L'aura del Campo

Not buying new; no snow; new nuts.

L'aura del campo

WINTER?: 6 Sharaf (5 January) 46º and misty.

'é a lua, é a lua, na quintana dos mortos'
♣ Federico García Lorca ♣

Not buying new

Well, I like new underwear. Tooth brushes are best when they are personal; I don't share. And there are a few other things I won't mention that are best not used twice, but second-hand clothes are fine as are most things.

Could you go a year without buying anything new? These folks tried:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070103/ap_on_re_us/shopping_sabbatical

There is very little that I have that is new. New socks that Janice gave me! But ... not much else. Not shoes, jacket, pants, shirt or sweater. Not what I sleep on or under. Not the pans I've cooked with or the bowl I ate my black eyed peas out of this morning. Not the utensils.

I borrow books and dvds from friends or the library. Second-hand books are found everywhere in this town. My notepads are new. I need paper. I've bought new postcards, but I'd settle for old ones. Toilet paper is one-use only, but I could switch to the concept of a bidet (strange, but I could) or using a wash-cloth (that I could wash and sanitize).

I don't eat food out of dumpsters, but day-old bread is fine. I eat left-overs and know how to waste very little food. I'm not starving. If I ate better, I could lose weight though.

It is amazing how much isn't needed at all. I do without. Can you?

I slept well. No interruptions. No light in my eyes. Nothing. I tend to toss and turn at the best of times, but I did well. My respiratory problem is not getting any worse. That helps too.

Yesterday, my aunt called. Liliane called. My aunt thought it was oddly quiet over the weekend; she didn't realize the phone was unplugged! She was glad I waited to call her daughter. Lil, on the other hand, is ill. She was calling her doctor and reached me by mistake (our numbers are nothing alike ). It was so good to hear her raspy voice. Some folks are just wonderful regardless. I think of her often, usually when I'm putting cinnamon or nutmeg in coffee. Lil is Austrian.

The weather ... grey, damp and mild. Not winter. This is bad for those who depend on snow, especially further north where there are industries that depend on it. Everything is relative though. In Western Kansas where they had deep snows and cold the feedlots are losing cattle and the herds are threatened; Kansas is #2 with over 4 million head (Texas is #1). But ... the snow cover is good for the winter wheat. Wonder how the bison are doing. It is their natural habitat.

TREASURE OF THE DAY

Found in a blog entry from last January:

“I don’t like the feel of this…your nuts have rusted,” my personal skate repairman told me Tuesday night, eighteen hours before my AMHL game against the Capitals on Thursday morning.

Say what?

“You’re screwed,” my wife told me.

I’ll explain. Kevin, the proprietor at Legends Sporting Goods in Acton, MA was examining my nuts, I mean the nuts that secure my skate blades to their boots.

From "Invalid Entry"  by newmeadowuno Go there for the rest of the story ...

Which inspired me to write:

Two minor league teams

         for Jim Dwyer

Twelve boys
(Acorns-on-ice, Squirrels-on-skates)
chase pucks as blades come loose.
What do they need?
New nuts.

Last skate

Skates chase each other with sticks.
Full moon in the pines at dusk.

Soon it will be time to eat.
Don't call them yet. [163.538b]

Images and thoughts when taking the bus: Seen from afar - a cold drunk asking for spare change - up close - my friend doesn't recognize me till he looks into my eyes; grey skies, cool and drizzly; grey walls, grey cab; grey streets at the corner of Ninth and Delaware; buses parked in a row; dull cedar, brown leaves, dull grass; traffic crossing at Eleventh; the quotes of Langston Hughes bright upon the corner baseball stadium; the tedium of Friday and nowhere to go.

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 Kare Enga