From Alice who sent an employment ad for a West Sonoma County church:
"Potential employees must have a sincere interest in candle magic, intentional prayer, folk magic, folk art, folk lore, and herbology, and must be willing to take on all manner of assignments as flexible team players."
The ad is titled Smallest Church in the World/Office/Candle Services. (Which made me think of Milk and Honey. If any small business were to have a Candle Services department, it should really be them!)
Alice also mentioned a Sebastopol moment she had: "I was in the square a couple of years ago and asked some white dreadlocked dude for 'a light.' He said, immediately and totally seriously, 'Jah is the light. What you seek is fire.'"
After my last post, a woman told me about a Saturday in Ragle park a summer or two ago:
Essentially, it was a very crowded weekend with lots of soccer games and parties going on. Her daughter's birthday party was situated between two other events. One was a "very trendy hipster" family that talked a lot about organic food, raw cacao and which festivals had the best clothes. The other was a Christian summer camp-like group that sang a lot of songs (which was how she knew it was Christian). The funny thing being that apparently the name at the entrance for both groups was Thompson, so families kept getting sent to the wrong group. "It was so funny seeing the looks of confusion as families walked up to either group. It was me and my husband's entertainment for about an hour. You could tell by the attire alone if they were walking up to the right party or not."
Multiple people have commented to me that the Rialto Cinemas now has hummus plates, Mediterranean, Caesar and spring salads in addition to their popcorn.
I was in the parking lot of a grocery store and ended up asking an older couple what their license plate meant. It turned out it was the name of a business they used to run in Tahoe. I explained I do a local blog and sometimes include license plates which was why I was asking. After a few minutes of conversation I realized they didn't understand the explanation about my blog and I'm pretty sure they were under the impression I do a blog solely about license plates.
(Which does not seem too exciting. "And today I saw another license plate...")
Speaking of which:
BARE FTD
ERTH ECO
IM WONKA
ALLZ WEL
Slowing down in SebTown...
I overheard someone talking about an (epic) hug when I was coming out of Whole Foods recently: "...and her heart center was touching my heart center, it was a truly delighting moment. Even a hug can be very special when you have just finished a lot of meditating."
Person he was talking to: "Medicating? What kind of medicating?"
"No, meditating. Me-di-ta-tion."
Walking my niece at Ragle Park, I ended up talking to a park employee while my niece slept in her stroller. I asked if there were any amusing experiences she had encountered there (okay yes, I was fishing). At first the worker said no, then after a while she remarked: "Well, you do have the barbeque and soccer families, and then kind of the 'tai chi' area of the park, and the two rarely mix. Except at the playground, where it's more of a free-for-all. I remember one day when a girl came up to her mom, sobbing and saying 'that little boy called me a hippie girl.' I thought to myself, there are much worse things you could be called. And since he was wearing a poncho, I don't even think he meant it as an insult."
On the back of a large RV in the Barlow: "Ah... Joy"
I received an email from a local who told me an astrologer she went to mentioned one of the funniest questions she had been asked: "Since pluto was redefined as a dwarf planet, how does that affect my astrology chart?"
Which for some reason reminded me of a bumper sticker I saw a while back: Republicans are from Mars, Democrats are from Venus. (Quite Sebastopol on several levels.)
A woman to a deli worker at Community Market: "I'm from South Carolina. You don't see so many tofu options in South Carolina, I can tell you that..."
I was talking to someone in the plaza one quiet afternoon and we both noticed a guy giving an actual massage about thirty feet away - massage table and all.
The person I was talking to commented, "I would be too self-conscious to get a massage in public. But maybe it's nice to be outside, more relaxing... that's why he's doing it out here. It is really nice weather today, good not to be indoors."
My more skeptical side came out, and I countered, "He probably just doesn't want to pay for on office."
She nodded her head, half-smiling. "Well, yeah... I could also see that being the case."
License plates:
NX2 JPTR
ZIN PIG
ARTY GUY
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