Vacation at Home

Cafe Interludes

 

Vibrant street life, pots of tea, writing, reading, musing . . . watching all of creation going about the business of living.

 

 

Immersing myself in café life is a wonderful way of building in the spirit of vacation during the week.  Cafes are great on my day off, but it is almost more special to stop by a café after work.  It gives me something special to look forward to at the end of my work day and provides a bridge to the leisure of evening.   

I have a variety of cafes I love, and am always adding new finds to my repertoire.  I have favorites in the summer where I sit on pretty patios with flowers in the shade or woven chairs in the sun amidst the vibrant street life.  If it’s cold or rainy, I find a sweet nook with a poofy couch and settle in with a pot of tea by a window.  And of course, summer or winter, I always include a delicious baked good.  Who says you have to have dessert after dinner?  I’m on vacation! 

Cafes are perfect for my rhythm, because they are entirely spontaneous.  I can decide at the last minute if I want to go and where I want to go.  There is no appointment to cancel, no expensive ticket going unused.  I want to be free when I’m on vacation, steering clear of any pre-set obligations.  One of Rob’s fondest memories is reading the Herald Tribune with espresso and croissant in a Paris café.  Why not indulge in this very same thing at home?  

So what do I do in the café?  What makes it fun?  For one, as a flaneur,  I love being in the buzz of life, while at the same time being anchored inside myself.  I like cafes because I can be surrounded by people, but am entirely with myself, free to reflect and watch. If I’m outside, I watch the people for a while before opening my book, taking in the street culture.

Here are some recent café delights:  Watching a father with his little girl as she ate her cookie, an intimate couple with their heads close together in their private world, two 40-something women in deep discussion about something important, a loyal dog flopped at the feet of an elderly man, two career people in suits discussing a marketing plan, and all the college students (and me!) with their laptops - - in short, all of creation is going about the business of living and I’m right in the middle of the pulsing, buzzing energy of it all!  It’s so alive!  I love it!  It lifts my heart and stimulates my mind.  My life is full of possibility and adventure!  And I’m only 10 minutes from home! 

I may open a spiritually inspiring book and savor the wisdom, sucking on the words like a lemon drop, letting them drop to the depths of me - - then, look up and watch the life around me again for an exhilarating moment.  After a bite of a chewy oatmeal scone and sip of tea, I drop my head back in my book.  I read Ann Morrow Lindberg’s Gifts from the Sea in its entirety on vacation at home, while Rob was gone for three weeks one summer.  I also read The Razor’s Edge for the third time, Lucy Maud Montgomery’s whimsical Emily of New Moon, a delightful book of essays on Paris, and a biography about my favorite musician, Bonnie Raitt. I stayed as long as I liked every evening, only stirring when the baked good wore off and I was hungry for dinner, the kitties and a chick flick. 

Some days, when I feel moved, I bring in Little Pink and write to all of you.  I feel all creative and arty, perched at a table in a café with tattooed students and other edgy types, creating something unique and authentic to me.  Reflecting on Reinventing Karla; Vacation at Home has been a journey of self discovery.  Writing it introduces me to myself.   What do I do just for the sheer joy of it?  I have learned a lot about myself through discovering what I like, what I really want to do.  (Like eat baked goods in a café.) I’m learning about what energizes me and gives me joy.   

Writing doesn’t feel like work, (usually) because it’s so uniquely, irrevocably me.  These are ideas and activities I’ve been enjoying all of my life and I yearned to share them with people.  As I write, I think about you dear reader, and hope that you are receiving inspiration to develop your own ideas and activities that fill you with the light-hearted joy you have on vacation.  

 I’m looking forward to my next sojourn after work to that lovely French bakery, on College Avenue, sipping hot tea in the cool (or cold!) of an East Bay August evening, and nibbling a delicious lemon iced oatmeal cookie while reading Gifts from the Sea (yet again) slowly at that big antique table with the lacey hanging lamp and watching the bustle of people coming in and out amidst the vibrancy of urban life. . .

http://www.lafarine.com/