Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Walk Like An Ashvillian

We went to West Asheville today, me and Hank and Jessie. We walked around and Jessie bought a very lovely dress at a sweet little shop that sells recycled clothes and the lady was so nice. So nice that she almost crossed the line into being obnoxious but she did not cross it and we left, happy to have bought something from her.

Hank went off for lunch with an online friend he had never "met" until today and Jessie and I had a sinful as hell lunch at a place called Sunny Point Cafe. We ate beef and we ate bacon and that bacon was the best bacon I've ever eaten. It was organic, applewood smoked and it was sweet, like it had been cured with brown sugar (no doubt organic brown sugar) and like every other place in Asheville, the food was not only organic but local. Local is the theme of Asheville, I think. The art is local, the businesses are all local, the blueberries and blackberries and eggs and lettuces and tomatoes and cheese and beef and pig and music and wool and EVERYTHING is local so I said that if I opened a restaurant in Asheville I would vow to serve nothing local and the name of it would be "Biggest Carbon Footprint," and there would be nothing there but Colombian Coffee and Mexican avocados and Chilean sea bass and cheese shipped in from Switzerland but that's just the old cynical bitch in me. Really, all the food here is delicious and so local is good. I know it is.
And I would never open a restaurant anywhere. Too much work.

After lunch, Jessie and I stopped by an Earth Fare and we were sniffing the soaps and sampling the cheeses and I eavesdropped on a girl telling her mother how the Diva Cup worked. The Diva Cup is a menstrual cup and the mother said, "But what do you do when it's full?" and the girl said, "Rinse it out," and the mother said, "That's just not right," which I thought was funny.
Then I called Hank to find out where he was and he said that he was right next door to an Earth Fare and wouldn't you know that of all the places to eat in Asheville, Hank and his friend had chosen a restaurant right next to the Earth Fare where Jessie and I were right AT THAT MOMENT? And when Hank and Elisha met us in the store two minutes later, I said, "Damn, Asheville IS magic."
I won't even mention the fact that the waitress we had yesterday at the Mediterranean restaurant was also eating lunch at the Sunny Point Cafe unless it was her twin sister. No, really, when we talked to her yesterday she told us she had a twin sister. Either way- wow.

The kids all went to see Harry Potter tonight but I didn't want to go so I decided to walk down the street to an old downtown theater where they were showing Woody Allen's new movie and also that movie Beginners which a lot of people have said they loved and I've wanted to go see so I walked up there and bought my popcorn and a bottle of water and it was okay. Just okay. I guess it was probably really GREAT! but to me, it was just okay. Everyone did a good job and the story was compelling but it just didn't do a damn thing for me, only made me sad that people wait so long to risk giving their hearts away and to accept love although I guess the moral of the story is, "Better late than never."
Sigh.
I swear, I almost got up in the middle and left. The angst, oh the fucking angst and all of the sorrows of the human heart and the reaching for love and the fear and the joy and then fucking death comes along and well, that's it baby.
That is it.
I watched the whole thing but when the movie was over, I did not sit and watch all of the credits, which I usually do. I just got up with my paper popcorn bag and my water bottle and I walked out. Done.

But I think that the walk home was worth the trip. I walked like I was twenty-seven again, just swing, swing, swing down the street and all the people were out on the street too, going to this restaurant or this bar and I walked as if my hips and knees didn't hurt, head up, like I too belonged to this street, this town, this planet, whatever and it wasn't dark yet and it was lovely to be outside. I punched in the key code when I got back here to Deluxe-Luxo and felt like a city girl, even though I was wearing my overalls which mostly city girls do not do, or at least any of the ones I've seen here in this city.

So here I sit now, on this cushy couch at the condo. Lis is going to be staying late at the Gathering doing Gathering things. It has been a full precious day and Jessie did my hair this morning before we went out and hell, I went to see a movie even if I didn't really like it very much, I did it. I ate local, I shopped local, I walked local. The beer I am drinking right now is LOCAL! y'all.

Tomorrow is my last day of being fifty-six and that's fine with me. I am enjoying myself tremendously although I miss my man. I miss my house and my flowers and my chickens and my grandson. But you know what? This is good. It is good for me to change it up, to walk down the street, swing, swing, swing, head up high, not exercising, just walking from here to there, music pouring out of bars, hard rock, bam, bam, bam, and the sun going down and no one here knows me at all, I am just another old woman, walking down the street, gray roots showing two inches, doesn't she care? no, not really and frankly, I doubt one soul even noticed me or my hair.
Everyone in Asheville is so damn polite they'd never say a thing if they did.

