farmer's and new dates

last night i soaked in hot springs mineral water while watching a movie. only in california. then i'd step out of the mineral bath, really a small pool and into the heated olympic size pool to swim a few laps on my back and stare up at the stars. the place was surrounded by palm trees and i could see their silouettes against the night sky. really just stunningly beautiful.

i had been asked out by a local guy. tonight we met at a farmer's market (at the date stand) and walked around chatting. he's interesting but not my sexual type. i enjoy learning about local culture and he's very well versed in that. plus, he's athletic and outdoorsy which appeals to me. he bikes, hikes, camps, swims. so do i.

the san luis obispo farmer's market is the best one i've ever been to. they shut down the streets on huigara close the mission the town is named for. it's beautiful, i toured it tonight as well. a beautiful walkway and tree lined courtyard (with bare barked eucalyptus), lovely small garden with concord grapes growing on covered trellises. a fountain with a sculpted bear splashing children and fish. there were pomegranate trees, with their erotic pinkish red fruit hanging low, and all kinds of flowers, tall blooming hibiscus bushes - trees really!

last night, i was worried over meeting this new guy. but he was a perfect gentleman. he massaged my feet while we soaked and chatted. he was very amiable but i remained chaste since i wasn't really into him physically. i'm impressed with his idea for a first date though. it was quite a lovely soak! and simply magical to swim under the stars!

before i met him, i hiked at avila beach. absolutely beautiful! the harbor was full of brightly colored sail boats at anchor. i walked and walked the beach at sunset. high golden rocky cliffs and rolling green mountains sink into the sea there.

life is so sweet.

this afternoon, after work, i hiked moonstone beach and watched seals relax on rocks or ride the waves, their little heads bobbing up and down - hundreds of them. slivers of sunshine spiked through the fog. it was so gorgeous.

i feel so blessed!

the owners of the sustainable business where i'm working made fresh jam, homemade salsa (with garden fresh tomatoes, peppers and cilantro), and lentil soup this week. i've been eating well. they feed us 2 meals a day and give us a stipend for the rest. i can't believe i get to live in this charming town.

monday afternooon, i moved into the little cottage by the side of the inn. i sleep in the loft which is drafty but at least a little more private. and the other volunteers here (we just got two more) are very friendly and fun and interesting.

there is a young couple who are very much in love. they are at the stage where they can't keep their eyes (or hands) off each other but i heard her telling him off yesterday so i guess they are also having little lovers quarrels.

we have the most interesting guests who stay here. one british woman described suddenly getting vertigo at the top of the statue of liberty and the police had to shut it down and get EMTs to talk her down. she just froze at the top of the lady's torch and couldn't come down. it took hours and the whole park was shut down because of her. she laughed and laughed telling us the story. i love meeting strangers who are touring around. we get lots of europeans, (dollar is LOW!) belgians, aussies, french, a couple of netherlanders, a hungarian holocaust refugee, many germans and brits. it's fun telling them about the area and hearing their impressions of california. they all love it.

nighty night. i'm happy as a clam and off to bed. i'm touring hearst castle tomorrow with my new friend, a fellow volunteer. she's a friendly young woman, very feisty and hilarious. and even though she's young enough to be my daughter, she thinks i'm a lot of fun.

wish me luck. i got asked out by a college man and i'm going tomorrow, maybe. he said he i was a "sexy milf." ha! and a "cougar" experience. that just cracked me up! if only these young men knew what a good girl i was raised to be!




(wow! you gotta love this inn! it's a pension. and a really hot young blonde man just staggered out of his room in his boxers and nothing else, to use the wc. it's a great life.)

how i spend my days here

in the morning i rise early (for me, anything before 10 am is EARLY!), greet the sleepy or cheerful hostelers with offers of hot coffee, tea and delicious homemade tart red berry jam on locally baked bread: sour dough, oatmeal and cinnamon.

then i make up beds and scrub toilets. not glamorous by a long shot. lately i've wondered what in hell i'm doing here: i have a master's degree for christ's sake.

but i like it here so much. and my afternoons and evenings are completely free. i lolled about on the lawnchair today reading one of my favorite author's isabel allende, a chilean feminist and award winning novelist.

more later; i had yummy fresh lettuce and organic tomatoes on my california blt (made with locally grown avocadoes) for lunch made by the proprietor and i'm off to another great meal....





a fellow WWOOFer fried up herbed polenta in butter and olive oil and i sauteed veggies the other night so we're having a feast. mmmmmmmmm the polenta was perfectly crunchy on the outside and warm and chewy on the inside.

then we sat around giggling at each other's favorite silly youtube vids. a night well spent. i was looking up recipes for "apple pan dowdy" something my mom used to make, since we have tons of apples here. my mom used to sing a little ditty every time she made it and i thought she'd written it. turns out, it's an old dinah shore song, "shoo fly pie and apple pan dowdy" which i found on youtube!

