Day 2: The Morning After

1990 before 4544

I was really sore today from my massage yesterday and from not enough sleep. We stayed up very late binge-watching Downton Abbey, and I drank more yesterday than even on a holiday weekend – two cocktails at McCormick and Schmick’s, then two or three of my special cocktail, homemade melon vodka with pomegranate juice.

This morning I had to take Charlotte for an oil change, then go to Costco to take back a defective Misto oil sprayer and return a facial machine that was overpriced and that I didn’t really need, then stop at IGA for a few groceries, then to Big Canoe POA to finally pick up my 2015 directory and a topo map. I took a nap after lunch (leftovers from the Thai restaurant, Wild Ginger, where we had birthday dinner). I answered some emails and did a little work on the Verista website. I mention these details because it was all very mundane and trivial after my luxurious day on my birthday.

It’s always kind of a let-down on July 8, yet the day was beautiful, and I just drank a lot of water to let the toxicity seep out of me. I didn’t attempt to work. The main accomplishments were two things later in the day:

1. I did some research about more online resources for art, following a column I read in the Medium yesterday. I spent a lot of time on the Wet Canvas forum and grabbed some figures to draw from.

2. I made a gallon and a quart of tincture from the passionflower we collected on Monday at Twelve Stone Farm, and decanted skullcap and passionflower into small bottles. It was just nice to go to bed with my herbs by my side.

So the character of the day is Detox …. purify. To represent this, I cleaned a tarnished 1990 penny with vinegar and salt. The “after” photo is at the top of the page, with the “before” below it.