Post(ish)-pandemic Sebastopol

"He's the kind of guy that moves through life like he's always at a tantra workshop."

Young child informing the adults in the room:
"We can't go one day without kombucha around here."

Several kids playing:

"He's the Poop God, and he's been chasing us around."

"But he's a nice Poop God."

"And his wife's name is the Poop Goddess."

In front of Taylor Lane:  "You know, she's the one with the Ganesha face mask."

"I wouldn't say Community Market shoppers are any more high maintenance than they were before.  They've always been a pretty needy crowd."

"How are you doing?"

"Fine.  I mean 'pandemic fine,' but okay more or less."

"What have I been doing during the last year?  Mostly keeping Handline in business."

In an email from a friend:

"And on top of everything else, I've been having to do yoga outside.  On the grass, near a winery, listening to traffic go by, usually pretty hot, bugs crawling on me and absolutely no ground that's level enough to be laying down on.  Instead of being relaxing it feels like I'm on a crappy camping trip."

License plates

EGLE RAY

FOX MTN

EMPT HAND

GR8 THX

NUTTY U

Sebastopol as adverb

Overheard in the plaza:  "That's not my moon sign, I'm a Sagittarius rising!  You don't know me at all!!"

"You know that nice, feminine, earthy feel to Sebastopol?"
"Yeah."
"They don't have that over in Penngrove."

A friend attended a weekend conference in the Bay Area.  She told me she met people from San Francisco, the south bay, the east bay.  During a mid-day break she came upon a group from Sebastopol and west county.  "Nobody was dressed professionally.  One guy immediately started hitting on me.  Most of them hadn't even gone to the keynote address in the morning.  I think they all brought their own lunch and half of them look like they just rolled out of bed."

"We could be really Sebastopolly unoriginal and meet at Whole Foods."

"I don't know where your coffee table ended up.  It's in a yurt somewhere near Jenner I think."

Two young girls skateboarding through Community Market's parking lot.  "Yeah, this isn't bad.  But really the organic version is a lot better."

"She has a new moon group and a full moon group.  It's a good thing there aren't more moon phases or I'd never see my girlfriend."

According to my former neighbor, Daniela:
"Tips for social distancing in Sebastopol: Go to the movie theater right now.  There's hardly anyone here.  They also have a policy that you should sit two feet away from anyone.
Tip number two: Don't go to Whole Foods in Sebastopol. There is no social distancing there." 😁😁

From a woman whose neighbor was trying to lure people to his home with organic mead:  "You'll need to be more creative right now.  Mead isn't going to work.  Extra toilet paper maybe."


License plates:
HOOOT
O SPIRIT
HARE RZN
ROAM WLF
FOX FEET

Around Town

"And then she asked, 'Do you have Prius blue?'  But the funny thing was I knew exactly what she meant by that!"

"Is there any soda here?  Or just kombucha?"

I attended a new yoga class.  One participant told me she liked this particular studio, it wasn't like one she had previously tried out.  "I didn't have a mat and went to get one from the pile.  They were all looking at me, like 'What kind of person doesn't own their own yoga mat?'"

At Milk and Honey:  "If you're going to hire someone, they should have at least one planet in Virgo."

"This is a tantric household.  There's got to be scented candles around here somewhere."

On the way into Community Market, a dude exiting shouting to someone:  "Patchouli!  Patchouli! Don't forget the patchouli!"

"We are parked next to the truck with the giant crystal in the back."

"She thought I was a Scorpio.  I was trying not to be offended.  I'm like, I'm a quiet Cancer, what on earth makes you think I'm a Scorpio?!"

I recently purchased a car.  My young niece and I were chatting about library books and second grade recess activities.  Then she looks at me seriously.  "Is your new car a hybrid?"

Chatting with a classroom assistant, we talk about things she has heard on the playground over the years:
 - That's not fresh turmeric.
 - Paint from your heart opening.
 - I'm not allowed to have Disney toys.  I'm not allowed to even say the word Disney.
 - There aren't any spelt English muffins here?
 - We only buy clothes at Tribal Fest.



License plates;
TAP WINE
WILD BRO
SNMA LVN
WOLF LVR

Unsafe greens

Several children and I were going through the alphabet playing a game that involved food items.  I got stuck on K.  "I can't ever think of any 'K' food," I mused.

A young boy looks at me.  "Um, kale?"

"When all else fails, go to yoga."

