Day of Sun and Zen

Recently life has been rather stressful. With my new gimpness at work due to the tendonitis, I find myself slipping behind, struggling to keep up. I'm also getting myself ready for going back to grad school for next fall, which means locating transcripts, seeing if my old professors remember me, and trying to gather grad application info from an advisor who is never there. Various other little aspects of life are beginning to weigh me down, making me feel that I not only have a monkey on my back, it's a family of howler monkeys playing congo.

I needed a day off. A day of sun and zen. So I went out into downtown Davis on my own.

I can't believe how I forgot how peaceful downtown can be. To begin with, this was one of those days that isn't quite summer, and isn't quite fall. The sun is out with a few clouds in the sky, and a crisp breeze blows through the streets and in between the trees. People greeted each other on the street, held doors for each other, and were genially kind.

I was able to discover a little trattoria right in downtown; they served an excellent lunch which I will cover in a later post. I stopped in the knitting store as I have recently decided to learn to knit. We'll see if I accidentally noose myself or not.

I sat out on the grass and read a book, something I haven't relaxed and done in months! I forgot how wonderful it is to make the soft earth your bed and a cool wind and placid sun your blanket. It's ephemeral letting your imagination be absorbed in written word.

I dropped by my old work and said hello to my old boss over a cup of ice cold, and strikingly sweet chai, which made me miss the musty old books and serving up espressos. Sadly many of the people I worked with are no longer there, yet some are, and those little constants in life give me sound mind. (It's Seattle's Best inside the Davis Borders Books, btw.)

I lounged about the UCD campus and immersed myself in memories of academia, sitting in the English building's plaza, and watching a troupe of shirtless frat boys fix their house. (Nothing wrong with a bit of window shopping, just no trying on or purchasing.) I then went to the Memorial Union and picked up grossly processed, yet yummy ice cream in colors which do not occur in nature.

When I got home, I found the cookbooks I ordered, one on salsas and one on grilled cheese, from Amazon sitting in the mailbox. An extra little bonus that cost me $10 total. Yayness! You can expect posts on those as well. >^.^<

I literally stopped an smelled the roses.

I suggest you try it yourself.