I joined Freecycle in Bloomington because I am looking for a bookshelf. No luck so far, but I did see this posted:
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OFFER: Chicken feet
We sell pasture-raised chicken raised on our farm and have several bags
of chicken feet. They are good for soups and general thickening if you
know how to use them. Pick up in Ellettsville area.
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I wonder how fresh they are? How fresh they need to be? How many chicken feet are needed to thicken a soup? Too bad none of the Chinese Restaurants (Read: Panda Express) around here cook chicken feet.
I also went on a walk today. It was noon. My house was full of strangers. I need to get out. So I went for a walk. I packed a book, journal, umbrella (30% of thunderstorms) and a pita with some peanut butter. Downtown is only 3 miles away. I thought I would take a shot at it. There is a path that runs along a creek. Previously, I had only gone South on this path, so today I headed North toward town. Tree branches hung over the unkempt rocky path. I sauntered along enjoying the green shade. Soon I began running into spider webs made me constantly wiping my arms and legs to get them off and wondering if all the plant my feet were the leaves of three that I am supposed to let be. Katydids and moths were flying about (or at me). The path was more and more unkempt (the southern path has been well-warn and trafficked by many walkers and bike-riders). I swatted at the misquitoes and other biting bugs and soon had welts raising on my right arm. I picked up my pace, unable to enjoy this forest, and wondering if the country folks around here did enjoy it? I heard a cow and a lawnmower and believed that there soon had to be cross-road to get me out of here, to the civilized sidewalk. Sure enough about a mile later the "path" came to a road with big strange truck parked at it. I stepped over the metal ropelike-thing that held a sign that said no trespassing and had some company name. I walked until I found a starbucks. I needed to go the bathroom and the bank light up sign said it was 87 degrees. I supposed I only has 1.5 miles left to town. Now that I was on the sidewalk, I felt like I could make it. But headed for the starbucks instead. A piece of coolness, of familiarity, a place with a bathroom. It was a drive through starbucks and the baristas we all wearing headsets and talking to unseen customers. After using the facilities, I ordered an ice coffee and sat down to breath and open my book of poetry that I think I am supposed to have read. It is a daunting anthology of American Contemporary Poetry. Luckily I turned to the Audre Lorde section which was soon followed by Mary Oliver. These women reminded me of why I love poetry. Why I am in Bloomington. Why I had bugbites all over my arm (which I did not itch and the welts soon subsided). A lot of people at Starbucks knew each other and chatted when they walked in the door. I took the main street home and instead of 40 minutes, in only took 25 minutes to walk, but the sidewalks were few and far between leaving me to walk the on the side of the streets which made me feel like a hitchhiker who was too tired to stick out her thumb.
No, I don't think I am in California anymore. It has been three hours and since I returned home and showered, but I still feel itcy and I think this paranoia of swatting at unseen cobwebs is going to turn into a habit.
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