I've been busy lately. And what I really need is a long vacation. Unfortunately, that's not going to happen soon. You know when you feel so tired--even when you've been getting enough sleep--that you just want to cry? That's how I felt last Friday...and yet, I knew I didn't have a restful weekend to look forward to, since I had a book signing on Friday night, a panel at a Teens Turning Green Conference on Saturday, and a book signing at the NYC Grows Festival at Union Square (rain or shine) on Sunday. Whew.
So I canceled my Friday-afternoon meeting and did something I only do when it's absolutely necessary: recharged my batteries with a nap. But not just any nap, a nap in my favorite place. There's a sleeping porch right off my bedroom. It's got a comfy, double-wide chaise lounge and a shaded roof. Unfortunately, there is a tribe of carpenter bees who are constantly chewing holes up there and spewing sawdust and carpenter bee poop all over my chaise. So I put a sheet over all that, and brought out my big down comforter and a pillow. The sun was shining, but it was deliciously cool outside. The birds were singing, but not too loud. The guinea hens were quiet...for once! Lucia came out to snuggle for three minutes, and then went to her own bed for her own nap. Before you know it, I was in a deep sleep, plugging in to the universal energy grid to recharge my internal batteries.
The sleepy view from my sleeping porch.
I woke up, had my afternoon coffee, and headed to the Moravian Bookshop in Bethlehem, PA--which is the OLDEST CONTINUALLY OPERATING BOOK STORE IN THE WORLD (since 1745). Isn't that so cool? It's also a favorite place of mine. And then, I saw some of my favorite people. Old friends. New friends. People who love my blog. People who love the planet and their families so much that they want to do the right thing and learn about organic.
We were then fortunate enough to be invited to the house of some friends who live nearby. He makes the absolutely most amazingly delicious organic pizza in his wood-fired oven. And she, a wonderful painter, made a gorgeous chocolate cake, which looked nothing like the cake I made last week--it looked perfect.
And so, my batteries were restored by a series of restorative acts in a few of my favorite places.
How do you restore your batteries? And what's your favorite place?
For more from Maria Rodale, go to www.mariasfarmcountrykitchen.com.