PNewL PNewS
An Almost Perfect Day: Friday 12/20/2019
Let me tell you about my day. It
started just as the light was creeping in which is not always my favorite time
of day but it was okay—it’s winter, these things happen, I had to leave the
house early. I got Roger up and fed and we walked and I could see it was going
to be a nice day and it was cold but not too and it was garbage day and I
confess I like to see that stuff leave my house. I convinced Roger (bribed him
with biscuits) that it was time to go home to my breakfast and preparation for
departure. He likes the cold but he likes biscuits more. I had oatmeal and
coconut milk and blueberries that Gini picked last June when I was in Norway.
When I got downtown, I found a
parking space with a meter that wasn’t working so I left a note on the
dashboard that said, I tried but it wasn’t working. I didn’t get a ticket. Free
parking! Woo hoo.
When I walked into the Center for
Craft, I was reminded that the theme for Creative Mornings was Silence.
Perfect. On the nametags, it says something like... I am___Peggy. To me, Silence is___and I wrote ‘truly GOLDEN.’ As I
hit the top of the stairs to the basement, there was a guy with a sign that
said that the basement was a Silent Space (Confession: In being a “Break-down
volunteer” I came home with one of those signs). For this event, the basement
is often a raucous onslaught but I love the event so I persevere. This one was
for me. For 10-15 minutes (I get there late), ~150 people were silent. It was
exquisite to be in this usually crazy loud space in silence. I can’t explain
it. It was magical and everyone was so darned respectful of what was requested
of them. Yay team!
I enjoyed
the speaker, a self-described extrovert who had a problem with silence. It was
an interesting choice (not a positive one for fellow introvert Heather, I
learned later) but for me it was good and only ironic that the volume was too
high. Anyway, this extrovert worked his way through having a problem with
silence to learning lessons about it. I was still a wee bit high on all those
people starting their day silently and the whole thing felt so good. Even part
of the volunteer break down team time was silent.
Sometimes,
part of my volunteer gig involves delivering leftover food from the event to a
local shelter and it is one of my favorite things to do—we are so glad to have
someone eating the super good food and they are so grateful we donate
it. From there, I delivered a bon voyage gift to a friend who is leaving town—a
happy sad thing.
On the way
home, I kept looking at the clock, saying out loud, It’s 11:10 or 11:42 or
12:04 and still a perfect day. I really wanted to remind myself, remember,
acknowledge. Meanwhile, I did everything on my list for today and finished
everything from yesterday too. At home, it was sunny and chilly—warm sun, cool
air. I got the bird feeders up which always feels good and the birds started
coming before the sun set.
At some point in the late afternoon,
I lost the perfect day. I don’t know what happened but I know that part of it
was I stopped reminding myself it was a Perfect Day. It wasn’t a bad day after
that, just average. I had a brief visit with a friend and we ushered for a
play. And that ended the day. I still had the warm fuzzy feeling of a perfect
day but it made me realize how easy it is to miss that or to never see it in the
first place.
Things I am Learning
& Miscellaneous Observations
• On one of our walks from downtown to North Beach, Sara and
I stopped at Allbirds, a groovy shoe store in San Francisco. It was a weekday
afternoon and the place was full of people. Sara says it usually is. When we
got back to their flat, I found ads for Allbirds on my phone. I had not used my
phone in the store…it was just in my purse. They
know where I’ve been. Creepy.
•
I am working on my issues with Procrastination: this year I cooked my
Thanksgiving turkey a week early. I bought Christmas presents for myself in
November and used them right away. Way to get it done!
•
I have a tenant in the doublewide next door. Before she started to move in, I
had my new favorite human being, a reliable handyman!!, do some fixes over
there. One of the things I discovered was that someone (Previous tenant? Former
owner??) had taped one of the tiles on the step down with a loop of masking tape--not duct tape, which I could almost understand--and it had held for a good amount of time. Really?
Wow.
