I'll have white wine and a Snickers

My friend and I saw a Celtic band at the community center.  While there was no shortage of wine if you wished to purchase it, the desserts were disappointing.  Eyeing a basket full of Twix and Snickers bars, my friend wanted to know:  "Where are the Sebastopol desserts?  No vegan, healthy cacao desserts here?  What is wrong with this picture?!"

In my Bollywood class another dancer told me he used to live in Sebastopol.  "People there were so nice.  You'd come to a stop and the drivers would be like 'you go,' 'no, you go.'  I'd think, 'Somebody fucking go, I've got to get to work!"

"This little piggy went to market...
this little piggy stayed home in their yurt...
this little piggy played in the pesticide-free garden
this little piggy played in the dirt."

While asking for a root beer at the Rialto, I requested little ice in the drink.  The worker showed me how much he put in and I approved.  "I'm sorry to be picky, it's just hard to pay four dollars for a cup of ice," I explained.
He shrugged.  "One woman got mad at us last week for not having an organic popcorn option.  This is nothing."

My former co-worker when we were at the Barlow last Saturday watching the tourists:
"Are these people walking around here from Sebastopol?  They are not dressed like they are from Sebastopol.  And they are walking around drinking glasses of wine.  Sebastopolians walk around drinking yerba mate."

According to an animal medicine source:  "People are trying to make bats the new owl." 

A woman told her neighbor at the farmer's market last weekend:  "I'm waiting for a friend whose getting a massage, listening to drumming and eating seaweed salad.  There's really been no sign of Easter all day.  Except for pictures of Easter baskets I got from my grandchildren this morning, I would not have even known it was Easter Sunday."

I walked up behind someone at Community Market staring at several rows of healthy juices, herb-infused shakes and kombucha.  After a minute I asked him if I could grab a drink.  He turned to me.  "Oh, I'm sorry.  I was in the zone.  I'm not used to such a selection of healthy drinks.  They don't have that where I'm from."

Often when I emerge from my yoga class I walk past several people smoking who have stepped outside from the Main Street bar.  This week one slightly-intoxicated fellow asked me if I had just done yoga.  To which I replied yes.  He said:  "You have that yoga smile.  And you're wearing yoga pants."
Me:  "I have to say, yoga pants are not necessarily an indication of actually going to yoga in Sebastopol."


More license plates:
SLONOMA
LVNG JOY
ARIES I B
CHAI 5S





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Groovy hip peas

Talking to someone about my blog, she summarized Sebastopol culture in her opinion in one statement:  "You've seen one white dreadlocked guy, you've seen them all."

Another tale from my yoga classmate who just moved back here from Fresno:
"I'm sitting in my car at the Barlow.  I'd been backing out when someone called and since I'm used to Fresno's suffocating summer heat I don't turn the car off.  When I look up a woman has materialized in front of my car waving her arms in front of her face like my car stinks and is shouting 'turn off your car, you're ruining the environment!'  I would have been mad but all I could think was that never happened in Fresno."

My sister's rant after my last blog posting:
"Thank you Cami for channeling so well the enlightened sarcasm we as a community can only obtain when we've reached the place of nirvana where being able to laugh at ourselves comes only with the knowing we are all the authors of this cosmic joke of a life we are living."
(and for those few people in west county who don't know my sister, this was also dripping with [enlightened] sarcasm)

In front of a few people in line at Whole Foods yesterday, I heard a woman say to her friends:  "We are in Sebastopol.  We try new things when we come here.  Look at these drinks and their containers.  They look really groovy so they must be good."

A library worker told me she overheard this comment a while back:
"No, this is the library.  Not Kinko's.  And not a spiritual book store.  There aren't random Wiccan books on the shelves just because it's Sebastopol."

A Ford Focus I pulled up behind, with a message:
Focus on 
  peace

From a former co-worker, who does not live in Sebastopol but has worked here long enough to realize:
"One of my coworkers (who lives in a yurt. So you think he'd understand Sebastopol better) was complaining about how he can't find a woman because they all think they are goddesses and he doesn't really get it. I responded that he shouldn't say that to any of the women in Sebastopol because that's probably his problem. Plus, all women are goddesses! But if he doesn't want a goddess Sebastopol is the wrong place to be looking."


License plates:
HIP PEA
BLIEVE IT
DG HAIR
SOL RISE 

The renaissance at Ragle

You know how you go for a walk in Ragle park, and you come around a bend and there are two women trying on renaissance clothes?  Attempting to pick out which ones will look the best in a picture.  And then twenty minutes later, in a different area of the park, you see two boys dueling with toy swords.  One is wearing a feudal outfit.  You think, somehow these two incidents must be related.  But it turns out they are not.

