Ordinary Summer Day
Posted on Jul 1st, 2008
by 
Centria
Centria
This is just one of those day-in-the-life entries. An ordinary day here in my life in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. It felt like the first day of summer. Most of June felt so crazy between both of my jobs, visiting with friends, a trip downstate and spending lots of time here on Gaia. At times the energy was like lightening bolts and I couldn't keep my balance.
Within the last couple of days the energy has shifted. But I just want to blog about an ordinary day. This ordinary day. Nothing special, no big thoughts. Just what happened today.
It was a day off work, so I made a chiropractor's appointment, in order to help the physical body get back in balance. The appointment was in a town about an hour away, so I left really early in the morning in order to play, run errands and hang out at a coffee shop. My friend Susan (yet another of the many Susan's) had taken some pictures of us at a school staff retreat earlier in June and she offered to lend me her disc. So I stopped at her apartment along the way and we whispered in order not to wake the neighbors at 7 a.m. She was heading over to one of her twin daughters, age 33, to babysit while they rented a U-Haul to move to another nearby town.
I then drove up to Houghton, admiring the rather calm waves on Lake Superior. A new coffee shop has opened within the year, and I ordered a black tea called "Awake" and sipped it in a large mug while journaling "Morning Pages" for the Artist's way group we've recently started. I didn't obey the rules, as usual. You're suppose to write three pages from the top of your thoughts, streaming consciousness. I think it's suppose to get all the underwater unconscious material to the surface. But forget it! I had lots to scribble. All about some of the latest insights, gleanings, lessons. (don't want to blog about these here, as they're baby insights and need hatching in the physical world before blogging about them.)
All sorts of suburban housewives stopped by to sip lattes and cappuccinos and talk in groups of three or four. I noticed that I was labeling them as suburban housewives. Then decided that they could possibly be working women with the day off. Then decided it was useless to label anyone or anything because we really don't know....
Afterward I went to Walmart (sorry, not politically correct) but where else do you buy certain items in this area? Then on to the marina to exchange some sort of boat-paint-product for my husband's new boat. On to the co-op for organic vegetables, grains and dried beans. Now it was time to meander back towards the chiropractors, yet it was still early. So I decided to be adventuresome and stop along the way at a nature walk. The sky was blue and the day promising to be warm. I walked along a small river (really a creek) admiring the swamp grasses and swirling eddies of the stream. The red winged blackbirds squawked, disturbed at a human's presence. The boardwalk was lovely and led near the canal. I felt energized, excited to have broken out of ordinary routine.
This was the first visit to the chiropractor since January. She ended up doing energy work as well as a physical adjustment, because she knows that "works" with me....and not a lot of people in this area might feel comfortable with energy work and she likes doing it. After the adjustment I gave her some possibilities for expanding/moving her energy and awareness to help with her headaches. We both felt pleased and happy for the exchange and promised to re-connect soon.
Back to the home town with more errands, and then on home. I worked in the garden for at least a half hour, pulling weeds around the broccoli and brussel sprout plants. (I must admit to saving some of the lambs-quarter "weeds" to add to other greens for a meal tomorrow.) Barry came home and we sat on the deck talking before a dinner of veggie burgers, green beans, leftover carrots and parsnips and salad.
OK. That was the day, or at least the day up until 7 p.m. Who knows what will happen before bedtime?
Within the last couple of days the energy has shifted. But I just want to blog about an ordinary day. This ordinary day. Nothing special, no big thoughts. Just what happened today.
It was a day off work, so I made a chiropractor's appointment, in order to help the physical body get back in balance. The appointment was in a town about an hour away, so I left really early in the morning in order to play, run errands and hang out at a coffee shop. My friend Susan (yet another of the many Susan's) had taken some pictures of us at a school staff retreat earlier in June and she offered to lend me her disc. So I stopped at her apartment along the way and we whispered in order not to wake the neighbors at 7 a.m. She was heading over to one of her twin daughters, age 33, to babysit while they rented a U-Haul to move to another nearby town.
