Cambridge, day 2: Street Buskers, Babies, Bicycles, and Boredom

Goal for Sunday?  Dim-sum for lunch in Chinatown, of which the long walk/jog jaunt through the new student orientation at Harvard University and across Cambridge proved too long to arrive in time.  We enjoyed Korean kimchi and shabu shabu instead (!!!).

I happily watched an old, wrinkled, thin black man (missing all his front teeth) sing the blues and play harmonica in Harvard Square while I laid in the grass and enjoyed kids dancing.  It turns out he is Silas Hubbard Jr, a classic in the Memphis and Harvard communities.  Back-up?  David Johnston, acoustic guitar, a likewise loved artist from the former One Thin Dime.

Harvard Square (meaning more like a region in Harvard, not an actual plaza) is prime real estate for people-watching.  It is especially joyful because everyone here is truly enjoying themselves and content.  I have greatly enjoyed watching parents play with their children.  The people are homogenous in a new way; the races and nationalities are extremely diverse, but everyone seems to wear the same style of semi-casual, nice, clean-cut clothes.  I think I've seen two hippies and one redneck out of thousands.  It feels surreal.

On Sundays Memorial Drive is closed to cars, and throngs of families weave through each other as they enjoy the rich green landscape and the scenic Charles River.  I stopped for a lemonade, and for $2 two teens used Pellegrino water, freshly picked mint, strawberries, raspberries, and hand-squeezed lemon.  What a treat!  They'd just moved from Chicago because of their father's job, and were not selling lemonade to make money - they were simply bored.  What a show!

The late afternoon was spent racing around Fresh Pond Lake, a lush escape from the cute town and tourism.  I biked a little too fast in the mud puddles, and still need a shower before bed at 2 am...  :) Good thing the sheets are dark red!

(And dessert was the ever-delectable Finale chocolate (torte?... something amazing.))

I'm suffering deeply.

Cambridge, day 1

Crashed an elegant outdoor wedding
Enjoyed the prestigious Harvard Faculty Club (entered not knowing it was closed for the wedding)
Inaugurated into W.A.S.H. (Whisky Appreciation Society of Harvard)
Congratulated as a 2012 Nieman Fellow
Met amazing people, ate amazing food, smelled the flowers, walked the campus, and enjoyed my good friend and organic fresh local chocolate.

Photo bucket

OK, well, photo of flower bucket.
Today I brought home a bucket of flowers I cut for my roomie.  It was received with astonished eyes and awed delight.  I cut one of nearly every flower variety that grows at the home I grew up in.  The bucket of flowers created five unique bouquets. 

My dresser adornment.  I am a blessed woman indeed!

A new perspective

The Earth offers herself to me every day.  The damp paths in the forest, the peach sunset, the flitting butterflies, they all exist calmly and contentedly.  Earth quietly asks me to visit, and I usually choose not to.

Instead, I stay indoors, windows closed, shoes on, eating with objects like silverware instead of my fingers, and otherwise unconsciously avoid any contact with the natural substances which permitted my concrete reality to come to be.

If I should indulge in this encounter with Earth (which I believe we are created to commune with every day), then She would be giving me a free gift; she is merely opening her heart and sharing her song.  The sunset bathes my face, and my soul stills.  The mud squishes between my toes and I giggle with delight.  The smells of fresh rain on composting trees is intoxicating.  As I walk through the wild, the bird lands on my hand and eats my offering.  I could eat no greater meal than this.  This food satiates.

I was recently confronted with a question:  Rose, because the Earth has gifted to you, you owe it your energy, skills, and work.  What will you do to give back?

And I found my answer while meditating high up a ravine and gazing into a majestic waterfall:
I owe Earth nothing.  She is sharing Herself with me.  She is giving Herself freely, without pretext.  She did not intend for me to give back.  She simply loves.

And I realized that if I did nothing other than spend the rest of my life living in a tent in the woods collecting edibles and walking barefoot through Her corridors, and never start a "Save the Whales" club or teach sustainable living, she will be at peace, and she will be content knowing I am content.

