onemonkeyshow

For years I had a mini-ritual every Sunday. And the last two weekends, I’ve started it up again. It’s my way of embracing a Sunday – my way of taking a moment for myself before the new week begins. It’s simple, it’s relaxing.

Firstly, I see Keith off to work (3 out of 4 Sundays each month). Then I take Max on his morning walk, and then he gets some breakfast. Next, a trip to the corner store for me. I buy a New York Times Sunday paper, and a cup of coffee (I was making a pot of coffee each Sunday but really I only drink one or two cups of it!).

At this point, I have to make a decision – either take my relaxation now or after the laundry and the dishes are done (my normal Sunday chores). This morning, I’m doing both at once. I start the first three loads of laundry (how the hell do we have so much laundry???). As they wash, I sit down, turn on the Food Network, have my coffee and my egg/bacon/swiss on a roll breakfast and a big glass of Silk.

Switch over the laundry, and it’s time for the paper. Finish off the coffee while flipping through the bulk that is the NYTimes Sunday paper – all the while Nigella is making a fabulous croissant bourbon pudding (had to pause at one point to write the recipe down…would be PERFECT for dessert the next time we have guests over).

I’m very particular about my NYTimes Sunday paper. I go through and separate it – and stack it again in the order I want to read it (yeah, very OCD, I know). At the very bottom is the Arts Section – it’s like dessert. Just above that is the NYTimes Magazine. This weekend there was a Style Magazine as well, so that’s next on top. And then “The City”, next “Week in Review” and from there it’s really just a hodge-podge. I even read the Real Estate section and marvel at the homes I’ll never afford in this city.

Donald Sheets turned me on to the NYTimes years ago. I met him when he was visiting his family in Central Ohio, and at one point went to visit him in Washington DC. Sunday morning we got an NYTimes and sat outside at a cafe, sipping coffee and reading. I fell in love with the paper, and the simple fact of reading the paper. I mean, I was getting all the news I thought I needed from the internet. Aren’t papers a dying breed? So I started reading the NYTimes on the weekends – true, I’m not a true-blood, I don’t get it all week long (I still use the website for the weekly stuff). Funny enough, while I was working on the cruise ship based out of Portland, OR – it was nearly impossible to find the NYTimes. I did manage, however…we would stop in Astoria, Oregon on Sundays (made famous by the filming of the movie Goonies…and home of the BEST salmon hash I’ve ever had). No papers to be found in Astoria. So I’d get on the bus first thing in the morning, and head out to Canon Beach right on the ocean. Fantastic little artistic community with lots of shops and good food (I’ll never forget the gourmet pizza shop there). During one trip, I went into the General Store (yes, it was still called that) and asked for the NYTimes. Of course, they’re the west coast, they don’t have that paper. But the kindly old shopkeeper actually offered to order one copy a week for me. So I gave him my schedule of when I would be in town, and he ordered them. So every Sunday I’d make the trek out to Canon Beach, get the NYTimes, sit on the beach while flipping through the paper and watch the kite-flyers perform tricks in the ocean breeze. Ahh…good times.

So that’s my simple little ritual: New York Times Sunday paper, coffee, breakfast, Food Network. Simplistic, yet fulfilling. And after the laundry is done today, I think I’ll take a leisurely bubble bath and read some more of the book I’m currently pouring through.

Enjoy your Sunday, everyone!