Holiday Vacation

I have loved Calvin & Hobbes all my life. Above is one of my favorite of the snowmen series of comics. Some guy has archived them all here. Enjoy 

Merry CHRISTMAS to those of you who celebrate it; Happy.. Thursday(?) to those who don’t..

I flew home to spend a few days with my family. I always have an odd feeling of minor culture shock when I leave Patagonia. Although I know perfectly well that not everyone knows the information about natural health and live food that I am fortunate to know, part of me always gets tripped out seeing people eating burgers and soda. Living in Patagonia, I’ll often go a month or months without seeing someone eating meat or dairy.. “Don’t they KNOW??”…?

At one of the book/magazine stores in the Tucson airport, I was surprised to see “Skinny Bitch” by Kim Barnouin and Rory Freedman displayed as their #5 bestseller, right up front and center with loads of copies.

A cute, tiny old lady next to me on the plane sat doing crossword puzzles from newspapers, and eating her cookies and sprite. Right across the aisle was a Mormon couple talking to another woman about how they just learned to garden this year and are producing lots of radishes, arugula, and chard, and how delighted and fulfilled they are to be able to tend to a garden and eat food they themselves tended to. The other lady didn’t even know what arugula was!

Later, at Whole Foods with my family, I was browsing the store while picking a few things up – I am rarely at Whole Foods, since the nearest one to Patagonia is in Tucson, an hours’ drive away. I was observing the vegan/raw vegan foods that Whole Foods carries. I had to sigh when I saw the label of their homemade ‘vegan’ cookies which said, “Contains wheat, MILK, and soy.” Part of me would like to think it’s a typo, but part of me just wouldn’t be surprised if their vegan cookie wasn’t actually vegan.

Anyways, being home has been nice, and cozy. I woke up to another 8 inches of snow, more flakes falling slowly – a picture perfect Christmas morning. Among my presents for my family, I gave my mom a variety of natural sweeteners – since she has been taking NDC Zeolite, she getes headaches when she eats conventional white sugar. So, she’s stocked with Agave, Xylitol and Chocolate flavored stevia. I’ll let you know how that goes! I had the hiccups all morning (odd) and engaged in an epic wrapping paper ball fight. I sit here typing this and listening to Kanye as my family eats chocolate chip pancakes and sausage and I eat a pomegranate. Avalanche bombing going on at the nearby ski resorts. Life is an adventure, yes?

Festively,

Courtney