Monday, May 30, 2011

Running Water!! And an Idea for Redirection of 'Ascetic' Energy

Look at this. Really look at it for a moment, as it's something momentous:
 Yes, we have water coming out of the faucet in our cabin! Running water! A couple days ago, the guy showed up with the water truck. He attached the huge (maybe 4in diameter) pressure hose to a pipe sticking out of our 'bunker.' Phil was down in the basement, directing the other end of the pipe into the water tank. 1000 gallons later, our bunker smelled like a swimming pool (what happened to the city's plans to change over from chlorination to reverse osmosis?) and our tank was full.

Best of all, it's coming out of that faucet by gravity feed (the bunker is several feet higher than our cabin), so we didn't have to get a pump. It's not blasting pressure by any stretch, but running, it is.

I think that the biggest effect of this will be that since we no longer need to haul water home every couple days, we might be able to do more of our grocery shopping by bike (if I can bring Phil to haul some of it!) and save on gas.

Happy Memorial Day!
Our group of friends is getting together this evening for a 'Home Foods'-themed gathering, where everyone will bring something that was 'comfort food' or 'traditional/childhood' food. I'm excited to make some middle-eastern-themed goodies to share.

Today is also my 'treat day,' so this was my breakfast:
 A smoothie of two frozen bananas, a cup of water, a heaping teaspoon each of coconut cream powder, maca, tocotrienols, lecithin, a pinch of vanilla powder and a sprinkle of ceylon cinnamon.
It was just heavenly...

Many thanks again for all the wise comments on my recent posts on restricted diets. I have been reflecting on how very easy it is for me to undertake a very strict diet, and wondering how it would be to take that 'ascetic energy' and apply it differently. Specifically, what if I were to focus on what comes out of my mouth rather than what I put in? That ties in with the blogger responsibility discussion too. What if, instead of deciding that I'm going to live on yams, carrots and nettles, I decided that I'm going to pay exquisite attention to being impeccable with my word? I'm not sure what a 'treat day' would look like in that setting, lol! I also know that, for me at least, it would be much harder than sticking to a restrictive diet.

Do you think that would be a good redirection of my 'ascetic energy?' Do you think I could do it? Could you do it?

4 comments:

  1. Woohoo! Congrats on the running water, I know that's huge for you guys!

    Your treat smoothie sounds absolutely divine, btw. I need to get myself some tocos.

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  2. Wow- running water! Ela, that is so exciting. My sink full of dirty dishes is envious.

    P.S. I meant to tell you how gorgeous your vegan cupcakes were in your last post. I bet they were well received.

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  3. Thanks, Amber--yes, it's a big thing!
    I think that smoothie would have been yummy with or without tocos--but I hope you get some.
    love
    Ela

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  4. Thanks, kt--since we live so close to the edge of an erosive bluff, the challenge now is to make sure that we don't run too much!

    Those cupcakes were definitely well received. Unfortunately, they weren't vegan: they did have a couple eggs. (Another reason they didn't appeal to me to eat.) But they were gluten free.
    love
    Ela

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