I've had a few moments lately where I am overwhelmed at the relief that it really is summer. And I therefore realize that I truly speculated - rather subconsciously - that I'd moved to a perpetually-frigid and terrible place. I think that lack of logic (considering I moved here during the summer and experienced the sweat that came with it) might indicate that winter was just a tad traumatic for me.
It happened first last Saturday at the farmer's market. I bussed to downtown St Paul and bought cucumbers, spinach, herbs, and a bouquet of red peonies. The moment I entered the bustling market and saw the green spread on tables everywhere - a site I took for granted every Saturday of every month in Oakland - I almost cried. I said under my breath, "It really happened." It really got warm enough to sprout anything and it stayed warm enough to grow it.
The second time was two days ago when I walked outside in a t-shirt and decided to leave a long-sleeved shirt at home rather than tote it around in case it got cold. I realized, "it really did warm up. It really is summer." I choked up - seriously!
Today it also happened. L. and I joined a CSA and tonight picked up our first share of produce of the season. It now really is summer! Proof exists in my fridge: these beauties of kale, spinach, radishes, strawberries and lettuce were not shipped in from California or Mexico or Chile! They were grown and picked within an hour's drive. Such relief.
I will live this summer unlike I've lived any other summer before.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Friday, June 13, 2008
one year
With little inclination toward remembering (much less celebrating) anniversaries, in about a month it would have occurred to me that I moved to Minnesota somewhere around a year ago. And I wouldn't have cared much.
L's great at remembering the dates, however, and had me primed a few days ago to recognize that this day right now is the day one year ago that I rolled my little sawed-off-shotgun-of-a-car into the western Minnesota plains. When I said, how do you remember these things?, I'm happy to report that her reply was something like, it's the day the love of my life moved to my home, you knucklehead! Oh, sweetie.
I've hardly left since I got here. I'm less nomadic than I used to be and with gasoline prices being what they are, I've spent a whole year minus about two weeks hunkering down in this great state.
Great?, you might be saying. Isn't this the THOSE CRAZY MINNESOTANS blog?
It's really undeniable. I had so much to complain about from November through April, that's true, and I am truly dreading the end of this gorgeous summer weather, but I cannot deny the fact that everything else works out for me here. It's uncanny and it's trippy and I haven't stopped pondering the good things that work out, almost effortlessly, for a year and half. Since before I moved here, many things have happened to make my life more close to how I want it to be, with one catch: I have to be in Minnesota to make it happen.
Maybe tonight I'll have my first beer since last August and I'll toast to this curious and full basket on my handlebars of life. Something's right, I tell 'ya, and I have Minnesota to thank for it. Here's to just completing one of the most satisfying years of my life!
L's great at remembering the dates, however, and had me primed a few days ago to recognize that this day right now is the day one year ago that I rolled my little sawed-off-shotgun-of-a-car into the western Minnesota plains. When I said, how do you remember these things?, I'm happy to report that her reply was something like, it's the day the love of my life moved to my home, you knucklehead! Oh, sweetie.
I've hardly left since I got here. I'm less nomadic than I used to be and with gasoline prices being what they are, I've spent a whole year minus about two weeks hunkering down in this great state.
Great?, you might be saying. Isn't this the THOSE CRAZY MINNESOTANS blog?
It's really undeniable. I had so much to complain about from November through April, that's true, and I am truly dreading the end of this gorgeous summer weather, but I cannot deny the fact that everything else works out for me here. It's uncanny and it's trippy and I haven't stopped pondering the good things that work out, almost effortlessly, for a year and half. Since before I moved here, many things have happened to make my life more close to how I want it to be, with one catch: I have to be in Minnesota to make it happen.
Maybe tonight I'll have my first beer since last August and I'll toast to this curious and full basket on my handlebars of life. Something's right, I tell 'ya, and I have Minnesota to thank for it. Here's to just completing one of the most satisfying years of my life!
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