Saturday, August 16, 2008

first time for everything


Last night, I slept outside, under the stars and the light of a full moon.* There was nothing to obscure my deep, meditative contemplation of the lofty firmament and the august canopy of trees. A few feet away were the siren call of crickets, and the stirrings of raccoons, deer, and the occasional snort of horses. The ground was kind of hard, but not unpleasant to feel under the blades of my shoulders. The air was rich and warm. The fluttering of the mildest summer zephyr was lovely across the bridge of my nose, like children's kisses. Anyway, now I can finally say "been there, done that." I still can't believe that this was just in one of the more country-ish suburbs. The funny thing about having such mundane first experiences at this age is that it's usually pretty unremarkable and non-revelatory (although it is fun to write them up in such overwrought, purple prose phrases), but it's nice to be able to have new experiences and fresh eyes. I am occasionally cynical, but rarely jaded. There's still lots of things I've never done before, and it's nice each time to have that first experience.

I also made lamb korma for the first time. It was pretty darn tasty. At $20 worth of ingredients though, I think I'll make my $4 worth of masoor daal more often.