"I'm looking back over our online purchases.  God, we buy a lot of essential oils."

On the trail near Analy I stopped and talked with another walker.  She told me she tends to alternate between Sebastopol trails and Spring Lake.  I asked if she noticed any difference in conversation topics when she is in Sebastopol.  She thought for a moment.  "Well, in Santa Rosa it's a lot of talk about their dogs and what they bought at Costco and where they went on vacation.  Here, I've overheard so many conversations about the latest supplements they're using." 

Waiting in line at Community Market, a customer approaches the cashier and askes if there are chocolate bars in the store.  He laughs as she points to multiple options directly behind him.  "I didn't realize I was standing right in front of a tower of chocolate."

Another customer, "Oh yeah, the health nuts around here have to have their chocolate fixes."

A friend relayed to me, "My girlfriend and I arrived at her new rental with five bags of groceries.  The parking lot was packed and we had to park out on the street.  We tried to decide which would be the least likely bag of groceries that might be stolen if we left it unattended [since the window on her truck was broken].  At first we thought nobody would take the bag of lettuce and chard.  Then we had second thoughts being in west county and decided to leave another one.  Anywhere else, we laughed and said to each other, a bag of healthy foods probably wouldn't be so vulnerable!"  

At the library:  "If you see a bunch of yin yang images in the shape of a moon printing out, those are mine."

A neighbor of mine:  "I get into my car and see the neighbor's kids 'painting' something on their car.  As I back out of the driveway and can see it better I notice the words LOVE and KIND HEART in white against the windows."

"She told me she wanted to do something enlightening.  I told her, we're in Rohnert Park!  I don't think there are many enlightening things around here.  This isn't Sebastopol."

"It was your typical west county dinner.  Drums going, lots of sliced vegetables, herbally infused water.  Different bean dishes and way too much hummus."

License plates:

BAY LEAF

NO GRAIN

SLONOMA

HRMONIC

DO CHILL

Sebastoblog has a sister column in Sonoma West Times
http://www.sonomawest.com/sonoma_west_times_and_news/opinion/columns/sebastoblog-hippie-haven/article_93b6bbd4-87c1-11e9-b93f-13ce4e23b8d7.html

Really strong coffee

A yoga student bursts into class:  "I was rushing to restorative yoga.  The irony!"

An account of Easter morning:  "Our crystal pile by the garage got ransacked during an Easter egg hunt.  The children all thought the Easter bunny had left crystals.  Seemed very ordinary to all of them."

At the post office I heard a customer request "those magic stamps."  I was sending a letter regarding taxes so was surprised when the worker, eyeing the IRS address, suggested:  "Let's use a stamp with the word 'love' on it."

I was looking at my car on Bodega Avenue.  Cars were zipping by and I wondered if it was okay where I'd parked.  A guy passing by saw me scoping it out and remarked, "Your car is probably okay.  But Sebastopol is a hippie oasis so you do have to be careful of drivers around here who are pretty checked out."

"They were talking each other's ears off like the two Geminis they are."

My niece finds a jacket she hasn't worn for a while.  She tells me there is something exciting in one of the pockets.  She slowly reaches in semi-dramatically and retrieves a small bottle of essential oils.

A woman sitting in front of Whole Foods:  "I'm like trying to explain to this new guy I'm dating that there is a difference between a psychic versus a fortune teller."

A friend of mine is house sitting in Sebastopol.  In the long note the owner left her she stated:  "Most of the neighbors around here are nice.  But be leery of the really nice ones, they are usually selling something.  So unless you want to end up with a year's supply of organic gmo-free herbal lotion or bio-something protein powder, beware!"

From my neighbor:
My daughter and I went to the dog park at Ragle and when we got there there was this dog barking its head off through the fence.  The owners asked if we could wait a minute and they would all leave with their three dogs.  Then the crazy dog greeted our dog and the owner said, "Your dog is really balanced.  That's why my dog is calm now because he's a really unbalanced dog but your dog is balanced so your dog balanced my dog out."
The other Sebastopol moment happened at Retrograde café.  I was bussing my dishes and a guy was doing something to his coffee and I couldn't figure it out so I was watching.  He started to explain what he was doing.  "I'm blending coconut oil, peyote and psilocybin mushroom powder."  I believed him for a split second and then he looked at me and said, "No just kidding."  I replied:  "I believed you since we're in Sebastopol."


