Life As Performance Art 49

Yesterday has been for me a stellar example of how good I have things in this stage of my life. I left the apartment at around 9 am, and I was able to combine three activities in one without difficulty or awkwardness. I was able to enjoy a leisurely three mile walk through the beautiful West End of my city, stop in the No Frills at the Denman Mall to buy eggs and broccoli, walk back to Burrard and Davie to wait at the community garden (full of gorgeous spring flowers) to meet up with my client, who unfortunately was not able to make it today, walk on to buy milk at my neighbourhood Shoppers Drug Mart, which I brought home with eggs and broccoli, where I enjoyed a light lunch (not eggs and broccoli, but a banana with yogurt), a conversation on the phone with my client, who had an accident on his way to see me, do some art, then I walked three blocks to my next professional assignment where I stayed twenty minutes at a community centre for people on low incomes, called the Gathering Place, where I connected with clients and coworkers. For everything I get paid for four hours. Even if I am horrendously underpaid for what I do, this still is not a bad arrangement at all. Then I went for a walk to enjoy the azaleas in Stanley Park, only slightly ruined by the braying young mother who would not get off her cell phone and kept following me while braying yet more and more on her precious little phone till I had to change my route just to get away from her. Yes, I did glare at her, and yes she did notice. I think she might even have heard me mutter, will you please get away from me! That, fortunately, was the only fly in the ointment of the day. Walking back, I stopped in the deli to buy rosehip jam, then stopped in a French cafe, choosing the table by the open window where I sat for more than an hour. I enjoyed an americano, one of the best chocolate almond croissants I have ever tasted, and watched with wonder and amusement and a certain tenderness the incredible human parade that is Davie Street in the afternoon, while working on a new colour drawing of a hummingbird from Brazil. The weather was incredible. Sunny, warm, but with a slight cool undercurrent, and a day full of the pure and unblemished colours of May. At home, I made cocoa, rested, did more art, read, ate dinner, and spent nearly two hours on Skype with my Colombian friend. We do about a half hour in Spanish, but I'm already fluent, so we put in extra time in English. Right now we are reading together in English an online novel he has selected for his language practice. Days like yesterday, have become increasingly typical, and wonderful. As I mentioned to my Colombian friend yesterday, the whole thing that really matters is receiving and accepting life as a gift, and with gratitude. Everything else eventually falls into place. Could do worse, eh?