The Good Life

A still moment from outside my window.

The sun rising like a teacup- glossy bone, delicate forget-me-not and rose, all the world's edges gilded.

It's the good life.

The last two weeks have been filled with belly-laughing friendship!

I had an evening of overpowering domestic flow last Thursday where I cooked for 4 hours straight to stock my fridge with homemade lentil soup, homemade cilantro edemame hummus, prechopped vegetables for convenient roasting, and homemade whole wheat lavash bread with sunflower seeds. I planned to feast off of this for days, but hosted a spontaneous dinner party for my friends at my apartment the next night using the food instead. We sat around for hours enjoying each others' company. I loved that I didn't have to worry about preparing food before they came, just heating things up. This pattern of preparing and resting and gathering for good fellowship reminded of what I studied about the practice of the Jewish Sabbath this summer when I worked at Covenant Presbyterian Church. Shabbat Shalom! I want to have Shabbat weekend kick-offs as often as possible now.

The next day I went with friends to Portland for an MLK Observance concert that featured middle-aged white people from the country's whitest state singing African American slave spirituals. This was a strange experience in which I felt very defensive of the right to sing those songs. It was a Southern moment. Afterward, we went silly-dancing at a bar that is my favorite now called Bull Feeny's.

Sunday was the day that 1) the Patriots lost to the Ravens and 2) the day that the LA Collective put on its first event, MLK Sunday Supper, a community potluck, food drive, and discussion of issues facing Lewiston. The LA Collective is a group of Lewiston Americorps members and alum that I gathered together a few months ago for the purpose of combining our powers to make larger impacts in the community, so it's very exciting to see that work coming together and being recognized by the community. The above linked article was the front page of the city section in the Sun Journal, Lewiston's newspaper, on MLK day.

The LA Collective, minus a few members

After the Sunday Supper, several friends gathered at another friends' house to watch the Patriots game. My hatred for the Patriots was waning when I moved to New England because I love camaraderie and there is so much camaraderie amongst Pats fans, but a voicemail my brother left me reminded me of why they cannot be trusted.

Having performed our act of service on Sunday, a few friends and I went to Acadia National Park on Monday. It was one of the most fun days of my life so far.  Though it was 20ish degrees, it felt warm when we were moving and the sun was shining all day. Acadia had a bit of snow and patches of ice/frozen creeks here and there. We made the most of the ice by sliding down the mountain where it was safe, and we also did penguin belly slides and ice dancing on the summit of the trail that we did. I will never forget this day!

Frozen

Huge swell of water

Water going out

My friend Laurie keeps a blog of outdoor adventure things and she has a great post about the day! Here is a photo compilation she put together with footage she took with her GoPro camera. Needless to say, that film's going to have some good stuff.

Laurie Tewksbury, Adventure Filled

Thank goodness a short week followed that weekend; I battled a rough cold the whole week. By yesterday (Saturday), it was fortunately gone because I had perhaps the most interesting date I've ever been on: ICE FISHING. This was a culturing experience, to say the least. I went with a group of seriously outdoorsy Mainers who wear Carhartt and camo and drive American trucks. The date was someone I met in Portland while silly-dancing (because, obviously, acting like your over-stuffed cross-body bag is a pregnant belly and shakin it all around is what attracts men). I woke up very early and ventured to Penobscot, just over 2 hours away, to meet up with the group. We walked out on a frozen river and found a little cove to set up a fire right on the ice, and then one of the guys had a drill to put holes in the 15"  ice. We had several holes and on each was a trap with a flag that would pop up whenever a fish took the bait. After two false alarms on my pulls, I PULLED A FISH OUT OF THE WATER WITH MY BEAR HANDS (bear used instead of bare intentionally here, but they were also bare). So what do you do with a little fish that's too bony to eat and freezes almost as soon as it's brought up? Kick it; kick it as far as you can. This is what my new Mainer friends told me, and so I did it. I didn't take my camera with me on this trip because I was worried about it getting too cold, but I'm really kicking myself (like I kicked that fish) that I didn't! Here's the only photo I have, one that one of the guys took on his iPhone and sent me:

Am I happy? Upset? Both? I punted this fish.

While in Penobscot, I visited a small town just next to it called Castine where my date goes to school for marine engineering. It was very charming. We went on a tour of the giant ship that the school uses to teach its students which was cool to walk about. By far the most unusual date I've ever been on.

Overall, it's the good life. 

JB