Gosh, so last time I think I had just landed and was getting my feet dug into the earth in the East Bay. Every day I am here I like it more, and feel more at home. The garden in the backyard is tended by my housemates and it is wild and overgrown and still productive. There is even a plum tree in back that is fruitful and produces the best plums I have ever tasted. I used backyard Meyer's Lemons today for a sprouted cashew hummus I made this morning. The beans and tomatoes and peppers and strawberries and purple potatoes need very little tending and are happy nonetheless. I feel connected with them.
About a week ago, my friend Jeff visited from Michigan. He has a friend in San Francisco who he stayed with, but we got plenty of time to catch up. We went to a little alley not far from my house, where there are cool little shops. One of them is an herbalist shop called Homestead Apothecary that sells bulk herbs for tea and other applications. and speaking of Applications, I am in communication with Nic the owner about working there :D They have stuff for making tinctures, salves, and decoctions, but plenty of already-made stuff. I bought beeswax candles and nettle tea. Another shop that I loved was Crimson Horticultural Rarities. They sell air plants, little blown glass "bottles" for mini-terrariums, specialty gardening tools, and other gift-y plant-y stuff. I applied there too, and they said that they have a landscaping branch that I would be useful in.
Last week, also, I started working with my friend Oliver, who is a personal chef. He pays well, and I get to learn the tricks of a smooth in-home kitchen production for the dinner parties we feed. There's so much I can do to make money in a big urban environment like this, I have to be judicious about the gigs I take on, weighing if they are worth my time. This gig is definitely always worth my time!
Just a couple days ago, I got two big packages just as I was heading to work. I had to wait until afterwards to open them, and found that they contained the long anticipated computer from Chris. Chris is a video game designer, and he recently got a new computer, and graciously said he'd send me his old one. I am so happy to be back in the world of easy internet and an adequate computer to blog, and surf the web. I can even play video games with my friends that I live far away from.
Throughout it all, I have been enjoying getting reacquainted with my violin, which I bought back from my roommate. Playing old songs that I can remember, and plotting what songs to learn next. Now that I have a computer, I can learn from YouTube videos about new songs, and tecniques. I can also learn all sorts of other useful skills like cutting my own hair and brush up on how to clean a gun. For now, though, I've got to go take care of my buddy who is oh-so-sick with strep!
