Peace on earth (via pyramids)

Correction from a previous blog:
My friend actually said - when we were in downtown Santa Rosa dealing with aggro-bike riders and meth users -  "We aren't in Kansas any more."
(And by Kansas, she meant Sebastopol.)

My friend's colleague was telling me about a roommate she once had when she lived in northern Sebastopol:  "He was so into eye gazing.  I think he may have even taught a class about it?  Or something like that...  I couldn't ask him a question without him gazing intensely into my eyes.  For a while.  I'd say, 'Look, we are just talking about the garbage pick up.  Can you stop staring and just answer my question?'"

Looking for holiday cards one evening in Copperfield's I heard a woman ask how late they were open until.  The worker answered, "Nine o'clock."
"Nine o'clock? In Sebastopol??" I responded, I guess more loudly than I realized because the other half dozen people in the store all laughed.
"This is very exciting," another shopper added, noting that every other shop on Main Street was already closed at 7:30.
I quipped, "We can pretend we're in San Francisco."

I was sitting in front of Whole Foods one evening finishing a smoothie when a woman walked by and said in a resigned tone (to everyone sitting on the benches):  "The moment you realize your vegan salad has goat cheese in it."
For some reason this prompted me to say:  "The moment you realize your chakras are not aligned."
Which in turn gave way to an impromptu popcorn-style group outburst.  Some of the exclamations:
"The moment you realize gluten-free bread sucks."
"The moment you realize you burned your last scented candle."
"The moment you realize you were so relaxed you left your raincoat at yoga."
"The moment you realize it's been too long since your last astrological reading."
"The moment you realize your acupuncturist did know what she was talking about."

A text from a friend when we got separated shopping in downtown:
"I'll be over there in a minute.  I am listening to a guy tell people how spiritual pyramids can save the world."
Me:  "Duh.  Everyone knows that."
Her:  "An energetic vibe something that runs on something and if people around the pyramids tap into something it can help stop climate change and make the world a more peaceful place because of something.  I'm not really getting all the lingo."

My friend used to work in Santa Rosa and had a co-worker who lived in Sebastopol.  Another co-worker inquired of him:  "Why is it the women out in Sebastopol dress like Peter Pan pirates?"


And as always, the west county-themed license plates abound:
YIELD 2{love}
ROCK KAT
NMASTEE
R GENIE
ECO RIDE

Hippie chicks and hypocrites

Since Milk and Honey changed ownership I have not frequented the shop as regularly as I used to.  I was looking for a gift last week and after browsing for approximately four minutes I'd overheard a conversation about a customer explaining which vagina candle was the best, how quickly their phallic candles have been selling, and an app for vagina emojis.
Me, laughing:  "This is why I haven't had as much material for my blog in the last few months, because I don't come in here as often!"

My friend and I had dinner at Slice of Life recently and she noticed the kale caesar salad has "massaged" kale in it.  Over in Rohnert Park, she says one doesn't generally see massaged greens in salads one orders.  When the waitstaff asked us about dessert, my friend wanted to know if any of the desserts had been massaged.  (We agreed if the chocolate cake was massaged it should be with lavender oil.) 


Walking through the parking lot of Coaches Corner, my friend and I couldn't help but notice an abundance of west county-esque bumper stickers.  There were the standard issue COEXIST and GODDESS ON THE LOOSE ones.  Additionally I saw a few I hadn't seen before:
VEGAN POWER
SORCERER ON BOARD
IT'S TIME TO AWAKEN =) 
 (the smiley face is part of the bumper sticker. "It's time to awaken" in clouds, with a smiley face -
 a text from the Great Divine)
CHRISTIANITY HAS PAGAN DNA
HIPPIE CHICKS ON BOARD
A car at the Barlow sported a triple-array of bumper stickers:
What would Tara do?  What would Durga do?  What would Kali do?
(And actually, if you know anything about these goddesses, that would be three rather different answers to the same question.)

For Black Friday, Funk N Flash (a downtown store) was offering a "blisscount."

An impassioned diatribe from a Whole Foods shopper:
"I know that eating hot dogs is not a very vegan thing to do!  It makes no sense that I won't touch eggs or yogurt or brie, but I'll eat a hot dog.  I know it's not logical, but my love of hot dogs is not logical."
Person with him:  "And pastrami."
"Okay.... yeah, pastrami, too.  I'm a vegan hypocrite when it comes to pork and good sandwich meat.  What can I say?"



License plates around town:
CA{heart} ZEN
OSTPATH
DEER TRL





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