Saturday, May 22, 2010

Saturday, May 22, 2010
Waxing Moon
Pluto Retrograde
Cloudy and warm

Getting here as an adventure yesterday. I was up and out the door for my run, and back by the time I usually leave; got everything gathered, got the train to the city, picked up water, walked over to Penn Station from Grand Central.

That’s where it got sticky. Because of an accident in NJ, the turnpike was closed, and the busses couldn’t get in. Three of the DC busses and one Boston bus that were supposed to leave well before ours still hadn’t loaded. And they had no idea when any of it would clear up.

Switching bus services wouldn’t work — it wasn’t the bus line, but the highway that was the problem. I figured, if I waited too long, I’d pop into Penn and see if I could get a seat on an Amtrak (although that’s a full $80 more than the bus).

They got two DC & the Boston bus off and started lining them up for the next Boston. Suddenly, our Philly bus turned up, they shoved us all on it, and we took off. It was only about 35 minutes late. Our driver said, “I don’t know when the hell we’ll get there, but we gonna get there, ‘cause I am the BEST.” And he was.

The trip itself was fine. I had the iPod on, and every song in the shuffle was perfect. I’m reading an anthology of fantasy romance called THE QUEEN IN WINTER with novellas by Claire Delacroix, Lynn Kurland, Sharon Shinn, and Sharah Monette. I read all of Kurland’s “A Whisper of Spring”, which was lovely, and started Shinn’s “When Winter Comes” which I really like, too. When I picked it up, I didn’t realize Shinn was included. I’m glad, because she’s one of my favorites.

Philly was so hot and sunny I thought I would pass out. I found out later it hit 91. Considering I had to wear fleece two days ago when I went on my run, it was too rapid a change.

Went to where I’m staying/working, dumped the luggage, changed out of travel clothes into LL Bean cottons, and headed up to Trader Joe’s (which is almost all the way back to 30th St. station). Picked up what I needed, went to the liquor store, got what I needed there, went to Metropolitan Bakery to get my coffee and something for breakfast today — all they had that was breakfasty was a fruit and oat bar, which didn’t thrill me, but I got it anyway. However, when I ate it this morning, it was WONDERFUL. Lovely surprise.

The rest of the day, I lay around reading cookbooks and magazines. I was done. I had lobster ravioli in Alfredo sauce for dinner. Didn’t watch TV. Instead, I did a tough yoga routine to get out the kinks the travel-with-luggage put in, a good meditation, and some reading. I went to bed very early.

Slept well, up early, yoga, did my work here. It’s supposed to be cooler here today and then rain tonight, but it looks like it’ll rain before then. Good thing I travel with an umbrella!

The plan is to go to Reading Terminal Market today. Although I’m worried it’ll be high-end touristy, there are some things I want to see, like the second-hand bookstore, the cookbookstore, and some of the food stalls. If it’s too touristy, I’ll leave.

My arm is healing well. I don’t even think there will be much of a scar. I’m glad, because I’ve been working on this poultice for several years now, and I’ve finally hit the balance of materials that my body responds well to. It disinfects and draws out contaminants while starting the healing process. I’ve noticed that, when I use traditional/synthetic medicines, I feel worse for the first 48 hours, it looks gross, and then the surface seems to knit while underneath is still a mess, and often it has to be re-opened and the process started again. So, while it seems to heal quickly, there are frequent set backs. When I use holistic medicine, there’s relief within the first hour, and, although the overall healing is visually slower, it’s more thorough and there are fewer setbacks. Normally, in a wound like this, one treatment would be applied to disinfect and decontaminate, while then another put on to start the healing. I wanted to see if I could put both into one concoction — I’ve been working on this for about five years now — and this seems to be getting there. Patience is not one of my virtues, but it’s paying off here.

When I get back, I’ll do some more work, and maybe get some writing done. I nearly left the computer at home, but realized all my “in process” projects are on the computer, not in longhand (yes, I backed everything up on Time Machine before I left).

The internet connection here is Comcast, which. compared to my Optimum, is pathetically slow and unreliable. Now I know which company NOT to use when I move!

Off to the market!

Devon