abigail414's diaryland diary
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Where I Yam
Every time I go to Ralph�s grocery store it hits me that I'm not in Michigan anymore. It is a Kroger affiliate, and can lull you into regular shopping like you're in anywhere USA, but then you look up and oh - she's wearing a beach toy!
When I lived in Michigan, we used to say �if you don�t like the weather, wait 10 minutes�. Michigan is surrounded by lakes, which makes for volatile weather patterns. We are now having a seasonal change here in Palm Springs, CA. The hot season of July and August was 110+ degrees every day, the past month it has been hovering around 100 degrees every day, and as I write this it is a lovely 77 degrees (high of 93 degrees). Within the season it is the same sunny day every day.
But the people. Wow. They are the changeable part of living here. I could write an entire book about going to Ralph�s grocery store. Yesterday, I watched a 6�5� buff black man in athletic gear walk by with the little mincing steps of a gay man. And then two 60+ year old women with short hair and large plaid shirts swaggered by on their pasty-colored skinny legs (and checked me out).
Then I went to the parking lot and saw this cool car. It is owned by two Ken dolls (my code for tanned gay men with chiseled chins).
And a little farther away was this truck. It is parked there regularly, apparently part of some kind of business involving rags and packratdom. Its owner is leathery and thick, wearing a wedding ring, and importantly re-arranging his precious cargo as if it might try to escape.
The large homeless population, and the over-the-top conspicuous consumptive culture coexist side by side here � just like the weather patterns in Michigan. How can there be thunderstorms and snow and then a heat wave in the same day? How can some people have 2 or 3 homes and others have none, and they�re both sitting at Starbucks sipping iced tea? How can I have a scented and manicured male client, dripping with jewelry and carrying a Luis Vuitton purse, while I in my perennial tomboy way, tell him to �put on his big boy pants and pill his cat'?
Another contrast is the difference between the culture of Palm Springs (shiny and flashy and superficial), and neighboring Idyllwild in the mountains (as per previous posts � rustic and artsy with questionable hygiene). People are �real� up there, but to a point � they�ll just go to Costa Rica in the winter when it gets cold. (Of course, if it is good enough for the birds, then why not us?)
I remember long ago writing about �pushing the edges to define myself�. I have certainly chosen a fringe existence here. I�m not smooth enough for Palm Springs/Palm Desert society (literally or figuratively � I have yet to get waxed) or bohemian enough for Idyllwild (I rely on indoor plumbing and Aveda hair products). I am a 50 year old earthy woman who likes nice things and wants to put down roots somewhere. Even though this doesn't feel like the place, it is never dull - just wait 10 minutes, and something new will come by.
(This is an actual patient at our clinic - wearing 'doggles' for eye problems.)
9 p.m. - 2006-09-17
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