food for the soul

Today was full of nourishment...food for the soul!! Right in the middle of all this packing and moving chaos ...today was a day to just ...enjoy! Tara, Mary and I headed out at 10 this morning ...we came across this charming British shop that had this old fashioned telephone booth outside. Isn't it gorgeous?? There were all sorts of goodies inside that I had completely forgotten about but were staples in my childhood-Birds Custard, Flake (chocolate), mince pies, Ovaltine, porridge, ginger beer. There was also a proper English tea laid out on a little table that Tara had so much fun playing with, I had to coax her away.  

We stumbled upon this amazing Art Foundry. It was closed but had the most amazing drawings and paintings inside. Through the glass windows I could see pottery pieces, huge colored drawings and portraits...wall to wall art!!!

Mary found this beautiful Mediterranean cafe...the walls were painted a deep deep yellow, there were stained glass pieces catching the sunlight in the window and it smelled heavenly (coffee and pesto!!) . It was cozy and spacious all at once...with little European paintings hanging on the wall alongside exotic sculptures from India and Indonesia!! The food, need I say, was a little slice of heaven...we had a flatbread pizza (grilled chicken, pesto and artichoke) with a side of hummus.

I am really really going to miss Mary!! Throughout this year in Ca. I have been able to pop over next door anytime at all. She has doted on Tara, fed us her famous Italian cooking and listened to me through my joys and tears. We have laughed and talked and learned from each other. She is just so sweet and sassy and has a heart the size of Texas!! No kidding! She took me out to lunch today to celebrate my magazine article in Somerset. I told you she was sweet:) We are seriously going to miss her.

I tried out loose leaf tea...and it was simply divine!! The perfect cup of tea...I am hooked! For real.

Went to a fabric store and drooled over all the spools of thread, yarn, bolts of luscious cloth. As soon as we get settled I am going to buy a sewing machine...I have tons and tons of projects I want to do. I am writing them all down in my journal...so excited.

Finished off the evening with some reading.  Ever since I was about 16 or 17 years old, I have read Sanskrit and Buddhist philosophy. I mean the really difficult texts that you need 4 Ph. D.'s to understand!! I should say I tried to read them because I could never really grasp their meaning. I knew there was wisdom in those pages...but I wasn't able to understand any of it. It was so esoteric and difficult to make sense of..."it is but it isn't" and so on. What the blazes did it all mean?? Anyways...I love how Pema Chodron minces it all down in easy to understand language that I can really grasp. She distills all of that wisdom and mixes it in with her no nonsense approach. Loving this book!