I am growing at peace with this recent understanding.  It is acceptable to Be without giving.  It is, of course, desirable to give, but only out of free will and in openly sharing my heart.  I want to be connected to my joy, and radiate it freely to my environment.  Interestingly, when I freely give, I find purpose and fulfillment.   If you are in my environment, or Earth is, or a hurting child, or a giddy friend, I will choose to be me, choose to have joy, and choose to live life as fully as I am able in that moment.  I found peace.

I love you.
--

This post is both literal and metaphoric.
I look forward to your thoughts!

--

 

This birdie quickly found my humble bread offering

"Elated" doesn't quite describe...

Profound gratitude and joy, and a quiet desire for more

Bragging about money

My bedroom view.  It smelled of burned oil.

My budget in Ecuador:  $6/day.
And I usually enjoyed my lifestyle.

--
I'd lived there about 7 months already, and was quietly frustrated with this white guy who was constantly bragging about how many thousands of dollars he pulled in on his real estate deals.  He spent rolls of cash on beer and in bars and ate out at real restaurants all the time, unlike me.  My $1.50 rice-based lunch on street carts was good and filling, as were plantains for breakfast, but I sometimes wished I had more money to eat like a lower class American.
One day this guy asked me to hang out with him and his friends.  I told him I didn't have the money to get burgers and drinks.  He said he would buy.
He didn't buy, and I was stuck with the $4.50 bill.  I was shocked and offended and said nothing.  Pennies to him were almost a day's budget for me.  I couldn't afford it.  That was the last time I bothered to go out with him.
--
I lived with Maira, a local woman my age.  I am SO blessed to have found her!  We shared a bedroom in an apartment right off a main street.  My bedroom view was a auto shop which reeked of burned greese.  They started yelling at 7 am.  And boy was it dusty...



---
I vividly remember the words told to me as I was pulled aside.  We were standing in Manta, Ecuador.
My friend said I was a bit too noisy in telling people about the money I had.  The money I had???

Ventilation is holes in ceiling cement blocks

My income was about $50 a week, and I rarely spent money on anything.  I hadn't even purchased a fan to push air around my stagnant 100+ degree apartment.  I skipped the $25 paragliding session in Crucitas, the $20 whale watching boat tour leaving from Manta, ate the local ice cream only once a month ($2.25 a cone!), and God only knows how many other amazing, "cheap" activities in the name of budget.
--
Minimum wage in Ecuador is $200 / month.  Often construction laborers work 10-12 hour days and are paid $10.  They do not have money to put shoes on their children's feet.
--
I suppose I was shocked because, in my opinion, I was living a fairly humble lifestyle.  No souvenirs, super cheap apartment in an awful location ($40/ month, next to an auto garage), no shopping in the mall or even the Safeway-like grocery store.  I taught part time at Wall Street Institute, a local English school.  They were fair to me, in relation to local wages, and I am grateful to have had the employment. 

Beautiful Mayra

I never internally resolved this comment.  Perhaps my understanding of living meagerly on a tight and small budget will never measure up to that of the middle class in Ecuador.  Or perhaps, I promised my friend a burger and simply forgot to buy -

 The bathroom was so small my knees were touching the opposite wall while I was peeing.  I lived kiddy-corner to the police.  One block away, a couple was held at gunpoint during the daytime.  (Further motivation to leave for Colombia.)   In front of my aparrtment was a playground.  I loved it!  And I kept my belongings in garbage bags until I built shelving.

January flowers - Believe it!

I feel so blessed.  We had an extravagantly warm and long winter here in Salem, Oregon.  And January?  Well, aside from my hundreds of daffodil and crocus bulbs poking up, I have three plants in full bloom, one weed in bloom, and another shrub on the way!  The day is 45 degrees and cloudy, fog lies over the entire city, and the lawn is still blanketed in dew at 3:30 in the afternoon.  A lovely sight indeed.

It appears the slugs are also up and wanderin'

Daphne - I am SO excited to enjoy their fragrance!

From Danyelle

This bush is so fragrant I can smell it across the yard

I deeply enjoy the beauty of this delicate nuisance!

