Are you compostin' me?

A friend has some neighbors with two sons.  They started swearing in recent months, so the parents have opted to substitute certain words.  Instead of shit, the boys are supposed to say "compost."  It took a few weeks for the swearing to subside.  "Now it is so funny being over there and hearing one of the boys on a video game, suddenly shouting, 'Compost!'   Or the two of them having a conversation, and one will say, 'He doesn't know compost about that.'"

A woman in line at the store lamented she does not like football games but her husband watches them all the time.  She likes instrumental music and chanting, so when it goes to commercials the tv gets muted and relaxing music or her yoga chanting CD comes on.  "It can go back and forth between the game and harp with ocean sounds all night long.  It's a strange compromise, I know."

My community mole overheard:  "I was over life coaching before the life coaching craze even began."

Walking the trail near Analy, following a young man:
"I wish I had been born and raised in Asia.  I could have grown up eating squatting over my meals.  Chairs have really ruined our civilization.  They've ruined our hips, our backs, made our knees weak...."

"You have a hair dryer?  That is so mainstream of you."

For those with some Ayurvedic knowledge, my young niece explaining to me that her friend doesn't want to take off her coat:  "She's not warm all the time like me.  She's not a pitta."

A friend telling me that the latest trend in west county are retreats that combine healthy cooking and yoga.
Me:  "Really?  I thought it was cacao ceremonies."


On the back of a large trailer:
PEACHY PATHBLAZERS

License plates:
I AM LUV
PNTHR
NW MORNG
CATTY

Trump card

There were many Sebastopol moments during the week of the election and the post-election haze.  "A liberal shot" of whiskey at a Main Street bar, offers of yoga classes, flower essences and massage to decompress from election stress.  And the day after the election a person dressed up as a unicorn wandering the downtown area giving hugs.  One of my favorites was a sign that said:  "FREE tarot readings.  Donations accepted and given to a progressive cause of your choice."  On the sign was a picture of the major arcana Tower card with Trump's head adorning the top.

The day after the election a woman came into Whole Body wearing a dark veil and dressed in black to signify her mourning.  After exiting she popped back in for a moment and asked a worker if she would take her picture.  "I want my Facebook friends to see this!"

A friend, feeling depressed the day after election, found a kindred spirit at Infusions tea house.  "I let her know I had voted for Hilary," she told me.
"That was really going out on a limb in Sebastopol."

A complaint in a local bar:
"The music is too loud in here.  It is affecting my digestion."

An acquaintance overheard a boy at Whole Foods asking his mother, "Can we please, please, please have real turkey this year?"

Massage practitioner:  "I've been trying to come up with something to make my massage more unique.  Like crystal massage."
"I think that's already been done."
"Oh."
"How about hippie massage?  There are a lot of hippies here."
"But what would that mean?"
"You get a massage, and a basket of organic squash and homemade granola."
"After five massages you get a psychadelic tee."
"With your power animal on it."



License plates:
BOH BOH
THMMPER
DUBY DOO
BERNIE



Trump Tower

High profile

"You know you're in the west county when it's one in the morning and your boyfriend's roommates have the munchies and are still insisting the snacks be 'healthy.'  One of them is looking at the ingredients on a package of cookies to make sure the sugar is organic."

"She was high as a kite.  But I did get a moment of stoned empathy."

A thirtysomething guy telling me about different places he has lived locally:  "And at one point I rented a house with five other people on High Street.  Which was aptly named for my roommates and our leisure activities."

A tai chi instructor told me about teaching in Rohnert Park and that his students thought parts of the class were "too spiritual."  The woman I was with commented, "You should go teach in Sebastopol.  Nobody would bat an eye."

From my massage therapist:  "One of the things I love about Sebastopol is that you can't really tell the difference between the homeless people and the millionaires."

Although I was in Healdsburg, I saw a sign that said "Organic Suntanning Booths" which I thought could easily have been a sign in Sebastopol.  And in the words of my co-worker, "W-t-f does that mean??"

At the Petaluma library I was admiring some Day of the Dead art with another library patron.  She asked me if I had been to any of the Day of the Dead activities in Petaluma and I said, "No.  I live in Sebastopol."
"Yeah, it's sort of always day of the dead up there, huh?"


License plates:
DOLPHIN
SIP MUCH
SUNDROP


My same co-worker noticed the polite parking sign in the plaza, "Please..."