License plates:
WLD SGE
SHARE
ZEPHYR
DOG UNIT

Even toothpaste is political

"Do you have a drink called Survive?"
"I don't believe so."
"Or maybe Thrive?  It's a fizzy drink like beer, but healthy."
"Do you mean Revive?  We do have that one."

A customer and worker in front of Pacific Market:
"Happy Easter... or Passover!  Whatever your flavor might be."
"I usually just say happy bunny day."
"Happy return of spring!  Happy ultimate fertility day!"

Regarding a dog:  "We call her Zen because she is so quiet and chill."

Young child:  "Let's play 'What should we bring on a picnic.'"
"How do you play that?"
"You start with A and go all the way through the alphabet."
"Okay.  Let's bring an apple."
"And for B...  let's bring bone broth!"

Seven year old boy:  "Mom, I don't want to be a Taurus."
"I didn't even know you knew you are a Taurus."
"Wendy told me that's why I'm so stubborn."
"You don't have to call yourself a Taurus if you don't want to."
"I want to be something else.  What are the other Zoo-deck signs?"
"There is Pisces or Capricorn or Leo.  You can be a lion or a fish or twins."
"Are any of them unicorns?"
"Um... I don't believe so."
"I want to make up my own unicorn Zoo-deck sign."
"You have my blessing."

"Sebastopol kids and their crystals!"

An acquaintance tells me, "So my son goes to a slumber party at a friend's house.  And comes back the next day telling me not about their discussions of ninjas or movies or their teacher.  They talked about toothpaste.  And he wants to know why we buy toothpaste that isn't healthy for us or good for the planet."


License plates:
EMPT HAND
GANESHA
WAZ GOOD





Sebastoblog has a sister column in Sonoma West Times
http://www.sonomawest.com/sonoma_west_times_and_news/opinion/columns/sebastoblog-sebastopol-status-updates/article_bf0b3cbe-4113-11e9-ab64-d77d9852e173.html

Tantra, Taboo and Trump

From Shannon, who provides much Sebasto-entertainment in her Facebook posts:
Sittin' outside Funk 'n' Flash playing my geetar when this dude comes up, tries to give me some money, then shows me his sri yantra.  Tells me how it's a gateway to Archangel Metratron and that our paths will cross again.  So you know, a typical day in Sebastopol.

"I have seen three ads for Valentine's day and cannabis!"

From my sister:  “We decided to play Taboo.  You know the whole premise is you're describing an item but you can't use the five words listed on the card to describe it.  If you use a word you get buzzed - so someone looks over your shoulder and buzzes you if you mess up.  The battery for the electronic buzzer had gone out so I was handed a Tibetan bowl to ding folks who said the wrong word.  No one even batted an eye.”

"It's too early in the morning to talk about tantra."

"There is nothing more annoying than being around a person who believes they are enlightened."

"You think with all the planets going direct we could manage to get Trump impeached."

Status update:
"How about a spiritual program to help spiritual people recover from 'spirituality'...?"

Vintage blog vignette:

I was with some friends of friends who were visiting from southern California.  The conversation turned to one of them desiring to learn more about the local culture during his week in west Sonoma County.  He asked how he could more aptly fit in.

"Well," one women wanted to know, "do you want to be a 'Sebastopol Guy' or a 'Sebastopol Dude?'"

He replied, "I think I am too old to be a dude.  So how about Sebastopol Guy?"

"Do you mean a SNAG?" I asked.

Someone wanted to know what a SNAG was.  Several of us answered in unison:  "Spiritual new age guy."

Troy the aspiring Sebastopolian responded:  "I don't think I am a SNAG."

"Well, you will fit right in," I maintained.  "Most SNAGs do not think they are SNAGs."

Several members of our little group smiled, nodding their heads.  Most everyone had ideas for fitting in as Sebastopol Guy:

Sit in front of Whole Foods chatting for long periods of time.

When you say good-bye to someone add "Blessings" at the end.

Go to a yoga class or two.  Or at least carry a yoga mat around. 

Consume something that contains green tea.

"Use the word 'conscious' a lot.  You know, if you garden or do bookkeeping make sure it is conscious gardening, conscious bookkeeping."  (This reminded me of a flier I recently saw for Conscious Housekeeping.)

Buy a dream journal.