An email from a reader:
"Only in Sebastopol would you see fliers for math tutors that are kind and supportive."

Outside Pacific Market I saw some girls selling Girl Scout cookies.  One was talking/shouting about different kinds of cookies, and then suddenly started doing the "gluten-free dance" as she called it.  I asked the adult behind her if there were, in fact, gluten-free cookies now.  She shook her head.  "No, lots of gluten and lots of sugar still."  Slightly shrugging her shoulders she pointed to the girl who was continuing to boogie.  "I have no idea what this is about."

A fellow yoga classmate has just moved back to Sebastopol after living in Fresno for a number of years.  She was telling us the things that happen here that would never happen in Fresno:  for example, the sheer number of places you can buy fermented beverages around town - this does not exist in Fresno.

A customer behind me in line at Whole Foods disclosed she got a speeding ticket earlier that day.  She ended up telling us that she wasn't that bothered by it.  "I'm not upset, I don't know why.  Maybe it's total denial, or maybe the meditation CDs I've been listening to are working."

"I know she parked in this parking lot.  Hers is the one with the Zoroaster Temple bumper sticker on it."
And the most Sebastopol bumper sticker of the week:
I LOVE LOVE

My four year-old niece:  "Aunt Cami, why don't you have a Prius?"

"Slice of Life has changed some, it's different owners.  The menu is new and improved.  And they remodeled inside."
"Yeah, it doesn't look so west county ghetto any more."


License plates:
OM TARA
R YOU KND
ZENWOLF
SUN BEAR







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Buddhist license plates

A woman admiring a cashier's necklace of amethyst and dark purple stones:
"I really like that.  It looks like it has magical powers."

A local told me what her son's teacher mentioned after Valentine's day:
"She had a boy in the class who told her he didn't celebrate Valentine's day because they practice love every day at home and don't single out just one day for it.  And also he's not allowed to eat chocolate."

Favorite recent Facebook post about a Press Democrat article:
"In Sebastopol, even our newly hired policewoman is a yoga instructor. :)"

I was glad to see my bathroom cleaner noted it is gluten-free.

I dashed over to Community Market one evening just before it was closing at 10.  It was pretty hoppin'.  The cashier and I were joking that there isn't much happening in Sebastopol on a Thursday night if the health food store has a crowd.  (I should mention they do have a small bar, but nobody was in the bar.)
"After hours at Community Market," he remarked with drollness.  "It's the place to be."

As I was walking through a parking lot to my car late one evening:
Dude #1: "Look at that, it's a buddha on the license plate."
Dude #2:  "No, that can't be..."
Dude #1:  "Yes it is.  Look!"
Dude #2 bends down:  "Dude, it's the statue of liberty."
(substances may have been involved in this interaction)

At the Rialto Cinemas, where there is now a food and wine bar (in addition to really good popcorn):
Person in front of me:  "So you can just come here and get a salad and wine, and not have to see a movie?"
His wife:  "I think so."
Him:  "Would people really do that?"
Her:  "I really don't know."
Me:  "But more importantly, could you just come get some of their popcorn to go?"
Her:  "Now that is a very good question!"

I was conversing with an older gentleman at Community Market who mentioned he used to live in Sebastopol but was now visiting for a few weeks.  We got on the topic of spirituality.  "The spirituality around here is hard to describe.  It's spiritual but it's not.  Like when you go hear jazz but it ends up being jazz fusion.  It sounds like jazz but it isn't bona fied jazz."
Me:  "Kind of like 'spiritual funk?'"
"Yes!  Spiritual infusion funk."


(If only I was paid for spotting west county license plates:)
ZOOMORE
SEEK JOY
ZEBRAS
GRND WVR

Karmic debt

A Nectary customer was telling me about her Very Sebastopol neighbor.  "She is the kind of person you can't ask a question and get a simple answer.  Or even make a statement.  Like I'll say I'm thirsty and fifteen minutes later she is still talking about hydration and fourteen reasons why you should drink coconut water.  Or why hemp ice cream is healthier for you than coconut ice cream.  Or why quantum touch is better than massage.  Or what kind of tea to drink to help your REM sleep so you'll dream better.  One day she told me the type of yoga I do is not right for moving kundalini energy.  I could go on and on....'

At a coffeehouse I somehow ended up talking about the song "Age of Aquarius" with a few people.  One woman remarked, "I never really understood the significance of this song until I took an astrology workshop.  The lyrics from that song are very important!  If you know anything about astrology.  If not it's just people singing a really peculiar song about the planets."