I then drove up to Houghton, admiring the rather calm waves on Lake Superior. A new coffee shop has opened within the year, and I ordered a black tea called "Awake" and sipped it in a large mug while journaling "Morning Pages" for the Artist's way group we've recently started. I didn't obey the rules, as usual. You're suppose to write three pages from the top of your thoughts, streaming consciousness. I think it's suppose to get all the underwater unconscious material to the surface. But forget it! I had lots to scribble. All about some of the latest insights, gleanings, lessons. (don't want to blog about these here, as they're baby insights and need hatching in the physical world before blogging about them.)
All sorts of suburban housewives stopped by to sip lattes and cappuccinos and talk in groups of three or four. I noticed that I was labeling them as suburban housewives. Then decided that they could possibly be working women with the day off. Then decided it was useless to label anyone or anything because we really don't know....
Afterward I went to Walmart (sorry, not politically correct) but where else do you buy certain items in this area? Then on to the marina to exchange some sort of boat-paint-product for my husband's new boat. On to the co-op for organic vegetables, grains and dried beans. Now it was time to meander back towards the chiropractors, yet it was still early. So I decided to be adventuresome and stop along the way at a nature walk. The sky was blue and the day promising to be warm. I walked along a small river (really a creek) admiring the swamp grasses and swirling eddies of the stream. The red winged blackbirds squawked, disturbed at a human's presence. The boardwalk was lovely and led near the canal. I felt energized, excited to have broken out of ordinary routine.
This was the first visit to the chiropractor since January. She ended up doing energy work as well as a physical adjustment, because she knows that "works" with me....and not a lot of people in this area might feel comfortable with energy work and she likes doing it. After the adjustment I gave her some possibilities for expanding/moving her energy and awareness to help with her headaches. We both felt pleased and happy for the exchange and promised to re-connect soon.
Back to the home town with more errands, and then on home. I worked in the garden for at least a half hour, pulling weeds around the broccoli and brussel sprout plants. (I must admit to saving some of the lambs-quarter "weeds" to add to other greens for a meal tomorrow.) Barry came home and we sat on the deck talking before a dinner of veggie burgers, green beans, leftover carrots and parsnips and salad.
OK. That was the day, or at least the day up until 7 p.m. Who knows what will happen before bedtime?
Access: PublicTagged with: ordinary day, chiropractor, Upper Peninsula, Michigan, Gaia, coffee shop, Morning Pages, Artists Way, walk
artists way
August 2008 
wow, lovely ordinary day… mine too was quite a regular Tuesday, visiting friend this morning, lunch out by myself, massage, wandering along the boardwalk by the water and drifting almost asleep in between YM chat with my friend and Godpodding on my blackberry, and now a quiet evening home on the computer… Happy Canada Day!
Nicole, did you wander along a boardwalk, too? How synchronistic is that? And massage definitely correlates to chiropractic. Thank you for sharing 'bout your day. Don't you love the non-ordinary ordinariness of these days?
Thank you for letting us know what you do on an ordinary day. (And I thought that you spent most of your day thinking up topics for incredible blog posts…LOL.) What a lovely reminder that we don't have to go far to find beauty and joy. It is right where we are.
Well, Peace Seeker…..one or two little blog topics did attempt to filter in…..but I told them not to interfere! We were too busy having an ordinary day and the inner blog-writer had to cease & desist for a short while. (as long as the journal-writer was allowed to express some thoughts, the blog-writer was OK with it.) :)
I enjoyed reading another snapshot of yours. Its a window into anothers' world and fascinates me.
I started my day today by watching a wonderful DVd called “The Secret Life Of Words” even though the sunshine was beckoning me. I love to do things out of the ordinary routine and besides I was hoping I would have it finished before my daughter left for work and she could return it for me, but that didn't happen. So it looks like a bike rode into town will be on the agenda for this afternoon.
Enjoy yourself.
sharing love
Christos
and the chiropractor said….geez, you're all knotted up today…I hope you didn't shop at walmart again.
Gaia sucks today…posted a long response and went to hit send and it vanished…
your ordinary day seemed rater extra-ordinary to me. It is nice oyu like energy work. Many people do not understand it and so Keith has to limit it in his adjustment technique unless people know he is also a reiki person!
People are really funny about what they will pay to do in this economy. Many people are not driving to their regular chiro if they live more than 5 miles away anymore, and they hate even paying a copay. I am concerned that my ordinary day may be more stressful if business does not pick up soon!