Learn three attributes about your astrological sign.  Troy is a Libra.  He was told at least eight attributes by the people in this little crowd.  Because the three attributes ended up being so easy, someone said it would be more impressive if he found out his rising sign and was able to converse about it.  "Does everyone have a rising sign?" he asked.

A woman put her arm around him.  "Oh, Troy.  You have a lot to learn this week."

Essential desk items

"You can't teach an old dog new tricks, especially if their sun sign is Cancer...."

"I can recommend a good chiropractor for you.  I mean clearly there are ten thousand chiropractors and massage therapists and practitioners, etc. in Sebastopol.  But let me know if you need a recommendation." 

From a reader:  "I have a new renter on my property.  If you followed her around one day a month you'd have enough for five blogs.  She is over-the-top Sebastopol, peace/love/harmony/vibrations... everything is from divine source/can you hold my rose quartz while I look for my meditation cushion?"

Elementary school child describing a classmate:  "He's got one really big marker in his desk.  The biggest marker I've ever seen!"
"What else is in his desk?"
"A notebook for his marker.  And essential oils."

ISO energetically clean crystal

Regarding a Halloween costume:
"He was a knight.  Although in this picture he looks more like a 70s love child."

"My cousin is hosting Thanksgiving dinner [in Sebastopol].  The thread of seven or eight people that are coming is really comical.  People freaking on both sides of the issue of vegetarian options.  But the funniest thing is one person not very happy there will be bulgur at the dinner.  'Bulgur has no place at a Thanksgiving meal!!  This is not Whole Foods!'"

Vintage post:

(In Santa Cruz)  A couple who looked like they could have walked out of the crystal shop on Main Street chimed in.  They had lived near Calistoga at one point and loved visiting Sebastopol.  "The best Thanksgiving dinner I ever had was in Sebastopol," the man informed me.  "Although it was actually vegetarian.  And the pretend turkey didn't cook all the way through.  And we had more Indian food than American food - but what a great feast."

"Yay, we got it done!  And one day before mercury goes retrograde, thank god!"

Hashtag of the week: 
#mercuryretrogradefuckery

Happy water

When planning a dinner party in Sebastopol and one guest says she prefers water.  The host replies:  "I'll get de-ionized glacier water that has been osmosisized back through an artesian spring."

Facebook post:  
When a woman meets a SNAG and sees through his schtik - "Namaste away from me!"

From a blog reader:  "I don't think of my neighborhood as being 'too Sebastopol' or anything.  But I picked my daughter up as she walked home from school and she complained her friends were making fun of her because she didn't know what triangle pose was.  Then I tell her we have a lot of apples and I am explaining to her how we can make applesauce.  She asks me, 'But mom, I need to know.  Are the apples organic?'"

A co-worker hosted a baby shower for a friend just outside of Sebastopol.  She had a shelf for everyone to leave their water as there was an hour long ceremony as part of the gathering.  She noticed as she walked into the studio for the ceremony there were at least twenty water bottles lined up, none of them plastic and most of them glass.  A few had slices of lemon or rose petals or mint.  Some of the glass water bottles had drawings such as flowers or words that had been written.  WELL-BEING.  CALM.  HAPPINESS.  One had a handwritten reminder to its owner:  Hydration is healthy.  When she told me about this she had to admit, “It was the most caring group of water bottles I have ever seen.”  

"I thought, he's probably a decent guy.  I mean, he has dreads."
 

"And there you have it.  As The World Turns in polyamorous Sebastopol."

According to a local wine shop, the west county questions people have asked the proprietor when buying a bottle of wine:
 What would be good for a solstice ritual?
 What do you suggest for a paleo-vegan dinner?
 What is a good dessert wine for sugar-free desserts?
 Do you have gluten-free wine?
 I'm going to soak in the hot tub and do art therapy, any recommendations?

Vintage post and my favorite Halloween costume:
A mermaid, a ladybug and a boy in a cardboard box came over to us.  The boy in the box also had plastic bottles hanging off of him.  He held up a sign.  "Recycling in action."  You had to love it - not just recycling, recycling in action.
  

Hard core yoga breaks

"My diffuser hits a home run again."

Regarding the Sebastopol Community Center:
"All of the dance classes are Ecstatic, universal peace, silent disco, sweat your prayers... where's a good ol' ballroom dance??"

"It sounded so Sebastopol, 'honoring' something that was done a long time ago.  It's okay to give the real reason!  It's like there doesn't have to be a spiritual reason to make it all sound okay."