While I was waiting for a meal at Peter Lowel's, the guests next to me:
"Here is that salt again.  There has been pink Himalayan salt everywhere we've gone this weekend."

A local told me about her land mate:  "She said it's okay for her to go into debt.  She has good karma with credit cards.  I'm thinking to myself, what does that even mean?"

A mother to her friend, talking about the neighborhood she used to live in:  "My kids got along fine with the other kids on our street.  But a few of the moms were kind of prejudiced toward my kids.  They just weren't Waldorf-y enough for them."

My friend and I were cruising around Whole Foods trying to decide what to eat.  We ended up at the smoothie counter, and he commented:  "We have been walking around and talking about tantra and ayahuasca and The Cosmic Serpent and beet juice, and nobody is fazed by any of this."
Me:  "Yeah...  That is kind of the point of my blog."


License plates:
OOOOHM
ACTION
APAWSUM
BAT NRSE







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Do healthy McNuggets exist? (and other west county musings)

A conversation I heard walking to my car in the Whole Foods parking lot:
"Let's go to Slice of Life.  They have chicken mcnuggets now."
"They do?  Are they real?"
"No, they are tempeh healthy vegan mcnuggets.  But they're good."
"Nothing 'mc' about that."  (I couldn't tell if that was a good or bad thing.)

More comments on the Sebastopol women's look:
"I had a friend who commented that all the women in Sebastopol look like woodland fairies."
"The first time I went to a mom's play group, when I hadn't lived here for long, I looked around and thought a lot of these moms looked like they should be at a tribal dance convention.  Moms in Stockton sure did not dress this way!"
I lamented to my sister (after someone told me I dress "quite conservatively"):  "Well, I'm sorry I don't dress like I'm on my way to a tantra workshop or a Renaissance faire!"

My niece and I were tossing a stuffed animal back and forth on the stairway.  At one point it landed on her forehead.  "Are you all right?" I asked.
"I'm okay.  It just hit my third eye, but I'm okay."

My sister was telling us how people are renting out spaces for storage because of the limited housing and storage in Sonoma County.  "Maybe I could rent out my garage for a storage space."
"And this is Sebastopol.  For an extra charge you could tell the person you will smudge their boxes once a month."

While standing in line at CVS a woman was describing to the cashier about the bathroom reading material at her relatives' house.  "It's so Sebastopol.  It's all about spiritual alignment and Rumi and how to make a cake with no sugar.  At my place it's just Reader's Digest."

An acquaintance, visiting from the city, commented to the group I was standing with:  "There are more yoga places in Sebastopol than gas stations."
His friend:  "I think there are more yoga studios than banks."
Me:  "I believe there are more yoga studios than grocery stores."


License plates around town:
BLITZIN
VEGEVAN
SUN GYPSY
WAFL MAN

Practical New Year's wishes

Favorite comment from the previous blog (regarding Sebastopol women's "look"):
"We were just browsing in Funk & Flash last night.  I love 'Peter Pan pirates' so much more than 'Tribal.'  If I wore those clothes I would have to be six inches taller and 40 lbs. skinnier and learn how to care for wearable feathers."

While I was waiting for someone an event let out and people were streaming past me, wishing each other happy new years.  Two of the well-wishers stopped near me, talking about January goals.  They gave each other a hug and one said, "Happy new year's!  Blessings for a healthy, healing, light-filled new year!"
To which her friend replied, "I need a job!"
First woman:  "Blessings for an abundant, healthy, healing new year!"
Second woman:  "I want to get a job.  I need prosperity!  I need a financially sound new year!"
A mini-discussion about the difference between abundance and prosperity ensued.
And as my sister and I drove up to Community Market in the late evening on New Year's eve, I was glad to see the car we parked next to had a banner on the back:  I AM THANKFUL.

From a worker in a health food store:  In the supplements section a woman talking to his co-worker remarked, "Sebastopolians buy and ingest a lot of supplements.  People around here must have very expensive pee."

In my yoga class a woman made the comment, talking about another restorative yoga class:  "That one was too restorative for me.  It was just doing shavasana with different props, for like an hour-and-a-half."

When I was walking to my car parked in the plaza, I heard a young woman saying to her friend:
"I totally judged him.  Because of his hipster beard.  I admit it."


License plates, the tale continues:
BUG GRL
HAHA GRL
VANTASY
BASS GUY


Someone accused me of reusing the same license plates, so I looked back on some older blogs to make sure this wasn't the case.  I did come across:
NLITEN UP
LI-10 UP
LITEN UP
... so I could see the similarities.
#evolvedvanityplates







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