Photo Friday: Relationship.

At first I was disappointed because I went upstairs looking at art books, in which I have very little interest. But then I found the fiction section and had to hold myself back. After a long time browsing, a heavy hand basket, the traveler’s activity of buying T-shirts that don’t make you look like a tourist, we paid our large bill and left. My formula for knowing if you spent too much money at the bookstore: If you leave more (usually twice as much) in cost on the shelves/tables than you actually purchase, you’re not spending too much money. I mean, in that case, with that formula, I don’t think I could ever spend too much money at The Strand. I could list all the books we bought there, but they’re in a pile with all the books we bought in Boston, too.

We bought Cokes and sat in Washington Square Park, after a short rainstorm from which we hid under the shelter outside The Strand.  The arch and fountain were surrounded by fencing because they were being worked on.  We dried off a green bench with a hanky we found in a backpack, since I was closely-budgeted on my pocket hanky.

We walked around for a long time, checked out some stationery stores, etc.  We came back the next day, walking all the way from 81st Street.  We walked around a lot and hit the park to chill.  This time, there were more people around, and there were tables with people gathering to sing, play guitar and bang on drums as the sun was going down.  I didn’t want to go when it came to be time to walk back to Penn Station to catch our late train to Baltimore.

Now we have a huge stack for late summer and early fall reading, from New York and Boston.  I’m very stoked to dig in.  Oh, and I scored my new Moleskine at The Strand for $9.  Sweet:)

Also for Photo Friday: Garden.

There’s an issue with my tickets, that being that they were delivered but disappeared, all while I was away, despite providing another address and despite the fact that said carrier was supposed to get my frikkin signature and obviously didn’t.  There’s another reservation for me, but I’m nervous that there will be crap about it.  So I’m getting to the train station with more time to kill than my trip will actually take.  I have a lot of good books to read and haven’t had time to read lately.  So I’m very Okay with this.

I was told by three people today that my hair has gotten too wild and needs to be cut.  I think this is funny.

I wonder what the reaction of my assigned roommate this week will be to the idea that I don’t use deodorant or toothpaste in the usual sense.  I wonder if he will want to try my peppermint soap or my baking soda.

I get to put some miles on my Klean Kanteen that someone who is very nice bought me two weeks ago.  I like to take tap water from one city to another.  I once had a canteen of grotto water that I kept for a year or two, taking sips of the sweet stuff from time to time.  I still have this canteen, though it’s plastic and has seen better days.  I like the water in Baltimore city.  It is a grotto in its own right.  The water fountain at Druid Hill Lake is my favorite in the world.  Right now.

I am tired and stressed out.  This VISTA thing requires a hell of a lot of paperwork, online paperwork and a lot of rules.  They make sense and all.  It’s just a lot to remember.  I will not convert anyone to my religion (whatever that is) or campaign.  Okay.  I can handle this.

I think the coffee I just drank is putting me to sleep.

Be back Friday, if there is no peep tomorrow before I leave.

We walked everywhere this week.  All over the Inner Harbor/downtown Baltimore Tuesday.  We walked to Walden Pond.  Walked all around Boston, only taking the subway when rivers were involved (Quincy and Cambridge) and the train to Concord.  Walked so much all over New York for two days that I should get to be on TV.  We only got on the MTA subway once, to go from the garment district to the Natural History museum to save energy.  Then from there through the park, through midtown, all the way to the village.  Then back to midtown for our late train.  That was after two walks from midtown to and around and through the village the day before.

Only one twisted ankle, one twisted foot (on the way out of the apartment and to the train station) and one broken/bleeding toenail.  Not bad.  I did a much better job of staying hydrated than I usually do when I travel, too, which is good.  I’m not sitting here suffering through a mock hangover.

And we were smart enough to mail home the books we bought in Cambridge, dirty clothes and Walden Pond goodies/gifts from the post office right near South Station, since we literally carried everything for four days.  We scored a lot of good reading, including two by my favorite other worshipper at the altar of the god of walkers.  I’m stocked up until the cold comes, I think.

I hope I get time to post some photos soon.  We had a great time, and I’m outta here again from Tuesday until Friday for “business” in Philly.  I think I’ll get some freetime while I’m there, though, to explore a place I’ve really been wanting to go for a while.

Then we are taking the Acela Express to New York early Friday Morning, staying at The New Yorker and returning home to Baltimore late Saturday night. Two days at home, and then I’m off to Philly from the 12th to the 15th for some training. They I officially start my new job on the 18th.

Awesome all around, though it means most of two weeks away from my beloved bike.

To amuse yourself, check out the video to the awesome song by the Dropkick Murphys — who are from Quincy, where I actually lived.

Friday night, I used my cell phone as an alarm clock.  I wanted to get up first, get a shower, make coffee, etc.  I had it inside my sleeping bag so as not to wake anyone else up.  But when it went off, I was on top of my arms, which were asleep and numb.  I could not move them to shut the dang thing up.

Maybe I’m the only one that thinks this was funny.

I damaged a few pieces of gear this weekend, which usually drives me batty.  But I didn’t really care.  Could it be that I am getting closer to relating to my possessions like a normal person?  At least, the utilitarian ones?

I figured out the source of the bruise on my rear: when I kept falling on top of my metal flashlight during a skit about beans.  The flashlight looks like it got run over by a small car or several bikes from my big butt hitting it repeatedly on top of rocks.

Come on, that’s funny.

Photo Friday: Fire.

Maybe even when he is fictionalizing his “stories” he was still honest to some degree, more so than one would believe when I started writing this post. Maybe he was a complete liar. I don’t know. Either way, you should still definitely check out this book. Or anything else by Chatwin you can get your hands on. I found this book, first edition, sitting on a stack when I walked into Normals one day this fall, after looking for that book for a long time. I exclaimed out-loud, “I’ve been looking for this! It’s like it was here just for me.”

But now I am restless. Very. When I read the first essay last week, I went shopping when I was pretty sick (and got sicker) because I could not stand the idea of staying home all day after reading something like that. Is that sad? I have finally gotten around to filling in a travel journal from our research trips in fall 2006. They were a bit of a pain at the time, when I was trying to get a dissertation written. But now I wish I could go back to New Haven for another chilly Friday morning wishing I brought something other than sandals. Or to New York for a thunderstorm on Broadway, ducking into the largest Barnes and Noble I have ever seen. Or to Boston, within a mile of where I lived for two years, remembering all things I loved and hated about that place. Hours at my favorite cafe’ there.

For now, I have to settle for books and other people’s experiences. And, of course, remembering my own.

[Larger images here.]