First Weekend

Ey! The Endangered Species Faire is going on and I’m not there! It’s the first time and energy crisis of the new stability. I can certainly ride my bike over there but I feel like catching up first. Que sera, sera. I’ll miss the giant puppets…
The reason we came home when we did was because it was our friend Laurel’s Birthday. Sometimes a person like Laurel will loom large for me in my life. She has done so much in our community and for Peace and Justice beyond just us. She is a dear person, a jewel with humor, intelligence, and a gift for fun. The icing on our cake.
It is also probably the busiest weekend of the year. Every Saturday in Chico is a whirlwind but this one will leave you happy and exhausted. Usually we volunteer too so this time around I feel a little sneaky. We feel a bit bad for avoiding recruitment and I was doing a little kicking of myself for not thinking to enter the Veggie Voyager in the parade and offer to do veggie processing at the Faire…(See how fast one could get overextended?)
First thing today, Michael mowed, raked and soaked our garden space. I weeded and pruned off dead wood from the fruit trees. He came along behind me and got the big branches.
The Farmer’s Market is downtown but today, to get through town we had to pass the Parade for People. Here is a puppet the people who stayed in our house made. She obviously made a lot of sunny friends.
When you come into the farmer’s market, which is packed with stalls and shoppers, in the very first corner, there is always the meditative sound of Sekund Naychur. When I heard their sound floating out and calming the energy all around them I knew I was glad I am home. That human lucid music was it.
Here are a few old friends. I bought two bags of produce, plus bread, olives and almond butter. I won’t have to go to a store this week.
After that I went to the Chico Peace Endeavor Vigil. The vigil started in 1960 in response to nuclear missiles that were being put in silos north of town. Our foremothers have passed but Linda, and others, keep a presence on this corner. The hope is that everyone will call their congress members to impress on them that we do not want military action against Iran… (and so many other activist dreams of demilitarization.) You can reach your Senator or Congressperson through the Congressional Switchboard at 202-224-3121.
Finally, I was delighted to see the flamboyant pedi-cabs, people sorting recyclables out of the garbage cans, and this new chess set at the downtown plaza park.
I really do LOVE CHICO.