LIKE A DUCK IN A PEN

16 of 100

My new peony.

April 10th

Back in the day, whatever day that was, Sunday mornings might be dedicated to reading, a religion for some of us. I was just perusing the New York Times online and so many articles looked like excellent rabbit holes to go down. When you stop to think about it, it is nothing short of remarkable that so much excellent writing is available on a DAILY basis. My quotidian meander includes NYT, Washington Post, The New Yorker, The Daily Beast, and often The Atlantic. No wonder it takes me hours to get dressed and moving in the morning. 

Today is a fits-and-starts kind of day. I have been sitting here for hours and not getting anything done at all. The day started out overcast but has morphed into a cool, breezy, sunny day. The neighbors have retired to their back yard to blast crappy music, so it must be the kids. The mom likes a good combination of soul oldies and Mexican music favorites which is okay by me. Rather than wrangle, I have just put on my ear buds, although I find it easier to write without music most days.

SMS suggested I pull stuff from my garden to make an appetizer for the #3113 soirée. I ended up making toasted baguette with olive oil, arugula-walnut pesto, shaved fennel and raw artichoke, with shaved romano/parmesan on top and lemon juice. The arugula, fennel, artichoke, and lemon were all from my garden. The Meyer lemon was sooo juicy and happy.

Yep. Later. The neighbors are having another bbq or something. For hours, they have been playing that heavy bass meaningless music. All we can hear over here is the bass. I could not nap, even as far away as I could get in my room with pillows over my head. Don't know if my mom will be able to nap either. 

Imma give up on this.

April 16th

Quiet for a Saturday afternoon. Janet just headed for her nap. The sun finally came out giving us a lovely, mild Spring day. The cats are even napping somewhere. I haven't seen them since Fox came begging for dry food snack.

Today was my last day doing yoga in Steven's garage. He and Joe leave for the Galapagos this week. By the time they get back for the last two meetings, I will be in NY. CZ had offered to host us on her roof so we won't stop doing yoga together.

I also managed to get my next booster shot. 

I guess I spoke too soon. Latino pop music with lots of accordion is now on neighborplay. At least it has accordion rather than a lot of bass.

Speaking of bass, Patrick and I went to see Billy Strings at a club in Santa Ana this week. Billy is probably the most adroit, fast-fingered lead player I have ever seen. Not impressive, incredible. I enjoyed the show, however, the stand-up bass was a bit loud on the lower strings. My clothes were moving, it was so loud. Billy used to be a metal head and it shows in his playing, as well as his bluegrass roots. The spirit of the Grateful Dead was hilariously everywhere. I observed to Patrick that given that I had smoked dope with Jerry Garcia, I could probably sell cosmic handshakes for $5 a pop. Maybe even more money could be made if I took my pair of Jerry Garcia's pants. I could tour them like the shroud of Turin.

April 21.

Have you heard me talking to you?

My yoga class ends next week, after which I will be gone for a month. When I planned the trip, I had no real idea that I would have a stable and enthusiastic following for my class. I am amazed by this. A core group, a community is forming. Two of my students do not speak much English, but they clearly enjoy the class. I am so impressed by them. 

Meanwhile, I somewhat naively volunteered to write up a bit of a practice that everyone could work on during the five weeks between classes. As if writing two classes a week doesn't take up enough time/energy. 

Friday is generally the closest thing I have to a day off. There is always the Janet to deal with, but I don't generally have a lot of plans and obligations. 

I scheduled my 4th booster last Saturday after my yoga practice (more on that later). The day went pretty. normally, meaning I don't know how it went by. As I pulled up my comforter to sleep, I realized I was hot and cold. This is never a good sign. The subsequent ten hours were filled with flu-like symptoms, including thinking I was flat like a playing card and that I could be flipped and shuffled, hallucinations, nausea, and chills. When that subsided, I could not stay awake. When I did manage to get anywhere near up, I was dizzy and more than usually stupid. 

So, beware of boosters.

I anticipated this reaction to some degree as I am increasingly more reactive to vaccines. Which is why I have yet to get my shingles vaccines, although now that I know I can get one on a Saturday minimizes my excuses for not getting them. I can just go to my Saturday practice and collapse for a day or two. June it is!

Fox has made himself comfortable on the chair behind me. It is a large chair and I am sitting on the edge of it 

So exhausted and pained was I after the six hours of gardening I did yesterday, I had to take an extra half-adderall, gabepentin, and ibuprofen to get to class tonight. Which is probably why I am blabbing on and on here.

The beautiful and elusive Idrisse.

And so it goes.

In gardening delights, my two Itoh peonies that I thought were completely dead have come back. They are a long way from any blossoms, but I am so glad to see them. Those long hours gardening yesterday have taken a significant toll on my gluteus and lower back muscles. However, my back does not hurt at all. And my nearly weed-choked roses are bound to love me for my pains. I will post our results.

This song, Rocky Top, was my wake up song. Enjoy here. And here's Dolly Parton's take.

And just for fun, here's Billy Strings doing Jethro Tull's Thick as A Brick.