“Remoted – Hybrid” – Day 895 (Saturday) – downtown

Morning blooms.

It was a nice weather day, hot and sunny. The kind of day where people flock to the beach, and based on the posts and photos flooding Facebook, that is what many people I know did and I'm guessing it was crowded from Salisbury, MA to York, ME.

The morning was spent mostly indoors with a few trips to the yard with Winston. The yellow evening primrose has been blooming at night and into the early part of the day when it is alive with fuzzy bees doing their pollen thing. I'm glad I was able to intercept the neighbor before she ripped it all out because she thought it was weeds.

The afternoon had a trip downtown. I tried to visit the new vintage shop on Merrimack Street.  A girl was standing in the doorway smoking a cigarette at 3:00 when I tried the door. Upon determining it was locked, I said, “Hmmm. Not open?” She said, “I think you have to call the number and make arrangements to go in.” That, my friends, is too much effort to browse some old-timey stuff. It sounds like a heck of a retail business model. If the street level storefront is never going to be open, why pay rent for a brick-and-mortar shop? Really, I want to know.

The brick park on Middle Street that is nestled in between brick buildings has had a facelift. There is a new, colorful mural on a big brick wall that really brightens up the space. 

New mural, Middle Street.

It was National Romance Book Day and LaLa Books had an author event and book signing. My visit was strategically timed to avoid the event because romance isn’t really my thing and I was afraid I’d end up in an awkward conversation where I would be forced to admit that at a romance book event. Yes, potential conversations are often imagined in advance.

The bookstore visit was made with the idea of getting the September Boozy Book Club selection and possibly Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman. There was a tempting display of books wrapped in plain brown paper with cute “profiles” for a “Blind Date with a Book.” In the end, the Book Club book (The Elephant of Belfast) was the only purchase, mostly because I remembered the many other recent book acquisitions that are piling up, still unread.

Once back home, a new book that was a birthday gift was opened and reading commenced (Darling Girl – a novel of Peter Pan). Sprawling on the couch reading a book with the A/C on when it’s 90 degrees outside was a pleasant way to enjoy a chunk of time at home.