random thoughts – Day 1,634 – (Saturday) – didn't and did

Good job, flowers!

It was a day filled with promise and opportunity. A morning dance rehearsal was cancelled, freeing up three hours of travel and practicing and basically opening up the entire day. 

Entertainment options included Open Studios at Western Ave Studios, a themed market at Mill No. 5, the launch of the latest issue of a literary magazine at The Luna Theater (located in Mill No. 5), the Lowell Multicultural Festival at City Hall Plaza, and Dracut Old Home Days, just to name a few. It would have been possible to park downtown and walk to the Multicultural Festival, the magazine launch, and the market. 

I dressed as if I would leave the house and mingle with humanity, meaning, shirt and pants were in colors that coordinated and I thought it didn't look like I had just rolled out of bed. Then I decided it would be sensible and practical to eat lunch first, seeing as breakfast had been skipped. That turned into a kitchen adventure of fancying up a can of spaghetti sauce with sauteed onion, mushroom, and garlic, plus Italian spices and Portabello mushroom vegetarian meatballs. This was poured over mini spinach and cheese mini ravioli and topped with shredded parmesan. Then the pots were washed by hand. 

You can likely guess what happened next and which of these many options I did. That’s right, kiddos, none of them. Not a single one. But I thought about each of them quite a lot. I imagined navigating a crowded and lively festival or the massive Western Ave complex, alone. Visiting the shopping market and the magazine launch where I knew nobody, alone. Driving to Nashua to attend the Egyptian food event, alone. There was the possibility of trying to talk myself out of spending money on things I like but don't have room for. And I did nothing, at home, also alone, but without the driving, temptation to spend, and feeling alone in a crowd.

So delicate!

The glass in the two storm doors on the porch were cleaned. The flowers in the front yard were visited and encouraged in their growth journey by me saying things like "good job, keep it up." Some light and lovely fluff from some weedy plant pods were found delicately balanced in the rose bush and photographed. 

Mostly, though, it was hours of mindless scrolling on my phone and playing Woodoku. A Korean drama on Netflix was started (Poong, the Joseon Psychiatrist) which made me think want kim-bap from the shop on Lakeview that I haven’t been to in ages. Instead of driving over, I checked the website which listed them as “temporarily closed.” It’s pure crap luck that just a couple months after they opened, the section of the major street they are located on was closed for a culvert project and getting to any of the businesses on that block was a confusing challenge.

Market Basket was visited instead, to see if the Ben and Jerry’s ice cream is still $3.50 (it is). And for some mayonnaise that I keep forgetting to buy, plus potato chips (why not?), spanikopita twirls for lunches, and sliced cheese because the current reserves in the freezer are slabs too thick to be practical in a sandwich. It’s probably not hard to guess that supper was potato chips and Phish Food ice cream. Some of the ice cream was soft enough from its grand tour of the store in search of peeled hard-boiled eggs and canned black beans before checking out that it worked as chip dip. Delicious!

For the evening’s entertainment, it’s the K-drama and wooing of Kiki where I tell her how wonderful she is and hand feed her treats and keep inviting her up on the couch in the hope she will then move to my lap. So far, she’s a huge fan of the treats and not at all interested in the couch, but when I call her name, she very often comes to me, and that feels like a victory.