A strange encounter

I should have written this in March when it happened...but I had forgotten I had such a thing as a blog. Which might mean I have no business having one, but that's another entry.

It is March 1st, a dreary day in Boston, and I am walking around the Jamaica Pond in deep, difficult conversation with the woman I am dating at the time. We are trying to figure out whether it is worth the effort for something so new--we are, afterall, lesbians. Mid-sentence, her battery dies, and I am left hunching my shoulders against the cold, fighting back tears and the disappointments of all my lost loves who gather like ghosts huddled behind me in these moments. The sun, which was peaking out from dark clouds at the start of my walk, disappears and I think it's only right. And then it begins to hail, the sky hurling tiny chunks of ice at me, stinging at my cheeks, and this seems right, too. And funny. I'm overcome with a giggle at how well the gods seem to know me. Of course, hail. Of course, now.

For a moment I am gentler with myself as the weather is harsh, sending the ghosts scattering into the woods. My eyes are wet but nothing falls. I round the bend along the Jamaica Way, almost done with my lap, and before me is an older man--maybe 75--in a bright red parka and mittens. His hair is white and his cheeks are more red than rosy. He's cold. I don't look away like I normally would, and he waves his hands out in front of him, all mittens and expectant eyes. "Hello, hello!" he says.

"Hello." I'm afraid he's mistaken me for someone he knows. He seems, potentially, crazy, but I remind myself this could be because he's being friendly during a hail storm.

"I wonder," he says, "if you might put my hood on for me." He raises his arms to show me he cannot reach behind his head.

I assess him a moment longer, comtemplate the risks, assure myself I am stronger than he is, and decide helping him is worth the potential dangers. I come in close to him, where I can get at his hood, which is lined with fake fur and has an elastic band around it. I am close enough to embrace him. I have to pull the hood up over his head and the elastic band and the fact that his coat is zipped up to his chin make this harder than seems reasonable. Only as I'm struggling to pull it up over his head do I notice the ear-flaps, which I tug on. And then he's in and somehow I'm smoothing his coat at his shoulders; it seems the right thing to do, like he is my five year old son.

He smiles at me as we stand inches from each other, looks me right in the eye, and then turns to walk away. Before he's more than a step or two he turns back. "Hey," he says, winking. "Send me the bill!" and then he walks on. And I'm left with this sweet little moment, an unexpected intimacy with a complete stranger during a hail storm, and I wonder what the gods are trying to tell me.

Fruit Smoothies on a Sunny Winter Morning

I start every day with a fruit smoothie and a cup of coffee. I figure it's hard to have a terrible day if it starts out so good. And the smoothies are pretty, so even if the day is gray there's something lovely in my cup.

My brother and his wife are big fans of a raw food diet and green smoothies. While I can't claim that my smoothies equal theirs in nutritional content, I can claim that mine are far tastier and pretty damn healthy, too--not to mention prettier. But, in honor of them (and my own health), I have recently started adding some green things (I'm pretty happy with a spring herb salad mix right now, plus some avocado and a spring of fresh basil). So, in the interest of actually publishing something to my blog after so long (and such a lame last post--nothing else happened, by the way), I thought I'd walk you through making a great smoothie.

You'll need: Vanilla Rice Dream (enriched, of course); 1-2 scoops of Kashi Go Lean protein powder (also vanilla; I prefer Kashi Go Lean as it tends to blend smoother than a lot of other powders); flax seed or flax seed oil; one banana; half an avacado; a quarter to a third of a cup each (or some combination) of frozen strawberries, mango, blueberries, raspberries; three quarters of a cup of herb salad mix (any mix will do...though I will say that romaine throws the taste off, while something like spinach doesn't); the leaves from a sprig of basil; a quarter cup vanilla yougurt; and a decent blender. It sounds like a lot, but it only takes five minutes to make and will yield about 30 oz (I'm completely guestimating this) of smoothie. If you can get your hands on fresh fruit, add it! I love to add a pear when I have one; peaches; apples; and other frozen things sometimes, too, like pineapple, peaches, cherries. The fact of the matter is that there really aren't fruits I'm aware of that can't be blended together to make something really tasty.

I find it blends best if you add about 3/4 cup of the rice milk, then the powder, then the banana, then the green things, frozen things, yougurt, and top off with more rice milk. I've never measured how much rice milk I end up using, but I would guess it's around 12 oz. Blend it until it's smooth (add more rice milk if it won't blend all the way through), and enjoy!
You can drink it all, or put the left over in the fridge for later. It's a great, tasty way to get a couple servings of fruit and a serving of vegetables to start you off on your day and it really takes very little time...I can even do it before coffee!