The Most Fragrant Green Pepper in the Room

This is the most banal and most important update: I now have a functioning cell phone and wifi in my apartment. Hopefully, this will help me attend to my very, very long list of things to do.

Unsurprisingly, I'm a little overwhelmed, as often happens at the beginning of a semester. Many of you know that I have many activities, responsibilities--ahem, well, let's call them opportunities (I am excited about all of them) outside of my coursework this semester. I was stressed out yesterday, but today, it all just seems so ludicrous that I figure I should just start working. I mean, I didn't think that I had time to take Anthropology and Psychoanalysis at all, and now on top of everything else, I need to read two books by Freud by Wednesday.

Don't be too jealous.

But I've been enjoying the pleasures of my life in Ithaca, which are many.

Yesterday, David Dye had the Conchords on the World Cafe. If you don't listen to the World Cafe, you're missing out, by the way. You can find it on npr.org. I was introduced to the fantastic song, "The Most Beautiful Girl in the Room," which includes such lines as "You're the most beautiful girl in the room/ and when you're on the street/ depending on the street/ I bet you are definitely in the top three." Hilarious. They evidently have an HBO show, and are always so funny.

And last night, I went to a fantastic dance performance, in which the dancers were on a raft on a lake before they marched around the rocks playing instruments. It was a fundraiser for two of the dancers who are about to bike across the country and perform in laundromats. Tara took some pictures, so hopefully I'll be able to share with those with you at some point.

I've been reading and writing about things I'm supposed to read and write about like crazy today (which is a pleasure in its way), but I took a break to go to one of my favorite places in Ithaca: the weekend Farmer's Market. I had sorbet again this week (chocolate and coconut...last week, they had Earl Grey!), and picked up fruits and vegetables for the week. I hadn't intended to buy a green pepper, but as I walked by one of the organic farm stands, the pile of green peppers was so fragrant that I couldn't resist one. What sad green peppers to which we usually subject ourselves...there's a good chance you should be jealous of this green pepper. Here are some pictures from the Farmer's Market, which is only a five minute bike ride from our house.



Here's the welcome sign. I parked my bike near to it. The traffic was crazy--it is much more pleasant to walk or bike there, even if you usually drive around Ithaca, because it is such a popular destination.



This is Tara, my new housemate, who was picking up basil and flowers.



This is the main entrance. It is held in a quite large pavillion.



This is where I got my sorbet.









Here are some shots inside the market. They now have a really fantastic No Waste policy. Everything sold at the market (including packaging) can be recycled or composted. So wonderful.




This is a view of Cornell as one bikes away from the market. It looks really small, but the buildings up on the hill are part of campus. The building that looks like a sewing machine was designed by I.M. Pei and is the Johnson Museum, where I have an internship this year. The clock tower is the Clock Tower attached to the Uris Library. The crane is part of the equipment associated with all of the construction on West Campus.

OK--I've got to get back to work! Isn't that Saturdays are for? Freud, beads, and summer research reports?