i really adore the people here. the hostel is run by twin sisters, very hearty big boned cheerful outdoorsy gals, with translucent skin, lots of freckles and beautiful long strawberry blonde hair. they are soft spoken, kind and friendly.

they are also very picky about how things are done and i felt rebuffed when they critiqued my housekeeping but frankly, they are so unfailingly polite and generous and they acknowledge their nitpicking and inconsistencies with a laugh and a self deprecating air, so it's hard to resent them. i manage it though. the first day i spent housecleaning i wanted to quit. the second day i hated it. but this morning i felt like i'd gotten into a little groove.

and the rewards are great.

very great.

the house is absolutely charming - just the kind of house you'd expect a doting grandmother who keeps chicken and dumplings on the stove would have. and they exude a warmth that pervades the house. they have really turned this hostel into a home away from home.

the colors are soothing or cheerily bright. the windows are sunny. the garden is in bloom. there are comfy chairs for the weary traveler everywhere, on the sun soaked lawn, where you can just hear the sea birds and inside, by the big stone fireplace. there are good books for leisure reading and plenty of lamps to read by.

they clean using only bio friendly products (vinegar water and simple green or bioKleen) and recycle all their gray water (what's used in dishwashing and laundry and showers) into the lawns.

and the little town is within walking distance - literally half a block away. it's divided into two friendly sized villages with lots of local shops and restaurants offering slow organic california cuisine matched with locally grown wines. there is more wine grown here than anywhere in the country with the exception of sonoma and napa. there are countless wine tasting tours and vineyards with weekend concerts. there are delightful bakeries, wine and cheese shops, and fabulous blown glass art galleries and even a blacksmith's forgery.

yesterday i walked through the catholic cemetary. the fog misting over the redwoods and the spanish moss dangling from big pines made everything a little eery. there were so many italian names on the headstones, many said "native of switzerland." swiss italians help settle this area. and many of their descendants are here to this day. there is a little catholic shop called "pedro pio's" with statues of saints and mother mary everywhere.



i went to bed late last night, and i'm very tired today. (you try hanging 10 queen size sheets out to dry and lugging a vacuum up and down stairs and climbing up lofts to make beds! it's better than yoga for a work out!)

but i'm happy. there's nothing like the reward of hard physical work, which i haven't done in a long while. and my body feels good.

i'm a confirmed WWOOFer. this life agrees with me for the time being at least. all's well in my little world.

my favorite way to spend a friday afternoon: old oakland housewives' farmers' market

the perky cute young brunette stands behind 3 ironing boards in primary colors, red, yellow, blue, upon which are stacked cookies and scones. i ask her about them, but really i don't care, i just want to chat her up. she describes the scones so well that i buy some just to keep her talking. i tell her the ironing boards remind me of my grandmother who used to iron her line dried cotton sheets and pillow cases. she throws in some cookies with the scones.

i wander over to the cheese stall and bug the same guy i bugged last week for a free taste of his "sharpest cheddar." it's clear he loves to talk about the cheese; he works for a small dairy and brings his cheese to market each week, just like dairy farmers have been doing for centuries. i'm lured into buying his colby jack, though i'd have rather had a tangier version, they were sold out. i'm lazy; i love to sleep in and i've missed both the savory quark and the sharper cheeses. but i haven't yet tried his lemon quark so i get some to go on the scones; i've had the vanilla bean and loved it.

i sit down by an office worker, a young asian american woman, who's gotten the afghani bread and roasted garlic eggplant topping for lunch; i often buy it and we chat about how good it is. the blues man sings and plays his guitar in the background; he has a semi-regular gig here and he's my favorite. usually his daughter comes and belts out a few numbers while tapping her four year old feet; but she's missing today.

the office worker moves on and another man comes to sit down. we bond over our love of fresh, slow food. the scones melt in my mouth, the quark is a wonderful mix of sour and sweet. we talk for half an hour about our college age kids and how we can only keep up with where they are by checking their myspace or facebook pages; his are on a band tour in middle america, mine in summer-abroad study programs .

the market is about to close so i gather up my lunch and walk up the closed off normally-busy downtown street to buy my vegetables and fruits for the week.

new red potatoes, thin wiry green beans, yellow crook neck squash, fuzzy okra which takes me back to the south. they will make a few fine suppers!

the organic stalls give me two for one since it's about closing time: bright shiny strawberries and raspberries so plump they make your mouth water. they press me to eat a tart plum while i stand there, juices dripping down my mouth.

this is contentment, this is peace. this is what i moved here for, this is love.