Glad you shared your thoughts with us here…it is nice to read blogs about life in general…
And your dinner sounded delicious! lol
synchronicity has become a way of life!
aley, the gaia monster tries to eat so many blog comments that I always copy to the clipboard before pressing send.
it will be interesting to see if the maintenance tomorrow morning helps ops here at all
Hi all! Nicole & Aley, the gaia monster was chewing & spitting & having a grand old time last night, wasn't it? Even the copying and pasting function quit working. An error message would pop up saying, “Do you want to save or open this message?” Whichever I pressed didn't give any predictable results. So (in my mind anyway) I replied and commented to lots of people's blogs….they may never see them, though. :)
Also, Aley, my sentence about energy work got mangled. Like Keith's observation, my chiro friend says the same thing: that many people just don't understand. So she's thrilled when one comes along who knows and likes that additional service! I was just laying on the table like some sort of lap dog, soaking in the energy, melting into a puddle of feeling soooooo good.
Maze, aren't you funny? Yes, it was probably all Walmart's fault! or rather my own ambivalence about shopping there. Must do a new blog. Kathy: I don't want to shop in you. Walmart: But I have lots of good things. Kathy: ….. well you get the picture!
Christos, we just have to do our life-snapshots every once in awhile, don't we? I too love reading these kind of things. By the way, if I ever figure out how to hook up skype, we should have a conversation! I think about you and have missed connecting lately. Hope you enjoyed your bike ride into town. sounds fun!
hahaha! i love you! in your mind you responded… yeah! maybe that is all that matters…
Hi Centria,
I loved your ordinary day story! And yes, to me it sounds rather extraordinary, too, because my ordinary days look different. I guess all of ours do. That's why it's so interesting to be getting an insight into a fellow Gaians “ordinary” day.
Btw: I also chose to do some walking yesterday which I normally don't do on weekdays. I had taken public transportation to work that day instead of driving and after work I decided I'd walk into town instead of taking the tram. So I walked through a park and then along the river promenade, it's just a short walk of about an hour, probably less if you walked at a quicker pace than I did, but I enjoyed it very much. It was a hot summer day and the sun was burning down on me but then, while I walked, more and more clouds blew in, it got quite dark and windy (oh, I love this pre-thunderstorm spookiness!) and when I was finally sitting in my French class, the thunderstorm broke down noisily over my town. Whew! Got drenched with rain on my way back (this time I didn't walk but took the metro and the bus) but it felt great.
Nature at its most powerful
yes, storms are awesome. how is the French coming along, dear one?
Jenny, yours was a beautiful extra-ordinary day too. Oh, thank you for sharing it. Last night when talking with Nicole (hi Nicole!) she was talking about getting the emotional feel that are in the blogs. So when I just read your entry I slowed down way more than normal and felt each sentence, until it felt like walking through the park and along the river with you. And oh wasn't that pre-thunderstorm spookiness great? :) In my world, in one of these ordinary days, it would have been going to a Spanish lesson. Although, unfortunately, my Spanish teacher is moving to Virginia next month. Will just have to look for a new one. Thanks again, Kathy
Thank you, I'm glad I could take you along on my walk!!!
hi Kathy! yes, feeling in blogs or dreams or… just feeling! There is a song that was popular here in Quebec years ago called Question de Feeling about the feeling of falling in love or lust, but feeling applies to everything I think… even those who are hyper rational are driven by feeling, just cut off from the drive in terms of awareness - I was talking to another Gaia friend about this very thing last night….
Alors. que penses-tu, Jenny? Est-ce une question de feeling pour toi aussi?
Ecoutes cela - le connais-tu? C'est beau, hein?
I feel so much all my life; feelings are such a part of it. Except when it feels like there's too much to do or too much to read or too much to process. Then it's tempting to move to quickly and read too quickly and short-circuit the process. We miss so much when we do that. We miss the multi-dimensional experience. That's one reason I like the practice of Presence so much. When we're in the moment, we're more likely to be here. And here is a timeless place where it's more possible to be present, bringing all the framework of words into a more poignant reality. Thanks Nicole for the opportunity to think more deeply about this. And you're welcome, Jenny with the beautiful smile.
yes, she is so beautiful, our Jenny (hugs). and you are most welcome! i am the one to thank you for giving me all these opportunities to think more deeply and explore, Kathy.