Spice Up Your Weekend With A Backyard Adventure
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Are you bored? Are you feeling crummy that you are sitting around your apartment doing nothing but watching TV or surfing the internet?
I know. I've been there. I know the feeling.
There were times when all I did on my days off was to sit in my apartment watching movies and eating junk food.
I mean, nothing is wrong with that inherently, and it's nice to cozy up and do that sometimes still, but it often felt like I was watching other people live instead of actually living my own exciting life.
So I made some changes (a lot, in fact) and became an avid hiker since.
Though ideally now, on weekends, I would like to be up on a mountain somewhere taking in the vista or dipping my feet in the lake in the forest, etc., that doesn't always happen. But I learned that that doesn't have to be a drag.
I decided to turn my "boring weekend" into a fun, exciting adventure in my local neighborhood.
You can do the same!
Here is what I did:
I set out on a adventure on my beloved Razor scooter in my neighborhood in Queens after seeing a couple of signs like the one above.
Another sign I saw didn’t have an exact address, so I had to wander around the area for a few minutes before I asked a woman who had a “I -know-where-the-yard-sale-is” vibe. Indeed, she knew exactly where it was and told me it was right around the corner. Good call to ask this woman because I was about to turn around and head in the other direction. This lovely woman also told me she was a frequent yard sale holder and she was having one the following weekend. My reading of the woman was spot-on. I shall be back.
I arrived at the first yard sale but there wasn’t anything really I wanted. I asked the owner if they had a bike. No, she sold one earlier. Damn it! I was about an hour late! Oh well. I contemplated on buying a lovely jade plant for $3 but decided against it. I still had about good 30 blocks or more to go on my scooter and it would’ve been beaten up in my backpack.
I really enjoy riding my scooter in my residential Queens neighborhood. I have discovered quite a few things in my area scootering around, taking different routes in the past couple of months, since I bought the scooter in July. Check out this house just a few blocks away from me. They have chickens!
I lived in this neighborhood for more than 5 years now but there are so many things I’ve discovered or re-discovered in the past 2 years since I’ve been practicing sensual living. I go on my walks and purposely take different routes to explore, and a whole new world opens up to me.
One thing I noticed is that people love plants and a lot of homeowners have their own mini gardens and grow vegetables like tomato (okay, it’s a fruit), pepper, and squash along with all kinds of beautiful flowers.
And check out this sidewalk garden that I saw on my way to the second yard sale!
Here is another really beautiful one:
(I saw this super inspiring TED talk by Ron Finley a while ago about guerrilla gardening (gardening is gansta) and I just have to smile when I see people “plant some shit,” as he would say it, on the sidewalk. If you haven’t seen the video you must. It’ll sure to inspire you. You can see it here.
As I was admiring this front yard/sidewalk garden and taking pictures, an owner of the house came out and she totally floored me with generosity and kindness.
After I complimented her on her beautiful garden, this sweet woman with her dog Sugar (see below) proceeded to pick her gorgeous flowers from her garden to give to me!
And she trusted me with Sugar while she picked and picked.
What a cutie.
Sugar checking out my scooter.
And waiting patiently.
And after gifting me with this precious bouquet, she went on her way to walk Sugar.
She told me she likes having this garden because “when sick people come they feel happy.” No words of mine can properly describe the beauty of this intention and action. Just beautiful. Her heart beautiful just like her garden.
On a personal level her generosity and kindness touched me and made my day. Thank you.
So back to the yard sale: now with my gorgeous bouquet, I arrived at the second yard sale.
Score! This place had quite a bit of items I was very much interested in. A couple moving to a 1BR apartment in Manhattan was downsizing big time. It turns out that they were very much into health/wellness/spirituality/self empowerment (all of which I’m interested in) and the woman turned out to be an energy healer and a former teacher at Barbara Brennan School of Healing , a school of an energy healing modality I happened to be reading about.
I found quite a few books of interest but I settled on these for ₵50 each! Very good condition I might add (I love used books—Yeah!).
And check out this baby I’m so happy to now own.
Citrus juicer for $7! It sells for $57 on Amazon. And it works well as you can see here. (Fresh yummy grapefruit juice.) Good deal!
And I’m not quite sure why I bought this next one but I appreciated the craftsmanship and the look of it. Besides, we can all use a board game or two. AND it was $3.
Handmade leather Backgammon set made (and bought) in Mexico.
Do I know how to play Backgammon? No, not at all. I’ll be learning soon.
Boy, I love yard sales. Someone’s trash is someone else’s treasure like they say. This was really fun.
Expenditure:
- 4 books - $2
- Citrus Juicer - $7
- Backgammon set - $3
- Gorgeous bouquet - free
- Good feeling I got from the generosity and kindness I received from the woman - free
Now it's your turn. Can you come up with a fun adventure idea in your backyard?
Saya
