OOH LA LA! #31

Have you ever made eye contact with a four-horned goat?

I am writing this from an RV in Ohio where I have been staying since Monday. I am here to paint a mural on my friend’s mobile coffee shop while they are set up at the Wayne County Fair. I have never been to a fair like this before, and now I’m having a full immersive experience since we’re staying right here in the heart of it all. I’ve eaten buttered corn on the cob almost every day, walked past displays of vintage tractors, touched the head of a four-horned goat, been to a pony costume contest, made eye contact with cows, heard the National Anthem more than once, and walked through grassy fields that have been turned into temporary parking spots.

During travel, everything is different. My routines get interrupted, my sleep schedule shifts, and my food choices deviate from the norm. This change makes me more aware to everything, more tuned in, and grateful for the consistencies in my everyday. I think this interruption is the beauty of travel. Spending somewhere new is one of the best ways I know to wake up the senses and make space for fresh ideas to enter, like soil that’s been turned over in a pot.

This week’s OOH LA LA! list includes: pickles in a bag, being awake before sunrise, clean hair.

Pickles in a bag is such a genius snack. If you’re a long-time OOH LA LA! reader, you already know I love pickles, and what’s better than your own single-serve pickle snack? Never before have pickles been so portable, so packable, so perfectly portioned! On a hot day after painting in the sun, enjoying juicy, salty, cold pickles from a bag is a refreshing delight.

All week I have been awake before sunrise. On Monday I left my apartment at 4:00 am, got a ride to LaGuardia airport, and found myself at the fairgrounds a few hours later. On Tuesday I was up at 6:00 am to start painting before the heatwave, and on Wednesday I got up early to make my way to the camp showers before they were full. I’m a night owl through and through, but this week, being awake for the day before the sun has come up has made me question my late-night preferences. To be awake at this time, alive in the quiet, cool darkness of the dawn feels like being let into a special room, like being granted access to more hours in the day. It feels like a secret to see dewdrops on everything, the soft fog shimmering above the ground, the birds silent and still asleep in their nests. After mornings like this, for the rest of the day, I hold this memory in my mind with a smile.

The luxury of clean hair while camping is not to be understated. Most days I have been wearing a ball cap, both to shield my scalp from the sun and to hide my dirty, dusty hair that’s been absorbing the fairground smell and dried drips of colorful paint. It’s a big task to shower here since it requires packing up all items needed from the RV, towels and clothes and toothbrush and shampoos, putting on shoes, walking to the bathrooms, and hoping there’s an open shower stall. Finally washing away the days of dust and emerging with clean hair that smells of apricot and macadamia oil instead of manure is to be born again.

From OLL readers…

Welby: I love relaxing at the beach. In July I went to Pensacola, Navarre Beach, and Destin. Each day, we took a walk or rode our bikes and it was very relaxing and inspiring.

Derrick: One of my favorite bakeries has gluten-free oatmeal cream pies and cookie dough shooters! So good!

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, joys, and pleasures, or anything else you love!

XOXO,

LJ