Sometimes I feel as off kilter as this waddling mallard. Thank God, it doesn't last very long.
Years ago I learned about dying fabric with tea bags, old coffee grounds, even rusty metal. I put the idea on my mental backburner of things I would try out some day. Today I was getting ready to toss an old white cotton robe that was ready for some serious recycling into the trash can. Then I thought about the tea dye thing I promised myself to try sometime. Here it is in progress. I just took the robe out of a cold water wash and it's now running through the dryer to set the soft sepia shade which the soft old fabric readily adopted.
In the last few weeks, I've stopped by twice at my favorite little out of town cafe, Hamilton's. The first time was on Good Friday. I discovered they made a really delicious tuna sandwich that day. This day I was in the mood for a hamburger but the coup de grace of the meal was their luscious Coconut Cream pie. Divine.
The arbor cover over the cafeteria walkway at work is one of my favorite places to walk in the spring. The explosion of wisteria is breathtaking.
The Holy Oils of the Easter Season
I was at Borders several weeks ago reflecting on the topic that I discussed
Here. I really needed a solution to this problem of seeing the worst or expecting the worst first. I couldn't concentrate on my browsing and finally I heard this little voice suggesting the I just sit back, relax, and
people watch. But it was
people watching with a twist. I was to practice looking instantly below the surface of what I was seeing. Instead of getting stuck on physical exteriors, look immediately to examine what individuals were doing, how they were interacting with each or their surrounding.
The trigger for this exercise was a man I was noticing and me thinking that somehow he didn't fit into the bookstore environment. Really! How could anyone NOT fit into a bookstore environment, but there I was, not seeing past the surface. He disappeared but the whispering little voice had gotten my attention.
Did you know that everyone visits a bookstore with the same purpose? They/we are all on a mission. We are looking for escape, knowledge, insight, music, coffee and quiet, spontaneous friendly conversation with a stranger, playtime for the kids while instructing them on bookstore etiquette. I saw little girls playing hide and seek but not being disruptive, a good looking man that seemed to have more the air of a watcher (maybe a store watcher for shoplifting). Yes, I noticed he was good looking but the deeper view revealed itself to me because I was ready to see its possibility. He was rambling aimlessly around - watching. People perused CDs, the man who didn't "fit" rotated back into my view. This time I saw him with a young girl, maybe nine years old. They were laughing and sharing the contents of a book as they continued their hunt.
I discovered how easy it was to slip into this mindset. All you had to do was open the door and walk through expecting the good possibilities. I've been practicing "seeing" ever since then, making it a full time endeavor when I'm out in the world and people watching. And, this isn't to say that I haven't had my challenges. I recently practiced on a woman of (as the French say) a certain age. She was "blond", way generous upstairs, and was wearing a deep cut, bright pink, very snug t-shirt. I have to admit, the woman's exterior was a major distraction to "seeing". The best I could do on that impression was to muse that maybe, just maybe, no one was friendly enough with her to mention that the shirt was really too small for her to be wearing.
It's funny how simple the solution was but generally it takes being hit on the head for me to find solutions to bad habits. But I'm very grateful I took a look at the negative impulses I fight yielding to and instead faced them. All in all, it was a very good Lent.
