Freakishly Happy

Hi All!

We took part of the weekend off to go hang out in Iowa City. On Friday we left the farm late in the morning and drove the hour or so to Iowa City. We had lunch at a restaurant we frequented (and by frequented I mean three or so times per week) when we lived in Iowa City. It was good, but unfortunately, our very favorite waiter was gone, and the food wasn’t quite as good as we remember it being.

After stuffing ourselves on Crab Rangoon, we went down town and did a little shopping. Iowa City has a lot of cute shops, but unfortunately a lot of them feel so trendy that it’s almost painful going in to them.

After a while of looking at things we’d never buy, we decided to head over to the Futon Shop. We’ve been sleeping on an air mattress for over a month now. It wasn’t so bad in the beginning when the thing was retaining air, but after an unfortunate incident with a tack, we’ve been hitting the floor long before morning for some time now, so we decided to look in to alternative sleeping options.

We’d been contemplating building a futon, but then decided that we’ve currently got enough on our plates, and that we might as well go shopping to see in anything piqued our interest. Couldn’t hurt, right?

We had been looking causally at furniture at another place and the sales person was completely clueless about what the furniture was made out of, where it was made what the warranty was etc, and I was a little more than disgusted…. So I was very pleased a few weeks ago when I called the Futon Shop to see if they had any organic cotton and/or wool mattresses, and the guy had been very helpful and knowledgeable, (little did I know he was the Employee of the Century (www.iowacityfutons.com)).

Needless to say, we’d picked out our futon in a little under 20 minutes, and spent the next hour or so gabbing with the sales guy about parachuting and living on a bus.

We did a little more shopping before going out to dinner with John’s dad. After dinner I took a nap while John worked on his father’s computer (it’s great being me), after which we all went to Scattergood School, a Quaker boarding school outside of Iowa City, to go contra dancing.

Let me tell you, contra dancing is SO much fun. I like it almost better than the ballroom dancing we used to do, because you don’t really have to worry about planning your next move, because it’s already planned for you! I know that sounds a little too structured to be coming out of mouth, but you’ll have to trust me on this one. It’s great! We danced late into the night (well, okay 11pm) and went back to John’s parent’s house and crashed.

We woke up late on Saturday, too late to go to the Farmer’s market, (although we did make a valiant effort and got there just as they were closing up), so we went to the Co-op instead.
I love the downtown Co-op in Iowa City. Everyone looks freaky, like us and it smells healthy. We bought a few things, but mostly just enjoyed being at the Co-op.

We went back to John’s parent’s house and decided that we’d go try the new Russian restaurant in a town nearby that John’s dad had discovered earlier in the week. We had Borek, a flaky Turkish pastry, and potato dumplings similar to Pirogue. Every thing was delicious!

After lunch we went down to Kolona to the Mennonite store in search of a clothes ringer and some other things we needed for the bus. Unfortunately, the woman looked at me like I was crazy for asking if they had one. We did find some great bulk foods, wicks for our oil lamps and a few other odds and ends.

On our way back into town we went to the New Co-op in Coralville because I’d been jonsing all day for concord grapes. The produce manager had just thrown them away but he let me take them out of the compost bin! Free grapes taste better!

On Sunday I woke up late (surprise, surprise…), we went to the Fiddler’s picnic. Fiddlers, mandolin, banjo and guitar players as well as many other musicians from around the state gathered to give/take workshops as well as jam out with other musicians. It was wonderful.
We got to listen to a lot of really great music, and I met a woman who not only knew where Vermont is, but had actually lived in Castleton, a town very close to where my family lives. When living in Vermont I thought it was really great meeting Midwesterners, but it’s nothing like being in the Midwest and meeting a Vermonter. It feels sort of like finding the proverbial needle in that proverbial haystack.

While we were at the picnic, I discovered my future instrument: washtub bass. It seems only to require a sense of rhythm to start, and the rest you kind of pick up as you go along… and it doesn’t really matter if you don’t get really good, because who really cares, right? (no offense to any wash tub base aficionados out there).

We also got to do a little more contra dancing… I’m telling you people, if you haven’t already tried this, especially if you live in Vermont the land of contra-dancing plenty, you really must give it at least a shot.

It’s getting pretty hard for me to keep my eyes open, so I will close.

G’night!