Fruit In Season

It's Sunday Evening and I'm running the dishwasher and finishing my last load of laundry. What a beautiful weekend it's been in Michigan. I'm prepared for some really hot days of canvassing at the first part of the week. The cute guy I went out with yesterday warned me about them. He said I'll need to drink lots of water; it's going to get hotter again on Monday and Tuesday.

Awe, isn't that sweet? I really like dating. It's been so long since I've been on an actual date -- five years, nearly. I've met a few people from online sites and I've had a few male friends in my life who I've hung around with quite a bit. But I haven't held hands with anyone or cuddled up with a guy while watching a movie in nearly five years. Wow. That's a really, really, really long time.

Although I'm writing about my career transition, the stories about my love life renewal seem to attract more comments than most of the canvassing stories. So, I guess I might as well share a few details about my date on Saturday. It's really fun to go on a great date -- especially when it feels so brand new again after having been a veritable dating reclusive for so long. I highly recommend it to anybody who is in the middle of a career transition. I had been thinking I needed to get it all back together with my finances and career before I could date again. But then I realized that's just ridiculous thinking. Meeting a nice person can really bring enjoyment to the days. I think it could help me get back on track, actually.

He said he doesn't care if I write about him in my blog. So, I figure I might as well share just a few details...

It started with a melon -- a cantaloupe, more or less. His hometown grows these melons. They are juicier than the average cantaloupe and I guess maybe a hybrid of sorts -- like maybe part cantaloupe and part honey dew? Something like that. But they just look like cantaloupe. They aren't green or anything. Quite fragrant and very tasty. Apparently they are considered quite a delicacy in certain parts of Asia.

He wanted me to eat some of it right away but he doesn't like to eat the melons himself. He had driven out of his way to get it from a special farm stand out in the country. So I cut it open in the kitchen and ate two small slices before we went on our date.

We went to the Farmer's Market in Ann Arbor. It was two-o-clock by the time we got there and the market closes at three. So I was a little bit worried there wouldn't be any Flaming Fury peaches left. Vendors were packing up everything. I love the Flaming Furies so much and they are best this time of year. I look forward to the Flaming Furies in August the same way I look forward to the Honey Crisp apples in late September. I just love fruit in season. And I suppose that's one reason why I loved the gift of a very particular melon. Yummy, locally grown and in season.

Fortunately we were able to find some peaches. We also found Mrs. Mildred Parker who is, in her middle 90s, the longest-standing vendor at the Ann Arbor Farmer's Market. Mrs. Parker is the grandmother of my best friend from college. She now just sells a few herbs and some catnip balls (little hand-sewn cat toys stuffed with home-grown herbs).

We sat on a bench in Kerrytown and ate the peaches and talked for about a half an hour, I suppose. He's a very laid-back guy, the youngest in a family of five. Like me, he's cool with just letting a day unwind. Those are the best days, I think, Saturday hours that just meander nowhere in particular.

He let me get salad bar from the People's Food Coop. I love the sunflower sprouts there. They just make me feel so happy. There's something so special about eating sprouts that would have become sunflowers. The wait for sandwiches at Zingerman's would have been ridiculous. But he was able to get a really nice sandwich at Sottini's Sub Shop on Fourth Avenue across the street from where I used to study yoga with Laurie Blankenly at her old studio above the Asian Pastry and Tea Shop.

We took our food to Nichols Arboretum and had a picnic by the river. On the way down the hill he told me about how he once got lost in the arb during his college years -- partying a little bit too much at night. We watched the canoeists and kayakers, the ducks, and the old man who makes rock sculptures. Really, it was a perfect afternoon. By the time we returned to the car it was eight-thirty. We ended up hanging out in the evening, too, taking a drive, watching a movie. It was really a date.

So now I'm getting ready for the week ahead. I expect it will be a very good week. And I'm smiling a bit while I write because I feel happy to have had such a fun Saturday.