A Weekend At Home

Jerry and I were luxuriating in bed this Saturday morning and wondering why it felt so damn good. We've always enjoyed Saturday mornings, cuddling, dozing in and out of sleep and making love before throwing some clothes on and walking to the Saturday morning farmer's market for coffee and socializing with friends. But this morning felt especially good and then we realized that it's the first Saturday morning in four weeks that we've been home. We know we are fortunate to have so many opportunities for play but sometimes it's just nice to stay home and chill.

Last night we walked downtown to a local bar, Lost On Main, where Chikoko, a women's textile design group comprised of five highly creative and talented local artists, held another of their unique and provocative fashion shows.

I'm in the midst of reading Three Cups Of Tea, written by David Oliver Relin who tells the story of Greg Mortenson, a former mountaineer and military veteran, whose mission is promoting peace by building schools for girls in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

At this point in the story, Mortenson has somehow managed to survive the elements after spending the night alone, exposed to the freezing cold after getting lost on an expedition in northern Pakistan's Karakoram after a failed attempt to reach the summit of K2, the world's second highest mountain.

I've learned that the Balti Sherpas that inhabit these mountains were originally from Tibet but migrated over the rocky passes in Pakistan about 600 years ago. They left Tibetan Buddism behind and adopted Shiite Islam but retained their original Tibetan language.

Looks to be a good story.

It's after 10:00 P.M. and I started this post in the A.M. I spent the afternoon with my mother in the hospital. Just as I finished writing about the Balti Sherpas I got a call from her care home informing me that she had fallen and was refusing to let her caretakers get her up so they had called 911. When I arrived the paramedics were attempting to lift her, convinced she had broken a hip. I was skeptical so when they asked my permission to take her to the hospital I suggested they get her up first and then we take a few moments to assess the situation. When they tried lifting her she cried out in pain and they were insistent that she be transported to the hospital so I agreed. Several hours and many expensive tests later she was back in her care home, unbroken. Good news.

After my hospital stint we went and saw Towelhead, directed by Alan Ball, starring Aaron Eckhar, Toni Collette, Maria Bello, Peter Macdissi. This is a great film about a young girl, Jasira, and her budding sexuality that so terrifies her controlling, self absorbed mother that she abandons her to her equally fucked up Lebanese American father who is also terrified by her sexual coming of age. In her search for love, attention, acceptance, and exploration of her sexual self, she finds a sweet boyfriend, along with two sets of neighbors that befriend, exploit and protect her as she discovers a formidable sense of self.

This movie offers a nice balance of both sweetly funny and deeply heart wrenching moments.

See You Tube Trailer of Towelhead below.