Breathe in, breathe out, take in, release.

Here we are, here I am, one day older than I was yesterday, one day younger than I'll be tomorrow, so random but if that means anything, it would be that I know enough to accept love, to give love. I don't know how I figured it out, but dammit, I did and that may be the wisest and smartest thing about me and yet, it's something that dogs know just by being born so I guess I can't be too proud of that.
No. Not proud.
But mighty glad of it.

Night, y'all. Be all local and shit. It's awesome. I promise.

Love...Ms. Moon

12 comments:

  1. In my neighborhood, you've got the gay men out in force judging you (me) for wearing clothes that you've obviously slept in. Damn, damn, I love my gayborhood. And I think I'd love Asheville too.

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  2. Not that YOU slept in your clothes! I am thinking of me, in my typical weekend walk in my pj shorts out to get a scrambled egg/bagel.

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  3. I'm so sorry that you didn't like Beginners as I pretty much raved about it on my blog a few weeks ago.

    Sigh.

    But Happy Birthday, Ms. Moon. You're one year older and one year wiser or one year knowing more or one year knowing less and I love you, even if you didn't like Beginners.

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  4. i have people down by where you are- can't wait to go meet the ashville you describe!

    xxalainaxx

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  5. Happy Birthday to YOU!!!

    We just had Marc's yesterday. His mom is in town and well, it's been quite the whirlwind visit.

    I hope you have a lovely day and your trip sounds like the perfect mix of down time and fun time.
    xo

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  6. First, I love that picture of Jessie - thank you for posting it. I miss that girl SO DAMN MUCH! Please give her a big squeeze from me.

    Second, happy birthday to you! Woohoo! Perhaps we could have belated birthday libations upon your return?

    Third, are you gonna be there thru this weekend, cuz, you know, the other Liz is comin' up there with the other Lon and some other folks for Bele Chere and to see her bro. I was s'posed to be amongst that posse but am going to Graceville over in my homeland to see my sister-in-law and and my niece and my precious grand-nephew instead.

    Fourth, I love you and I love that you're having such an awesome adventure in Asheville!

    Hallelujah and amen,
    Kati

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  7. Happy Birthday tomorrow, my sweet Ms. Moon. I love you.

    I would definitely patronize the Biggest Carbon Footprint, if you open it. Laugh. Everybody is so damn GREEN, I've decided to be BLACK, like death. I'm sick to death of damn GREEN.

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  8. SJ- Overalls are very much like pajamas, only not as cute.

    Elizabeth- It was a good movie, it was just not what I needed to be watching at that moment. I could not fall into it, you know? And I love you too, even if you couldn't finish the Keith book!

    Mrs. A- You will love it here. You will probably decide to move here. Hell, I would if I were young.

    Ms. Fleur- Yes, it is the birthday season! And today is Sue's birthday. Ah...our Sue-Sue.

    Kati- Yes. I intend to stretch my birthday out as long as possible. You are quite welcome for the picture of Jessie. She is such a peach, that girl. Sweet, sweet peach. And you know, when I was pregnant with her, I almost decided to name her Jessie Peaches. I should have.
    We are leaving here on Friday. Lis has a gig this weekend. Gotta come home.
    Love you, girl.

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  9. Happy birthday Ms. Moon. I hope that you have a great day, doing whatever you like, wearing whatever you like, walking however you like, eating whatever you like and all the rest of the whatevers. There is a sushi restaurant here called Locals that has the best food. I like locally grown myself!

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  10. With all the flying around I do, I have a carbon footprint as big as a sasquatch, so thanks for drinking that local ber, Mrs. Moon!

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  11. Oops, i meant beer. On a cowded elbow-bumping plane right now. and happy birthday!

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  12. hi Ms Moon, it really sounds as if Ashville is the same as Mission district in San Francisco, where I feel more 26 years old than 62 years, my physical age !:) there are not many overalls folks in SF either, but the whole attitude makes you feel free to wear overalls and jump and dance ! to be local, yes ! lol Niels

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