Saturday, November 15, 2008

Night time percussion.

Drum Circle. Djembe. Hand drums. Somewhere down the street, the co-op perhaps? sounding close than distant. Louder, softer, excited. Voices joining. Laughter. "We should go over there," Vivian says. "I was just going to say that," I smile. We enjoy listening. 

Friday, November 14, 2008

about a honey bee

Some buzzing bug flew into my hair and I brushed it away. I thought it was just a fly. It landed on my pillow and I saw that it was a honey bee. I used a book and cup to capture bee and walked out on my balcony to release. I set book and cup on chair, lifted cup, and stepped back quickly, shutting the door between us. Watched. The bee took a long time to come out and then it didn't fly away. It just started crawling up side of cup like an ant until it clumsily fell off onto the chair. Then, the bee began walking around confusedly on the chair like a disoriented ant until it wavered on the edge and fell to the balcony floor. The bee tried to climb back up the chair legs, but the ascent was too steep. So the bee attempted to fly, but it only went a short way, like a chicken, before crashing near the balcony edge. The bee walked tentatively along the edge, until it ventured too close and disappeared over the side.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

sister

My little sister arrived last night from Maine! and she'll be with me for a week. It is so fun to see Austin through someone else's eyes. She hasn't been to many cities before. On her way here, she had to take a taxi from bus station to airport and it was her first time in a taxi, which the driver found amusing and I find cute. Headed back to my house, she asked if I lived in the country. No! Right in downtown. She gets excited about all the little things, the tall buildings, riding a bike among all the students crossing, eating grapefruit from a tree down the street (which I am excited about too), going to Casa Columbia restaurant where most people were speaking Spanish, the grass blowers and lawn mowers in November. Its in the 20s at night in Maine now, 40's during the day.

Grapefruit

There is a grapefruit tree two blocks from my house. One morning this week I was walking by and I noticed these round yellow/green fruits, rather dirty from road dust and stuff. I wasn't entirely sure what they were, but I picked one and decided it could be a grapefruit. So I took one home to try. Bright pink inside and good with agave syrup.