07/05/04’s illustrious band:

Redhanded

Brought to you by Mother Nature.

Today finds me inkfingered, stainlipped, purplefooted, and fullbellied, my hair streaked mauve in a few places from where I pushed it back with juicy hands. I’ve been playing among the mulberries again.

When I was little, I would often come in from outdoors with my feet stained purple from running barefoot beneath the mulberry trees, crushing fallen berries with my toes and heels. This was a trial for Mother Media, who always admonished me to wear shoes out there so I could take them off at the door rather than tracking berry-mud throughout the house. But somehow I always forgot and dashed out headlong without them.

Old habits die hard, apparently. I noticed today that the branches dangling into my airspace from a neighbor’s tree were laden with plump, ripe fruit, so I spent half an hour denuding twiglets and smooshing sweet mulberries between my teeth. When I finished, full at last, I looked like I’d been applying cheap melted lipstick in the dark. My feet were worse, though, from tromping about on a soft carpet of fallen fruit as I feasted. They were so wet that I left purple footprints on the driveway as I searched out the garden hose. My fingers and lips have come (mostly) clean, but the tough, dry soles of my feet still look bruised. And that’s just fine.

I passed a glorious Fourth yesterday and hope you did, too. I was successful in my quest to avoid driving anywhere, although I did walk to brunch and take the extra-long way home. I spent the afternoon and evening lounging in my hammock with books, cats, and daydreams, feeling about as free as one can. Perfect day for it.

And speaking of perfect days, I’m headed off for an actual vacation the day after tomorrow! I’ll be joining Skeeter in a tour of some of the most fabulous gardens in British Columbia, followed by a quick stop in Seattle to visit Amy 2.0. It’s been an excessively long time since I traveled for a purpose other than to visit family, so I’m really looking forward to this jaunt. Not that I don’t enjoy the family trips, of course, but this one is just for me. I anticipate that my biggest worry will be Skeeter wanting to play country music on the radio in our rental car. If I can talk him out of that, it should be a spectacular week.

So ciao for now, and I’ll see you around the 14th with a whole new set of stores from up north.

Today around the world: July 5 is Peace & Unity Day in Rwanda. I’ll drink to that.

E-mail the Media Sensation: BandNameoftheDay@hotmail.com

Visit the BND archives at http://jugglernaut.blogspot.com.