Tricksy locals

I got distracted and just missed the farmer's market yesterday. But I had to go into Orleans anyway and indulged in one of those local Cape Cod hacks, using the back roads.

From Dennis to Orleans, I could take 6A and fight traffic. Actually, I did just that on my way out.

Or I could pick up Route 39 to Freeman's Way to (I think) Queen Anne's and make my way from Orleans to Dennisport and it's smooth sailing. At this time of year, you'll see other cars on the road, but not *traffic*.

Knowing the back roads is one of the distinct pleasures of being local. Say the words "Mary Dunn Road" and my eyelids will flutter.

Guess where I'm going today?

I love these beads. I want to buy them and pop them in my mouth like candies.

Speaking of things to eat, this weekend we had a guest who brought us a papaya. He recently spent some time in warm places and he came back to cold rainy Massachusetts still dreaming of tropical markets and wanting to share the experience.

More prosaicly, this papaya came from Trader Joe's. I'd never had one before, it tasted a little like a cantelope and a little like a kiwi fruit. The rind is green and the flesh pink with black seeds.

I can imagine making it into a sorbet with just a hint of honey for added sweetness. Mmmm.

Foods I want.

Orange creamsicles.

Fresh asparagus.

Corn on the cob.

Lobster.

Strawberries.

Homemade gingersnaps with vanilla ice cream.

Fresh-picked green beans.

Does this list suggest I'm just a little sick and tired of it being fifty degrees and raining and am longing for summer? Oh yeah.

Claire of the Moon

Just saw Claire of the Moon. Straight Claire meets lesbian Noel at a writer's conference and the two of them are irritated by and then attracted to each other. Within the first five minutes I asked the Spousal Unit just how long this movie was, because Christ Almighty, this movie is lesbian. Lots of sighing, lingering scenes of people looking out of windows at scenery and brooding on the beach and talky talky talky girl-bonding. Just how long is this writer's conference anyway?

The movie was made in 1992 and features delightfully atrocious eighties-influenced fashion. With glee I noticed Claire smokes the same pretentious cigarette I remember a friend smoking in high school. By some trick of time and space, it scans as an appreciably more dated movie than Desert Hearts that appeared some years earlier. I did an online search and came across an interesting review that implied Claire of the Moon was the L Word of its time, this utter crap that you hated yourself for watching, but watched anyway because it had lesbians in it. A sobering thought for anyone trying to produce contemporary media.

As a final note, a whole thesis could be built around the fact that the character niche typically held by the gay male character in straight movies (sympathetic and interested in the heroine's romantic troubles) is held by the bulldyke who runs the writer's conference. Chew on that one, gender theorists.

My feet have wings.

*

I've been wanting to walk regularly and I haven't had the right pair of athletic shoes. The way some women get weepy and hand-wringing about bathing suits, that's how I am about athletic shoes. I don't like most sneakers because they look...sneakery. They make me think Bad Thoughts. I wore sneakers in middle school gym. Tourists wear sneakers. My insane freshman roomate wore sneakers. Keds and hi-top style sneakers are exempt from this hate. But neither one of those types properly support my feet for walking.

So this past weekend I bought a pair of truly glorious shoes, Gamma Ltr Women's Tevas in Anthracite. Oh gods, this was pure splurge, but they're supportive and giving and cushiony in all the right ways. And they're dressy enough that I can wear them with pretty much anything that isn't formal dress. I love, love, love them.