aloha!
last wednesday i biked on down to the santa cruz farmer's market
and bought 3 pounds of high-pollen raw honey from mount madonna. baba
hari dass (ashtanga yoga) has a spiritual community on mount madonna, one
of many that populate the high vibration area. great honey!!
strolling along, i noticed will had returned with a new crop of
avocados. "hey, bodhi!" he called out, "want to buy another case?" my
big smile gave him his answer before i could reply: "i recently picked
over 200 hass, and have a good number of fuerte. your pinkertons look
delicious." and then he serviced another customer. will brokaw had
employed (yet again) a beautiful girl to help vend his fatty fruit.
organic romaine looked good, but having seen the same at new leaf
market for less, i wandered on.
continuing past the sprout booth, i came to another stand that
hadn't attended the week before: oysters! three people stood in an
array about the oyster cart and the two men opening and selling the fresh
shellfish. having the entire m2m, i hearkened back to page 185, from
kirt nieft. in the group 1 seafood category: "all crustaceans, esp.
crab, lobster, all mollusks, esp. oysters, urchin, fatty fish, esp.
mackerel, sardines, herring."
oyster-mania!!! as i approached to purchase my first oyster
(i've never bought 'em, but ate 'em years ago cooked). two men & one
woman slurped down their uniquely-textured oyster flesh with various
combinations of the available condiments. lemon, horseradish,
ketchup/catsup, and maybe something more. i didn't ask about the
toppings, just where the oysters grew.
"oh, no, you won't find any wild oysters for sale from the west
coast of the united states."
bodhi volleys: "how about british columbia?"
his return: "maybe, now. not sure."
curiosity overcoming my general aversion to aquaculture ("fish
farming" ("oyster farming")), i peeled off my dollar bill and sampled a
barnacle-clad medium oyster. tender! salty! but good! underlying the
salt-rush i could detect a more delicate deliciousness. mm-mmm.
"make that a half dozen!" i proclaimed while adding another four
dollars to his hand. alternating with other customers, most of whom used
plenty of condiments, i downed another five slippery beings. 6 for $5.
my bicycle-crazed friend who watched this whole display broke down
somewhere around the fourth oyster (each of which i'd offered to him in
turn), and handed the small, tanned gentlemen a single frn (federal
reserve note, what most call "dollars" (thanks heidi!)). bike-man chewed
his portion for a long time. he didn't experience any of the sandy grit
that i'd found in some of mine.
meeting up with another friend of mine, we walked to an atm where
i procured yet more frn's. he couldn't believe that i'd just eaten so
many oysters... not to mention that many *raw*! i felt superd &
stupendous, so upon passing by the oyster stand on the way back, i jumped
on my impulse and slid down another half-dozen. this friend passed on
each oyster.
walking back to the honey lady, i spied many good buddies. at
the earthsave/yes table sat the sister of one of my tour-mates.
standing behind the adjacent table i found the two forest activists who
drove me down mount madonna after my arrest. [court trial tuesday. if
y'all don't hear from me for a while... well, i may have some jail
fasting in my near future! ;-) ]
"bodhi, could you watch the yes! table for just a minute? just
for a minute... really!" i accepted.
no one came to the table. this gave me a chance to yak with my
two good forest friends.
a good day in the sun. i got some tasty grub & an excellent hug.
________
epilogue
bodhi reading on the couch. girlfriend rushes in from school and
broadcasts her impending trip to the market. "do you want anything?" she
calls out while heading out the door. silence, then...
i yelled out my request. she yelled back, "really?" "really!"
later, still reading on the couch, gf returns. "i got them!
boy, they're heavy!"
and into my refrigerator she plopped a tightly closed plastic bag
filled with...
a dozen oysters!!!
double dozened,
bodhi
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