Assignment:
Try to observe one of the following everyday actions and describe it in as much sensory detail as possible in two-three paragraphs or more: A person peeling, unwrapping, mixing, or in some other way preparing food and then eating it; a person pumping gas from drive-up to drive-off; a person dressing for an athletic practice or event, or a date; ten to fifteen nonsleeping minutes in the life of a dog or cat.
Response:
[July 1, 2007]
     He walked out of the house, across the yard. His feet sank into the ground as he walked across the dewy wet grass. He squished out across to the apple tree. The tree was green with many leaves, and bright red apples hanging from the branches. He approached the tree with great caution, circling, breathing in the sweet aroma of apples. He looked up and continued circling. He spotted the apple of his desire and flung himself at the base of the tree. With great struggling he climbed the tree and stretched his arm out as the other clung to the tree, the rough bark holding his skin firmly in place. Stretching his arm to its fullest reach, his gets a hold on his fruit. He plucks it from the tree and pulls it to himself, then jumps gently from the tree, almost losing his balance on the damp grass.

     The apple is fresh, smelling strong of its parent tree. The moisture from the air is beading in droplets rolling down the side of its shiny red flesh. The vibrant fruit was held firmly in his hand as he walked back across the yard to prepare and consume his breakfast. Following along his footprints of compressed grass he returns to the house. He entered his home, walking into the kitchen, grabbing a sharp knife out of the wooden block on the island as he entered.

     He doesn’t like peeling his fruit. Normally he will eat the peel of his apples and eat his oranges directly from their rinds. The apple is rinsed gently under cool water, then tapped dry on a bright white terrycloth towel. The apple was placed on the wooden cutting board, and held firmly in place. He plucks the stem with his free, and tosses the ugly brown wood obstruction aside. The knife was raised above the apple, and pressed firmly into its flesh until it pops open and the knife penetrates the course texture of the meat of the apple. It is sliced in half, then quartered.

     He places the first slice between his teeth, and bites down. The juice of the apple flows into his mouth as he chews. The smell of apple fills the air as a breeze blows off of the fan above where he sits eating. He is immersed in the experience of the apple. He is focused on the flowing cool juices and the increasing smoothness of the texture.