Thriving and Thorny in Everyday Ramblings

From Wednesday late afternoon, this is a street I cross most everyday, as it is the way into downtown. I was so discouraged to see that tent there as this is the spot where the growing encampment of young folks was for weeks and weeks.

Our state legislature just approved a bill that allows city workers to remove homeless encampments on Department of Transportation property, which this is.

“A lobbyist for the Oregon American Civil Liberties Union submitted testimony on the bill, expressing a hope the bill doesn’t lead to more frequent homeless camp sweeps.

“When camps are broken up and perpetually moved from place to place, and when people experiencing homelessness are swept from spaces they have gathered to seek safety, the ability to rest and the formation of community, great harm can occur,” the letter reads.”

Well yeah, I get that. Don’t get me wrong, I support the ACLU but isn’t that kind of like having a map of New York when you are trying to get around Chicago?

This is such a thorny issue. We have no lack of those right now as a society. Do those ACLU attorneys need to walk by a homeless encampment with all the trash and used hypodermics and young people in dark clothes and hoodies drinking Mountain Dew most everyday?

I think not.

Everybody in my 6-unit building orders a lot of stuff online these days and there are often during the day boxes right outside the door when I come home. We all pull them inside when we come in, everybody is good about that (even though I worry a little about the number of boxes my upstairs neighbor gets). I ordered a box of high fiber orange cranberry nutrition bars as a treat last weekend. These are super healthy bars that I haven’t let myself have for a long time, mostly because they aren’t sold anywhere I go regularly anymore.

UPS said the box was delivered outside my door at 12:55PM on Wednesday. I got home at 3:35PM and the box was nowhere to be seen. I looked everywhere and today a UPS driver stopped by with a form I needed to sign after I called and reported the missing box. This is all very time consuming. UPS will reimburse the shipper for the full value of the bars and I can get a refund or a reorder but I was particularly grumpy about it when I came home last night to find five assorted boxes for all my neighbors outside.

They got their boxes but whine, whine, whine…

This is such a first world princess problem! But I was tired, I’d done my meal planning around having a bar and it was raining hard and I went to the studio and was thinking that for the first time in months and months I’d have no students when my one student that often comes late arrived.

I hope whoever got the bars is enjoying them.

On a lighter note, but speaking of boxes and food, we have the coolest receptionist in the office, (she is always cheerful and ready to help) and yesterday when I was in she had a pile of mandarin oranges on the counter you see when you come in the door and I heard her talking to someone else about the fact that they came from this newish home delivery service that is like a CSA but this is for fruit and vegetables that are not cosmetically pretty enough to sell in stores called Imperfect Produce.

Continuing with the cheerful theme, they have a most upbeat and well designed website. You can choose different sized boxes and organic or not and a mix of fruit and veggies or not and you can have delivery weekly or biweekly and you don’t need to commit to a particular time period.

But the very best part? You get to choose what is in your box from what is available from the farms and wholesalers they work with. I get to choose!!! I won’t have to give away the onions and leeks and…

She says everything she has received has been ripe and good to eat. And it costs half of what grocery produce costs and a significant amount less than at the farmer’s market.

I am very excited. My first box comes Monday.

Holding thumbs and fingers crossed I actually get this box. They text you before they do the drop off.

But if perchance the box goes missing I do hope my three imperfect Gala apples go to a good home, canvas or otherwise and that someone who needs the nutrition a bit more than me gets just a little closer to thriving.

Thriving people can solve thorny problems I believe. :)

ps: I was a wuss and didn’t call for an appointment with the minister this week but I promise to do it on Monday.

Last updated March 02, 2018