All photographs - Pura fotos -

 Santa Marianita, Ecuador.  A quiet beach town.  Un pueblito callado.

There are about 30 photos - please click "read the rest, plus pictures!" to see all.

Hay como 30 fotos - haga clic "read the rest, plus pictures!" para verlos en completo.

I am keenly aware that I've not published photographs from my trip to Ecuador.

Yo sé que no había publicado casi nada de mis fotos de Ecuador.

Here are a few - Mostly boats with names, a few showing "scaffolding" made of bamboo on a "high rise" in Manta, and the local beer retailer.

Aquí quedan algunos.  La mayoría son los barcos, algunos con la construcción 

de edificios de bloque en Manta, y donde puede comprar la cerveza en Manta.

Salud, y Feliz Navidad -

La Rosita

The Vegan Diet: Day 26. Raw smoothies without the green.

My favorite foods:  Mom's three homemade chocolate chip cookies.  I also enjoyed my quinoa with steamed veggies, and a fresh berry and banana smoothie.

I decided not to put fresh spinach in my fruit smoothies.  I'd prefer to save the virgin taste of the fruit and just eat the spinach in a few handfuls on its own.  I tried adding the spirulina - Abut 1/2 tsp.  It overpowered the flavor of the entire smoothie!  I was disappointed.  Isn't there an easier way to eat healthy? 

I stopped taking my multivitamins because they made me gag.  I purchased adult gummy vitamins so I can easily down my vitamins. (They include B12!)   Whatever it takes.  I still down my O3 fish oil (eneric coated) every day because I know my body needs it.

Off-diet:  Mom's cookies.  Leftover biscuits 'n gravy.  Cheese on some garlic pizza.  (Was there chicken on that pizza?  Sometimes I forget I'm consuming meat.  It's so automatic!)  I'm too tired to recall if there was anything else.

The Vegan Diet: Day 25. Quinoa = sweet success

Thankfully, today was an easier day.  I finally finished all but one green smoothie from four days ago by adding V8 fruit juice.   Sigh.  I suppose I ought not feel too bad.  Any step forward is a good step forward in this journey!

Favorite dish of the day:  Quinoa and steamed veggies.  The Quinoa grain is surprisingly sweet, and quite simple to make.  (Similar to rice)  Quinoa is, by all accounts, a powerful grain.  It's full of protein.  I'm sorry I didn't begin to eat it sooner.

Off diet:  Leftover french toast from Word of Mouth Cafe from yesterday :)

I'm sick.  With a bad cold.  Ironically, the cold came on the day I was eating the very healthiest ever, and after several days of eating completely within the dietary restrictions.  Interesting.  Yes, drinking volumes of fluids, ginger, honey, lemon juice, et all. Tonight, I will sleep with my new friend NyQuil.  Screw all the health nuts who think pharmaceuticals are the death of us all.  For me, may God bless them for giving me sleep.

The Vegan Diet: Day 24. Amazing list of pantry items you ought consider...

Word of Mouth Cafe, 140 17th St NE Salem.   That's where I committed treason, sin, and betrayal.

I ate the Trucker's Plate, with biscuits and gravy (butter, sausage, cream), prime rib hash browns (beef, potatoes), and I subbed my two eggs for a cup of yummy fruit.  At least I did something right.  And then I borrowed bites off my friend's plate:  Creme brulee french toast.  (sugar, milk, eggs.)

It was evil and OH SO amazing.  Fortunately my organ system didn't shut down.  I did eat healthy things, too.  But they were far less interesting.  I am faithfully eating one avocado and one O3 capsule a day.  One must stay consistent, you know.

Next:  An unsolicited blog "guest re-post."   It's by Bonzai Aphrodite, and it's all the vegan food items she ate in seven days.  What an amazing variety!  Skim to the bottom to find her comments, and check out her site!


Seven Days

Banana
Pineapple
Mango
Strawberries
Mandarin oranges
Blueberries
Raspberries
Raisins
Dried Cranberries
Peanut Butter
Coconut Butter
Tahini