Saturday, March 10, 2007

OK, so that was a long nap.

I feel like Rip Van Winkle now. (But refreshed! Very refreshed!)

Actually, my time in the last little while has been consumed with the business of moving. We are now partially ensconced in our new place in the Puget Sound area of Washington, with boxes yet to be unpacked -- but now that the computers are back in one piece and we have Internet access, HELLO WORLD! (It may or may not provide insight into our characters to note that, although we were wired up for Internet access as soon as possible, we won't actually get telephone service until early next week. Yep, we're geeks.)

This evening provided one of those small warm-fuzzy moments when I wandered into the local supermarket. As I strolled around looking for leeks and yogurt and hair conditioner, I began to notice that my fellow shoppers hailed from all over the world -- India, Mexico, North Africa, Eastern Europe, Korea and China; I counted at least five different languages other than English being spoken. The checker who helped me was fluent in both English and Spanish, and the teenager who bagged my groceries had originally come from Russia. It strongly reminded me of my childhood in the San Francisco Bay Area, where there were so many people from so many different places, with so many different traditions and beliefs and creeds, that it was impossible to single anyone out for being "different." And yet we did have one thing in common -- whether by birth or by choice, we were all Americans.

It was beautiful out tonight -- cool, with a fine mist of rain falling. All the cherry trees are in bloom. There's nothing like the scent of a spring cherry tree in the midst of a rainy night.

7 comments:

natural attrill said...

Sounds wonderful, I bet there's lots of interesting food in the shops to try out too, if there are people from all over.
I like living here, in Todmorden, which is a small pennine town NE Manchester, but I really do miss the people in London (where I come from)and the variety of clothes, foods, colours.......
I hope you are very happy in your new home.
Penny.
x

Bendtherulz said...

Life is sounding so interesting. And I love the scent of sand after the first spurt of rain...!

BTW - your blog also has many visitors - so its a mix curry !!

Gretel said...

Moving house is so stressy, but such fun discovering the area - I love reading about where other people live, especially this post; it makes our little bit of the world seem very - un-exotic. (I think Hicksville is the word)

Soozcat said...

Penny & Gretel--hee. On the flip side of things, I've been yearning to visit England my entire life. I guess it's human nature to want what one doesn't have...

btr--rain transforms the scent of everything, and usually for the better. And mm, mix curry. :) I found a very well-stocked Indian grocery store today, not very far from my new place. I am a very happy cook right now.

natural attrill said...

Curries, yummy ! we are lucky to live near to manchester and bradford, both have excellent curry houses, and lots of little grocers selling ingredients to cook our own as well. We are a chilli/curry family, Toby has been eating them since he was in a high chair!
Stay happy in your new place.
Penny.

Bendtherulz said...

KNOCK KNOCK !!!

Soozcat said...

Who's there?