au revoir

Tomorrow morning I leave on my trip to the Nevada desert.

shoe harm

My shoe got harmed! I was walking for an hour at McKinley Park and some plant matter and possibly gravel got between my sock and the shoe near my right heel, and it rubbed and hurt a little bit, but I didn't think much of it. Then when I got home I saw I had an abrasion there, and this morning when I went to put on my shoe, I saw something hard and bad was exposed where fabric lining was supposed to be. I tried wearing those shoes anyway, but the hard, bad part was pushing on my abrasion, and it hurt too much.

So I put on Erik's running shoes and wore then on my walk from the mechanic to home. They seemed to work okay though they're a little bit too big in the toe area.

For the past week, he's been trying to get me to wear his shoes, and we argued about it, and I said, "I don't want to change anything so soon to my long walk," but now he gets his way!

Corbin Harney quote I like

"Yes, you can. All of us are gifted. We just need to open up the gifts by praying in our own way, singing our own songs and talking to everything out there with love and respect. Don't feel foolish. This is how everything has been sustained for millions of years. This will open up a totally new world for you. Amazing things will happen if you are patient. This is how we will heal ourselves and our Mother Earth."
--Corbin Harney

Sacred Peace Walk 2012

I'm excited that next week I'm going to be walking at Nevada Desert Experience's Sacred Peace Walk 2012.

http://www.nevadadesertexperience.org/programs/2012/peacewalk2012.htm

comfort needed

Today I walked and talked on the phone at the same time. It's cloudy and cool out. They sky is white. We had comfort food for dinner--pretend organic tater tots and pretend sausage. I scored my three hours today, and I've been playing Word Bubbles Rising like crazy.

sorry

Hey, friends. Sorry if I'm letting you down. Life is SAT scoring, and you really don't want to hear about it. Today I went for a walk. I wore shorts--it was warm.

Spring is here! Today is me and Erik's 10 year wedding anniversary, but he's working 12 hours (almost done for the day) and we'll do it all over again tomorrow. But he has a day off Friday.

I'm going to bed--goodnight.

just life

We went to a poetry reading Friday night and saw our old grad school classmate read. She was fantastic. It was fun to be out at night for a change. It was at Broadacre Coffee, where the original Temple used to be.

I hurt my back. First it was my upper back. Then this morning I was moving some laundry and hurt my lower back.

I went on two walks today. Now it's raining.

pronoun trouble

Work started yesterday--blech! It's raining and seagulls were circling this morning. I walked to the blue mail dropbox this morning to send two letters, and I took the short way around the block because I didn't feel like getting wet.

My scanner was plugged into this battery backup I had. But the battery backup went haywire and had to be disconnected and is now ewaste. So my scanner has nowhere to be plugged in. It has to be close to my computer because it has to be plugged into an outlet and into the computer at the same time.

And that, friends who were wondering, is why I stopped reviewing zines on my zine review site. I can't scan the covers. I suggested to someone yesterday that they send me a scan of their cover over email and then I can review their zine, and I don't know if they'll do it.

I have been having pronoun trouble lately. There's a certain friend I keep using the wrong pronoun for. So now I'm all weird about it and before I say most anyone's pronoun, I hesitate.

quote of the day

You cannot find peace by avoiding life. --Virginia Woolf

Erik's sleepy excuse

"I am the thrall of Morpheus."

What Would Jesus Buy?

My best friend is at a Buddhist retreat, and Erik's working a lot. I'm trying to do a good job taking care of myself in their absence. Today I made vegan lemon bars, sweet potato biscuits, and potato leek soup. All are wonderful. Erik will be home from work soon. It's been rainy. I walked to the blue mail dropbox this morning in the rain to send a letter.

Today I watched What Would Jesus Buy? It's a movie about Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping Gospel Choir. I feel so much sympathy toward Reverend Billy and his wife and all the choir members. I already agreed with the movie's whole premise. But it's good reinforcement. Like I don't need any more stationery, even if I do buy it for $2 at the thrift store.

today's bird list

This morning we birded at Vic Fazio with our friend M. Then we went to the big farmers market under the freeway. Then we ate vegan apple pie at M's house and picked satsumas from his backyard tree. I feel loved and cared for.

white pelicans
white-faced ibises
yellow-rumped warblers
swallows
sparrows
cinnamon teals
northern shovelers
pintails
coots
red-winged blackbirds
black-crowned night-herons
avocets
meadowlarks
pigeons
wigeons
great egrets
marsh wrens
harriers
white-tailed kites
long-billed curlews
killdeers
great blue heron
snowgeese
crows
mallards
seagulls (we saw one take a fish from a curlew)
black-bellied plovers?
that yellow and green little bird
some unidentified mammal darting across the trail (weasel?)

miner's lettuce

Yesterday we visited Sebastopol and Armstrong Redwoods State Park. In Sebastopol we went to Luther Burbank's experimental garden. Here are a few pictures.

I had been wanting to visit Sebastopol for a long time. I had been curious about the Russian River. Yesterday we wanted to try a Gravenstein apple, but they're not in season, and we didn't come across one.

We ate at this amazing restaurant called Peter Lowell's. I had a macro bowl with lemon tahini dressing and tempeh. Erik had the anti pasti platter. The mustard greens pesto was the best! I loved the way they treated us--so respectfully but not obsequious and not smarmy. And it was kind of expensive but not so expensive I felt bad about it. Overall, it was one of the best restaurant meals of my life.

cherry

Luther Burbank bred different kinds of cherry trees.

cherry

broom

I think this is broom.

blue flower

This was at Armstrong Redwood State Park.

the deser

A few days ago we went to Fair Oaks. I saw this rock with confusing words on it by the trail and by the bike path. What does it mean? Looks like the words were written in used chewing gum.

eat

Here's some graffiti from Fair Oaks on the bridge.

name that fruit

Yesterday we walked by the American River. Here are a few photos from our time there.

fruit tree blossoms

What fruit is this?

hairy vetch (I think)

a**hole

If I use curse words in my blog, will it get in trouble? I think I already used curse words in my blog? This is some graffiti under the Watt bridge.

new Temple

This morning we went to the new Temple Coffee in Arden-Arcade. It's at the intersection of Fair Oaks and Munroe (which is where a person would expect the intersection of Fair Oaks and Fulton). It was really busy there, and the space is small. The drinks were delicious, and it smelled great, but the tables are very close together. We weren't comfortable.

The guy sitting right next to Erik was listening to music on his headphones, really loud, and we could hear it. We stayed about 45 minutes when usually we'd stay for an hour and a half. When we left we saw there's outdoor seating, but it's a very windy day. I think it would be good if you wanted coffee to go, but it's not the place for intimate conversation.

grave at Vic Fazio

Today we went to Davis then birding at Vic Fazio. I took a picture of this mouse grave.

wheatpasted street art

We saw this in Davis.