At a music event, to a group of her west county friends:  "I know it's not healthy!  Let me eat my corn dog in peace!"

"There is too much going on and I'm emotionally, mentally and astrologically inundated.  Please don't bother me until Mercury goes direct."

During a staff meeting:  "Can we stop passing essential oils around?  It's very distracting."

Comment on a local thread:
"Can I just plant a garden?  Does it have to be a big political statement?"
Reply:  "Everything around here is a big statement!!  I drive a PRIUS.  My son goes to an ALTERNATIVE school.  This honey isn't LOCAL!  Maybe I wanna drive my not-a-hybrid Chevy and buy honey from Canada and eat it with a bunch of margarine!!" 🤣

"I work for a company in Sebastopol.  So things like yoga and organic tea come up a lot.  It's a west county group for sure.  One day there was a long training.  We decided to take a 45 minute break at one point and half the employees went into the lunch area and the other half went to do a 'yoga breather.'  I had to go retrieve my notebook and went into the room with the yogis.  I expected to see a few of them stretching or whatever.  I was surprised walking in to see yoga mats, an online yoga class on a computer in the corner and co-workers doing triangle pose and a few peeps doing headstands against the wall.  I thought, Okay, they are not messing around!"


Vintage blog quote:
At a local school, on a board with some photos from movies is a picture of Glinda the Good Witch (from The Wizard of Oz).  On a post-it under the picture it reads:  "Glinda is from Sebastopol."








Sebastoblog has a sister column in Sonoma West Times & News
http://www.sonomawest.com/sonoma_west_times_and_news/opinion/columns/sebastoblog-celestial-occurrences/article_45c27bb6-95b9-11e8-ae57-af0cc51a20e7.html

Unapologetic vibe

"We are helping people connect with their soul.  So we can charge more for that."

"It's a new moon, full moon, waning moon, super moon.  Always something major!  Throw in an eclipse or a planet going retrograde.  You can't hide from astrology around here."

ISO/take:  does anyone in Sebastopol have a faceted crystal sphere they don't need?  Trying to feng shui my son's room.

My friend overheard at the library:  "Well, I'm sorry if it makes you uncomfortable.  But there is a difference between throwing food on a pile and composting!"

At the Barlow:  "I don't have time to explain chakras to you."

West county Facebook post of the week:

[In a hair salon] "Conversation at the shampoo station...

The woman next to me is talking with her hairdresser. Her hairdresser remarks how her hair is so thick. Woman responds: 'My spirit animal is an otter' and proceeds to tell various interesting facts about otters and their dense fur.

I turn to her and say, 'I like how you know your spirit animal!'

Her hairdresser, an energetic young man, adds, 'I think mine must be a Jack Russell.'

I love Sonoma County."

A woman conveyed to me she likes the focus on healthy living in Sebastopol.  “Of course some people take it too far.  They can be rather judgmental.  I remember my daughter being told at school that her homemade brownies were unhealthy because they had sugar in them.  When she told me I thought, ‘Well, of course they have sugar!  They’re brownies!’”

“There’s kind of an underground new age vibe in a lot of places.  You just have to find the right alternative bookstore and you’ll see a bulletin board like the one here at Whole Foods.  You know, with names of massage therapists and healers and workshops about breath work or fermenting your own food.  But what is unique about Sebastopol is that it is right out in the open.  You don’t have to search for it.  It’s right in your face.  Nobody is apologizing about it.
And you don’t have to believe in reiki, but if you want a reiki session it’s sure not hard to find.”

"As a West Country Tantric Priestess who uses biodegradable lube produced compassionately from the gland secretions of free-range, grass-fed bovines, who has made the ethical choice to let my dollars speak as my vote by purchasing compostable sex toys hand-crafted by local artisans out of organic potatoes, I am only interested in sustainable orgasms."
~Facebook post/Shannon Elsom

Sebastoblog has a sister column in Sonoma West Times

http://www.sonomawest.com/sonoma_west_times_and_news/opinion/columns/sebastoblog-land-of-the-goddess/article_4aec03c6-1cd0-11e8-a2b6-7b9c0bb65b4b.html

Non-crucial crosswalks

Spring Poem
It's equinox
Time for a detox
New beginnings & dreams
Lots of shakes with greens
Release rather than let things fester
Gather many eggs for Eostre.

