Agua auga everywhere...

...but that doesn't mean I want to drink it.

Cajun's only Spanish word is 'agua.' She knows it well and laps it up. Literally and figuratively. Why can't/won't I? I filled her bowl tonight. It must hold an easy half a gallon. It's gone in a day. So is half the river. I, a cognizant human, could hold in my hand (with nothing running between my fingers) what I drink in any 24-hour period.

Pete argues that we get lots of our daily liquid requirement from things like milk (he drinks it, I do not), juice, the juice from fruit, etc. etc. I think if a rang dry everything I eat in a day it would not amount to 16 ounces of water, total.

We're told to consume six 8-oz. glasses of water a day. Huh. My water consumption is highest in the middle of the night — there on my bed stand is a Poland Springs sports bottle. I like these because if I swat it with my pillow and knock it off, it won't spill. Further, in the darkest dark of night, I can take a surreptitious swig without having to unscrew, then screw back on the top. Anyway, because it is there and because if I am thirsty the alternative is an entire seventeen-step flight of stairs away, I drink the stuff.

Someone asked me the other day — we were exploring the same subject — if I just didn't like water. Like water? Is that an option? To actually like it? I believe I have never given that question a single thought in my entire life, one way or the other. Do I like water? Do I dislike water? No. And no. Still, it is not, and never has been, my beverage of choice.

Tonight, running away from the Halloween tricksters as we were, at dinner at a nice restaurant in Chestnut Hill, the topic came up again. There before each of us was a glass of — what? You guessed it. Water. We never serve water with our wine. Or as a beverage for lunch. Indeed Concord tap water is so horrendously chemical in flavor I avoid it at all costs. Some time ago, because of my sincere aversion to drinking the local water, Pete bought me a Brita water filter. I use it to fill my night-time sports bottle. And to make iced tea.

I won't drink the tap water in Nantucket either. In the interest of full disclosure, I admit straight off that I won't drink the island water not because it doesn't taste good (it tastes great) but because I have a paranoid theory about the old town pipes and heavy metals infiltrating the aquifer. It goes beyond that but I won't bore you with it here. Suffice it to say, it's a folly of mine.

And for all that, if the invitation is to jump into the water, I'm there. Just don't expect me to drink the stuff.

Truffle: The Sunday New York Times delivered to the door. For the first time in Concord. This goes beyond what it might at first seem. It's more than a bum leg. Or laziness. Or even convenience. Ink black on my fingers is like flour on the hands of a cook. Up to my elbows in my milieu. 

Quote of the day: "I always wanted to be Peter Pan, the boy who never grows up. I can't fly, but swimming is the next best thing. It's harmony and balance. The water is my sky." (Clayton Jones)

 

 

Comments

[vicki]

Great quote!
I used to love drinking water, but when the last of the desert dust was washed from my throat (and I discovered Earl Grey and Yorkshire Gold) things changed.

[Kate Stout]

What is Yorkshire Gold? And is it caffeinated? 

[Nancy]

A urologist checking in with me while I was in the hospital (in 1982) told me (when I told him I've never been a big fan of drinking water) he said, to my relief, "If you are thirsty, take a drink, if not, don't."

[Kate Stout]

Oh, Im liking that medical advice! Though I suspect it is no longer (if it ever was) the prevailing wisdom, alas.

[vicki]

Yorkshire Gold is a very nice, rich, "luxurious" black tea (Assam). So, yes, it has some caffeine. It's my current favorite morning brew. at Stop n' Shop on island, they have it in the isle with the other British Isles stuff.
www.yorkshiretea.co.uk