mm, got me some sencha tea too.

amusing things:
several christmases ago, my aunt gave us scarves - beautiful, hand knit, long ones. well, in texas is doesnt get cold enough for them. but i love mine, it's rich red and warm purple, sort of rusty or brick like.  well, it's perfect here.
then this last dec my uncle on the other side of the fam, he gave me several things, but the one i loved and have found most useful - fingerless gloves. i've worn them everyday here! when i was excited to receive them, he made a comment about thinking i would, that they struck him as something i'd like. how right!

ok then, for my daily recap!
most of the morning yesterday i was working on organizing my poetry. i am going to submit 10 pages of poems to a writing fellowship contest. it's so intimidating! looking over the last winners through the years, they have advanced degrees in writing and fine arts, they've been published or have been granted other fellowships...so then there's me. wholly untrained, unpublished, granted i've told you about my w-courses in college, but in comparison....it seems weak. but it's something i've done for years. words come out of me. so i'm going to find out if other people who like words - like mine. i'm going to have to treat it like a band-aid, do it quickly then forget about it, since the announcements for the winners isnt till sept. i have till the end of march to submit them, but i hope to do it well before the deadline - no procrastinating on something this big! it could change a lot for me. just dedicating myself to the blog more seriously is changing things internally. it almost seems possible.

before the 'events' of the day got into full swing, i joined my host in a search for a baby shower gift. well, target was out day before, so now it was to see if whole foods would let us down. nope, good 'ol whole foods. i have a feeling that would become my go-to place here. i wish i could transplant one central market, but whole foods will do. you'd think such a populated area would have a lot of just about everything, but as we drive around she points out all the chains that are new, w/in the last few years. it surprises me. this place, it's as if you took all the little in between towns back in central texas, like lampassas /marble falls /giddings /navasota /etc. and squshed them together w/out losing any small town feel. then stick a major highway in the middle of them to split them into sides. that's about what it feels like...
in the afternoon we went back into downtown amherst to meet w/ a lovely young woman who has decided to become involved in mercy house, volunteering in the admin details. so i joined in the conversation, that way i could also hear the info she needed to figure out how she was most useful. after covering several bases we got more into each others stories. she is a pretty new christian, it's been about a year. it's all still fresh and exciting in her eyes. though at the same time, the urgency of it weighs on her for her family. what a thing to deal w/ in life, i know many do not have the blessing i do - two parents who raised me in honesty with God.
that meeting ended w/ ideal timing, and we walked right across the street to dinner. there have been several times of lovely timing, stepping out of one thing and into another. it's funny how many people i'm meeting hail from texas. i think there's a fight club concept that i havent been initiated into - we're taking over, but no one seems to say so outright. hm. anyway... one of the older members of the church was part of our party, and i have instantly found friendship w/ her. i dont think i've ever met an ectomorph like myself before. well, not that i've spent much time talking about and acknowledging it so openly. what amuses me most though, if i come here i'll be leaving a group of older-than-me women who i love, but i know i'll be coming to join a new one. it's strangely common for me to find friendship in those older than myself. i've been called an old soul, not sure if that has anything to do w/ it. but i love them, they have so much life and so much to share, stories and experience...they see life though different lenses, and i'm always seeking new ways to see life.
the evening concluded by volunteering at the homeless shelter held in one of the churches. it reminded me so much of the soup kitchen back home, but much smaller! i was in the kitchen w/ three girls, i think they were all students at u-mass. you could tell who the leader was, she knew the drill and could delegate the workload. i didnt find out until we were into the night that the 'real' leader was unable to make it. i can tell you she should be so proud! what the one girl didnt know, the 'second-in-command' did. and the third girl and i just made sure what they needed done - got done. it will take some time to learn their names, but i know if i were to come back - they'd be open-armed friends. the third girl grew up here, and she thinks i should go to u-mass as well, and live here and be part of life here, she even hugged me goodbye. unless this area is just different from most of new england - i have not seen a single 'not nice' person here! lies, all lies i tell you! the time went so quickly, it was cleaned, re-prepped and time to go @11:30 before i even realized an hour might have gone by.
what a good day. it will be some effort to top that! though, somehow i have a feeling it will be done.