I love my neighborhood

[serene]

Walked to the Temescal Cafe. Saw that jwermont's band was about to go on. Walked back home to collect sogwife and drop off someotherguy, who had to work. Walked past the funkycool restaurants and the pagan store where they were discussiing what we would do if we had no fear (which made me think of dryadgrl and her recent post, and about how fearless she is). Went back to the cafe by way of Walgreens, where I bought a notebook and pen. Sat and wrote and listened to the band. Said hi to a local artist who knows me to wave to me anyway. Had a brief chat with Michaela, the ultra-hip-ultra-hot barrista. Got a smile and a wave from Bakesale Betty, (not her real name) who runs the new pastry shop in town and does indeed have a blue That-Girl wig on almost all the time. I fucking love my neighborhood.

The band's first song was called "Sorrow Into Joy," and this is what I wrote while they played:

Sorrow into joy?
Not sure that's how it goes.
Sorrow mellows, it's true, but
I'm not sure it becomes joy.
Instead, I think it becomes
a part of the background of things,
an underlayer, the sheet of
rough, raw silk that is laid
across the floor, that the joyful
walker can feel as she
walks across the hard wood floor.
It does not detract from her joy,
but it is there. She feels it. She
knows that wherever she walks,
she is not free of this reminder
of the sorrow that has passed.
And the silk is beautiful, there is
no doubt. It is rich with earthtones
and pale shimmers where the light
hits is just right, and she would
be poorer without it, but it came
at a high cost, one she didn't
want to pay at the time.