Although I'm missing my fresh Agua de Pipa, the daily rain, and a beautiful blond little girl, I am finding many things here to be excited about.
First off, yellow lemons. I could write an entire blog on this subject entirely. Jorge and I rode our bikes to the Community Co-op and I received a few strange stares as I squealed with delight, raising the lemons to my nose and contemplating how many I could sneak into our basket without him questioning if I had low vitamin C levels. Later this afternoon I will attend the downtown farmers market, and my first yoga class... in English!
On a more non-food related subject, I must speak a bit about the most shocking change: roads and driving. Yesterday I was walking along Bozeman's quaint Main Street, enjoying an iced double espresso, when I decided to traverse and head for a much too expensive kitchen gadgets store. I was extremely confused as suddenly all of the cars stopped at the neatly painted crosswalk that lay before me. After searching the air for a stoplight, I felt a bit like Moses had just parted the Red Sea. Oh yes! Pedestrians have the right of way in the country! The streets are all mindfully labeled with legible signs, and the stop lights perfectly timed to manage the line of cars that wait patiently behind them. There are not ice cream vendors pushing their carts down the side of a busy freeway, nor are there drivers who feel it is acceptable to pull u-turns anywhere in busy traffic. People use their turn signals, and feel safe driving with windows down to enjoy the fresh mountain air. Beeping is reserved for emergency only situations and.... ok. I'll stop now.
So, along with the beautifully restored 1950's cruiser outside my door, I'm also enjoying a wonderful garden that George has been working (or should I say obsessing) on the last couple of months. The herbs are bountiful, and the tomatoes out of control. I've never had a garden before, so it's been interesting hearing about the process and now watching its tending. Yesterday, George asked if I had been talking to the plants. He wasn't kidding. So, after examining the garden this morning I decided to dive into some electronic research. I didn't find too much hard evidence for excessive botanical conversing, just a bunch of green thumbed hippies writing about their experiences. One study did prove to be interesting, however.
There are a few studies that seem to confirm the benefits of playing soothing music. A woman named Dorothy Retallack published a short book regarding her study that was conducted in 1973. You can read more about it here. Certainly the source, and website, are of questionable substance, but none the less it made me think more about our energy and how it transmits to all other living things. Who sounds like the hippie now?
Here are some pictures of my latest joys in Bozeman. The new cooking rule is that every meal must contain some garden grown element. So far, so good. I may not start talking to the plants, but it certainly is entertaining watching someone else do it.