't get our emotions played on too much, because we arrived too late.

Afterwards we went across the street to the banks of the Susquehannah river and released "boats," pieces of wood with a candle glued to them and a paper bag shade around them protecting them from breezes. We lit them and set them afloat, then watched as they drifted upriver (due to the breeze). It was pretty, and I was glad to be there with my dear one. I was very glad to be outside, in a new place, meeting new people, feeling affirmed, feeling free, and seeing something pretty. When it was time to go, we bade goodbye to our teachers, got a quick ice cream cone, and drove back to Takoma Park. That was a little torturous, because I was crampy and I had a headache, and I felt bad sleeping while my dear one was driving, and I couldn't get comfortable anyway. I did sleep, eventually, and then my dear one asked me to drive because she was too tired, so it was good that I had slept, because I was a little fresher. My problem then was that my contacts were really dry and it was hard to see, but I got us home safely, and then we could get into bed and sleep it all off.

TODAY I was tired and really really crampy, especially in the morning. I more or less took a sick day. I tidied up at my dear one's house, especially since the kitchen was unwelcoming. Now it looks good again. I tidied the living room. Then I went to my house and ate blackberries and biodynamic sourdough and frozen yogurt, and tried to write. I have to call this farm woman who is going to give me a tour; I forgot to do that today. I didn't get much writing done. I wasted my time reading things on the internet. I felt crappy anyway. Took some advil, read this enormous book I have to review, and slept most of the afternoon. Then I took Oscar for a little walk, called my credit card people and other places to complete my changes of address (yay!) and came back here. Now it is raining very sweetly, in a summer evening sort of way. I really like my house. I spent the whole day here, almost.

Tonight I'm going to try to get more writing done, I think. I'm going to eat some more. Tomorrow I want to take out the trash and recycling, maybe do some laundry, go shopping, call that horse woman, write at least one review, have my dear one over for dinner, have a writing date, watch House. I could make yogurt. There's so much to do, and I'm not getting much writing done. I'm a bit stuck right now. I'm going to try again soon. Why am I having such a hard time concentrating? Probably because my mind is thinking about what job I should get soon. I'm very employable. It's just a matter of finding something I'll enjoy doing.