pottery, puzzles, pitching, peace and an end to prosperity

December 1, 2003

Last week I got carded while buying nonalcoholic wine at the health food store. Today, at a different health food store, the cashier gave me the senior discount. Is this what they mean when they talk about "a woman of a certain age"? I suppose if light can be both wave and particle I can look both under 21 and over 65. I got an ad in the mail for an "adult" condo development too. One only has to be 55 for that one. Do a lot of people need assisted living at 55? The brochure was heavy on preparing for the "future", where future seemed to mean assisted living followed by nursing home and death. At least I wouldn't have to do my own yard work.

Speaking of yard work, despite the setback to my shoulder recovery caused by commencing battle with the bittersweet vines way too soon, I can finally drive. My first major trip was to Worcester for the grand opening of the Hermit Potter of Worcester's new hermitage, oops, I mean studio, for plenty of pottery. The first open studios at The Fire Works drew quite a crowd. They gave away free cups to the first 50 visitors and the cups went fast. I took a lot of pictures. First time using the camera since the rotator cuff surgery. I've simply got to get back into photography despite my belief that I suck at it. Anyway, some guy who was running for mayor or something of Worcester asked if I was making a scrapbook of the event like he did for his campaign. Well, not exactly, but here's a gallery of great pottery shots: pottery show.

From hardly ever getting out of the house to gallivanting all over Massachusetts: doing a jigsaw puzzle of a bookstore with the kids at the family gathering for Kevin's birthday, seeking snow buntings and horned larks but finding Tibetan monks and mandalas, finally getting the coffee formerly known as Fowle's from Middle St. foods, photographing the last of autumn as the Shawsheen flows into the Merrimack... oh yeah, and used books too... and going to the wrong house for Thanksgiving because nobody told me the changed plans had been unchanged, freezing my *** off on the beach and at the lighting of the BIG tree (96 feet!) the past two weeks have been just packed. Not bad for somebody without a life.

The kids and La Madre started the puzzle at the Kevin's birthday gathering and we finished it on Thanksgiving. I'm not all that good at jigsaw puzzles but I managed to put in my share of pieces, especially as we got closer to completion. I love the way the puzzle depicts the bookstore as some kind of magical place where bands and orchestras are playing, artists are painting, somebody's fishing, and there's even a baseball diamond. Everything that can be found in books is happening in the bookstore.

Speaking of bookstores, Nancy and I went to Artists and Authors (the bookstore formerly known as Much Ado) in Marblehead to visit DJ (the cat formerly known as Domino) on Saturday. I'd wanted to go to the opening but it was the same night as the Hermit Potter's open studios. I bought a book of architectural photos of Budapest, a book of Galapagos wildlife photos, Portrait of a Marriage by Nigel Nicolson, A Gathering of Shorebirds, and one of the Flashman books for Nancy (the one that makes fun of the Brits in the Great Game). Yesterday I was sitting at the dining room table reading the introduction to Portrait of a Marriage and Nancy asked what I was doing. "Studying gay marriage" I answered. Not that that's what the Massachusetts supreme court means by gay marriage.... :-)

My other bookstore adventure took place last week when I stopped by Jabberwocky on my way to the refuge to look for birds. It turned out to be so windy that I didn't find birds, but Jabberwocky was hosting a group of Tibetan monks making a sand mandala. No bands playing or painters painting though. According to one of the Tibetans, the mandala was a prayer for "peace and an end to prosperity". Somehow I think the Geshe needs a better Tibetan-English dictionary. At the end of the closing ceremony they destroyed the mandala and threw the sand in the Merrimack River. I haven't noticed any change in either peace or prosperity one way or the other since then, but the Red Sox have signed Curt Schilling, which could be either the beginning or end of prosperity I suppose.

Today's Reading
Two Roads to Dodge City by Adam and Nigel Nicolson

This Year's Reading
2003 Book List