OOH LA LA! #15

Sometimes you don’t realize what you’ve been missing until you experience it for the first time

The best thing that could happen has happened, which is that I’ve moved to a new apartment and to a new neighborhood that I love in Brooklyn. After almost 10 months of living in the East Village in an apartment that was noisy, smelly, and energetically misaligned, it is such a relief to be in a space that feels more fitting. This marks the third move for me in less than a year, and while I would not wish this on anyone, now that I’ve found some grounding, I can see how this process has been good for me.

A move, like any big change, will make you want to evaluate everything you own, and in uncovering the box you forgot beneath your bed, you may also uncover a part of yourself you’ve been afraid to address. For me, this has been an invitation to “love the questions themselves,” as Rilke wrote, and to “be patient toward all that is unresolved in your heart.” In this way, even big changes, even loss, even grief, contain qualities of OOH LA LA! because (in the words of Hafiz) “Love sometimes wants to do us a great favor: hold us upside down and shake all the nonsense out.”

This week’s OOH LA LA! list includes: ginger juice, window ledges, walking at night.

A 32oz container of ginger juice had been living in my fridge for a couple of months before I moved and in my determination to not throw it out, I started adding it to almost all my beverages. Now I’m honestly not sure why I waited so long, because ginger juice is good in everything! Ginger juice + orange juice / hibiscus tea / matcha / coffee / green juice / sparkling water = slightly more spicy, juicy, sweet goodness = YES, and you’re welcome.

I never knew how much I needed window ledges in my life until now. Sometimes you don’t realize what you’ve been missing until you experience it for the first time, like cold water swimming, or pine nuts on pizza. The windows in my new place are south-facing, each with a ledge at least 12 inches deep. My cat has been spending all day on the largest ledge, lying in the sun, and watching the people and cars out the window. Now I am imagining all the possibilities of life with window ledges, including a proper place for plants, or books, and a space to sit and dream and write poems in the moonlight. All windows should have ledges for this reason.

Now that the weather is warming up in New York, when I finished an evening gig this week, I took the long way home from the train. Walking at night through McCarren Park, I see couples lounging on the lawn, and friends sharing food at a picnic table. The temperature is just right, so I don’t rush the time and enjoy the soft light of the yellow full moon, which makes the whole night feel like a cozy corner bar with jazz music and dancing.

Thanks for reading!

I’d love to know - what is an OOH LA LA something you experienced or observed this week?

Reply to this email with 1-3 sentences about your current obsessions, passions, and pleasures and why you love it or send me a poem or a photo!

XOXO,
LJ

I can’t stop singing this song since writing about ledges.