A text from my sister:
I feel like this sounds so dramatic, but I genuinely went into a state of shock when she told me I had Scorpio rising.
Omg - birth certificate in hand- I'm a scorp rising???!!!  This is crazy!!!  Wow. It's like I don't even know myself anymore. Lol

"Around here you don't refer to chocolate as cocoa.  You say cacao."

These past few weeks on Facebook the blog has been writing itself:

"Be aware of mercury in retrograde..... even if you don't believe in it.... it will still nail you!!"

"Locked my keys in the car.  Got them back, lost them at work.  Had to have my boyfriend drop off the extra set, he dropped off condo keys by mistake.  Have spent an hour looking for them at work and can't find them.  I can't text my boyfriend because when he dropped off the wrong keys he left his phone here. 
It wouldn't be mercury in retrograde without a keys debacle.  Happens every time!"

"I like to play a game every time I go to Sebastopol. Its called: 'Count How Many White Dudes Walk Into Traffic/In Front Of My Car Without Looking.' They never stop or look back. EVER. They just mosey on like they own the world. Seriously. Loads of them, all ages. EVERY SINGLE TIME. Its almost like a video game, just way more obnoxious."
Comments:
   "White chicks too!  Belly dancing through the streets."
   "I have a game that I play in Sebastopol too.  It's called spot the old people that dress like toddlers in homemade pajamas who also wear weird knit hats.  It's all day entertainment."
   "Extra points if they have dreadlocks"
   "So many mornings, back when we lived in Sebastopol when I'd be rushing to get to work, stop for some breakfast at that Whole Foods and inevitably be slowed down by the zillions of hippies who seemingly had nowhere to be except the Sebastopol Whole Foods allllll damn day, and no spatial awareness about where their shopping carts/bodies might be."
   "Sebastopol Whole Foods is one of the most infuriating places on the planet, unless you just walked out of a restorative yoga class and you’re high and you don’t have anywhere you need to be for the rest of the day...."

   "I saw two Priuses crash into each other going 2 miles an hour in the Whole Foods parking lot..."

   "In Sebastopol there seems to be an inverse relationship between how present one is with their inner self to how oblivious one is outwardly...."

"Only in Sebastopol can one be surrounded by animal totems in an ER room!
Ha!"

Sebastoblogette

From one of my community moles:
It is Super Bowl Sunday and we are at Community Market watching the Super Bowl in the bar.
This guy with no shirt on but several necklaces offered a friend a beer from his 6-pack.  She asked if it was gluten free.  He said, “I’m not anything free, I’m just Free.”
Next thing out of his mouth was, “I don’t go to doctors.”

"I'm really stressed.  I've been snorting lavender oil like there is no tomorrow."

Local Facebook post: 
"Where can I get yoga pants around here?
Scratch that - dumb question!  Where can I get yoga pants that aren't 70 dollars??"

Vintage vignette, in honor of equinox~

Coaches Corner a few years ago, mid-March:

Young woman:  "What date is Easter?"

Guy:  "It's different every year."

Young woman:  "But why?"

Guy:  "I have no idea."

Second woman, on a treadmill:  "It's the first Sunday after the first full moon after equinox."

Both stare at second woman blankly.  Finally the guy says, "Oh.  Really?  Is that true?"

Second woman, "Yes, really.  I don't make these things up."  She walks away.

Young woman:  "You're all about equinox, how come you didn't know that?"

Guy:  "I like solstice, not equinox."

Young woman:  "Isn't it, like, the same thing?"

Exasperated sigh.  "Um.... no, it isn't."

In a newsletter:  "In a strange twist of fate, April Fool's day and Easter are on the same day, during Mercury retrograde.  Be careful when you open plastic eggs."

Bumper sticker (thank you Alice W.):
My other car is a yoga mat.
I asked three Sebastopol people what they thought this meant
Sebastopudlian #1:  When you do yoga you do go on a journey.
Sebastopudlian #2:  I have no earthly idea.  I have no cosmic idea either. 
Sebastopudlian #3:  I am a Sebastopol dweller so strapped for money I can't afford a second car, but I do own a yoga mat.

Sebastoblog has a sister column in Sonoma West Times
http://www.sonomawest.com/sonoma_west_times_and_news/opinion/columns/sebastoblog-land-of-the-goddess/article_4aec03c6-1cd0-11e8-a2b6-7b9c0bb65b4b.html