Knit Sisters

Still hanging out in Berkeley. You know, feelin’ groovy and generally diggin’ the scene. I’m leaving tomorrow, though, which is fortunate, because my supply of groove—never abundant—is really running low.

But I’ve been enjoying reconnecting with old favorite attractions, like the bear fountain in the middle of what we call “The Circle,”

the wonderfully recherché Oaks Theater on Solano Avenue,

the sunsets,

the weird decorations outside various bungalows,

One can only hope and pray that these are left over from Halloween, but in Berkeley, there’s no telling.

and the omnipresent scampering dogs on campus.

Quick, Scottie! There’s squirrels to be had!

This morning, I took a run over to my last house, just to case the joint. It looked much the same as when my delightful housemate Laura and I lived there with our two dogs, nine ducks, and two chickens. Except that a lot of stuff had been cleared away in the back yard and, come to think of it, even the front yard.

This could be because under the Laura and Ellen Regime, the house was busted by the municipal government for, “accumulations creating rodent harbourage.”

There’s nothing more embarrassing, let me tell you, than being suspected by the Berkeley City Government of accumulating crap in order to harbour illegal rodents. We really weren’t into rodent harbourage per se, you see, but there was a restaurant nearby and sometimes one of the, ahem, larger rodents (okay, they were rats) would wander into the yard.

The horror is beyond expression.

Laura walked out one morning to find several rats cavorting on the front lawn and overheard a passerby—who had paused to contemplate the gleeful rats—comment to her friend, “You know, I think the people who live here must be Buddhists.”

I know what you are thinking. But in Berkeley, it really was the most likely explanation.

After what came to be known as the “they-must-be-Buddhists” debacle, Laura decided, in a very un-Berkeleyan moment, that the “non-violent solution” to the rat problem was simply not working and she initiated Operation Rodent Apocalypse.

We won’t go into the details.

Ah, those were good times. Good times.

But there are new things in Berkeley, too. For instance, there’s a new joint called “Cafe Gratitude.” They have a prominent awning on which is printed, “What are YOU grateful for?”

Dude! You asked the right question.

I am grateful for Alex, for Shelley, for knitting, for friends new and old, for family, for flowers in November,

for avocadoes, for good wine, for good books, and for so many, many other wonderful things.

But most of all, dude, I am grateful that I no longer live in Berkeley.

Reporting from Missouri on Friday, where the KnitSisters will be reunited!

Until then, my friends, keep on channelling all that “positive energy” in the universe. Maybe if you get good enough at the energy channelling, you can save on your heating bills this winter.

Just a thought.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 8th, 2006 at 12:59 pm and is filed under The new yoga. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.