this is coming full circle: from the hot fields of my childhood, behind mama's house where i used to go pick the tomatoes and help her can them for winter, to my progressive sustainable bay area farmer's market.

i'm so happy. mama and papa, my mother's farmer parents, would be too, if they could see me now.

mr. lover

i put the whipped cream on his cock after licking several drops of it off his nipples.

and i smeared it on his balls. he loves that. i pushed through the cream and placed my hand firmly on his shaft and worked my magic on him, using the cream as lube to transport him away from his workday worries. it turned into liquid on his warm cock as i rubbed up and down, playing with him. he was moaning and writhing in pleasure. i love how he thrashes his head around and bucks in bed when he's about to come and how he whimpers at my touch.

he'd already made me come.

i wasn't really in the mood for sex but he's so damn fine and sexy that i pretty much can get in the mood fast. as i told him, he takes me from 0-60 in no time. i love that about him.

last night we talked and cuddled and sighed and giggled in bed - we chatted about politics, (obama's telling support for FISA, allowing those criminals, AT&T and other telecom companies, off the hook for spying on americans illegally), about his amazing stories of his and his family's migration from iran, through spain and italy, ending in canada.



he went to college for two years in tehran, then applied for med school in italy. most of the students study for a year to learn all the technical terms and to pass the entry test. he had a week to study and pass the test or lose his student visa and be shipped back to iran. and he was learning it in italian, not his native language. there were 900 questions in his study guide. he memorized all of the answers. his sister was so scared for him; she'd chosen to study architecture since there was no entry exam. she was worried sick he'd never pass. his brother-in-law, a doctor, helped him study. they prepared for a goodbye party in case he was to be deported.

but he passed with flying colors! in fact, he made the highest grade of all the foreign students and tied with an italian, only one other student, who made the same high grade.

he's so fucking brilliant and colorful, my persian. i'm so happy i had him all to myself for the last 2 weeks. we've had so much fun! going to countless Burning WoMan parties, eating out at delicious restaurants, cuddling and making love late into the night. his wife's on some buddhist retreat with her friends so he comes to sleep with me each night. (we're polyamorous, not cheaters.) i love that when we're just about tired of each other, she comes home and he leaves.

we had a staycation while he was here. we stayed in town but treated each night and weekend like we were on holiday. we ate delicious foods, fresh from the farmer's market outside my door. peaches, apricots, plums, cherries, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries are all in season, so i bought plenty and fed him in bed, luscious bowlsful of stone fruits and berries covered in whipped cream. and we love our breads of india restaurant, just downstairs from my urban loft. they serve us as regulars now, always bringing our garlic naan and mango lassis to start, then chicken tikka masala to fill us up, and finally galub jaman for dessert. they use free range chicken and fresh organic vegetables every day. we linger over dinner and hold hands and talk of everything and nothing.

he tells me that i am his honeymoon. we don't go without a few rough patches, especially when we're together for longer periods of time than our normal 2-3 dates a week. we have little disagreements or hurt feelings, but he's very mature. he can easily identify and talk about his feelings and ask for what he needs and wants. he's been through a lot for someone his age and he's traveled the world and seen many different ways of doing things so he's ever so much more evolved than american men. i love him.

i love the coffee color of his skin. i love the way his chest hair splays out in an hourglass shape on his ribs and abdomen. i love his thighs, they are perfectly sized and muscular and lift me up on to him when i'm riding him and he's thrusting into me. i love his shoulders. i love watching him when he's drinking my mango juice and eating my pussy. he dives down like a true olympian, arching his shoulders, and parting the waves of my thighs. he rests his head on my powerful legs and nibbles at me, his tongue like a little fish, darting in and out, in and out. last night and the night before, he made me come so powerfully, i had to bite my tongue and bury my mouth in the pillows to muffle my moans. i was afraid of waking the neighbors.

damn, he's good.




i'm off for the farmer's market for lunch. this is my new weekly ritual and it makes me so happy. i shop with my little red cart on wheels, just like the old chinese housewives i see all round me, and bustle from one booth to the next to compare prices on fresh organic cheese, curvy green vegetables, lanky beans, ripe cherries of all kinds - white, pink, red, burgundy.



i know to wait till the very end of the market to buy my flowers, then they are half price and so are my favorite tamales. i try to turn down the fattening kettle corn but usually the aroma of fat and salt and sugar is too much for me. i get pulled in on the tractor beam of transfats. damn, it's delicious! fresh popped, salty and sweet.

i'm emptying my vases today of last week's flowers, pink and white of round blooms in my bedroom has faded and it's time for new ones. the purplish blue of the tall thin stalks on my dining room table has not faded even though they are 2 weeks old. i empty the blossoms into the mulch around the green and yellow lemon tree at my front door. the bold petals make a perfect potpourri to greet my visitors.

life is very sweet.