• On the Tuesday of Thanksgiving, I was volunteering at the
Library. I was going through the DVDs to see what hadn’t gone out since May. I
was amazed by how many went out in November. I knew that doing this job, I
would come home with a stack…eleven to be precise. (Ten is the limit at my
library but 11 years of volunteering has its privileges…) Don’t judge my
choices.
… Get Smart. I loved this show. It turns out there was a
second version with Max and Agent 99 and…Andy Dick, their son. I did not need
to finish this disc. (Watched two episodes)
…A Christmas Story. Everyone but me loved this movie. I
thought I should watch it again. It was filmed in Cleveland, the home of my
birth. I still don’t care much. Sorry.
…Coyote Waits. Tony Hillerman. PBS Mystery. Mom loved the
series (books) and it was one of the first when I stopped reading because I
lost track of what I had read and what I hadn’t. Chee doesn’t look as I
expected…
…Family TV Classics. Watched a couple episodes of Ozzie
& Harriet, complete with Eastman Kodak ads with Ozzie doing the selling.
They even tell you how much the cameras cost! An episode of The Dennis O’Keefe
Show (not memorable), The Dick Van Dyke Show (1.5 episodes—bad scratches), The
Ed Wynn Show (1949-50), and one episode each of Petticoat Junction, Sky King, Sea
Hunt, The Edgar Bergen Show, The Milton Berle show, Lassie. Favorites were Sea
Hunt and The Edgar Bergen Show.
…Darling. (Julie Christie). Painful. Didn’t finish it.
…Giant (Elizabeth Taylor and Rock Hudson) Good movie!
…84 Charing Cross Road (Anne Bancroft or as I knew her, Mrs Brooks,
Anthony Hopkins and Judi Dench) fine…predictable.
There were four others I didn’t get to and I don’t remember
what they were. Apparently not memorable.
• My new favorite book is Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women’s Anger by Rebecca
Traister. I started reading it this summer and had to put it down because it
made me so angry. Started over and got through most of it. Took the audiobook
out of the library and listened to the whole thing. I felt like I had made a
smart new best friend—listening to her was oddly comforting. She is so
insightful and thoughtful and full of so much information. I will read it
again.
When I got to the
section on what we call cussing here in the south, I felt right at home. I have
always done my best to curb my language when I am around people who I know are
offended by expletives. When I am around others who speak four letter words, I
let ‘er rip. It is satisfying to me. There I said it. So here’s some good info:
“The psychology professor Richard Stephens told the New York Times of a study he had done, in which he’d asked subjects
to submerge their hands in ice water for as long as they could, repeating a
word that was either a profanity or a neutral term. Those who swore were able
to keep their hands in the ice water for fifty percent longer and reported that
the pain had felt less intense. Cursing, the Times summed up, ‘can offer catharsis…[and] might help you tolerate
the pain better.’” At some point, the author said she appreciated this because
she liked swearing. (I can’t seem to find the quote. Read the book. Really.)
Whilst reading
it, I had the chance to hear Rebecca Traister in conversation with Alicia
Garza, co-founder of the Black Lives Matter movement among other groups (and a
member of a group I traveled to Brazil with, before she was the rockstar of
social justice she is now). It was somehow musical. Their voices were so
different but were equal in their passion—a dynamic duo. If you get a
chance…hear them.
Things I am Thankful For
• The holiday season is almost over
• Travelling in the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Breaks up the endless holiday season.
• Perfect Days, or even Perfect Moments
• Roger the dog + other friends and family
• Opportunity
• There’s still so much to learn
New Year’s Resolutions
• Learn how to knit brioche
• Go to Oskar Blues
• Make it possible to eat at the dining table without
spending hours clearing it.
• Destash yarn and fabric
• Deal with a very old computer (that hasn’t been used in 6
years)
•
The usuals: Eat better, get more exercise, laugh more, have more fun, dance
more.
“I envy words for doing what we can never do—how they can
tell all of themselves simply by standing still, simply by being.” Ocean Vuong,
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous
