Valynne’s Perfect Cambridge Day

by Valynne | May 13, 2010 | Caretaking / House and Pet Sitting, Travel, Writers and Readers | 19 comments

I decided this morning to be a bit decadent.  My budget for this sit is $20 a day and my typical day is closer to $10 as I eat at home most of the time and walk or take the bus everywhere.  Today was the exception.  I was going to blow a few bucks and spend my time however I wanted.  Fun!   

At 7am, I let Cosmo out and got back into bed.  I fed her a bit later….then got back in bed.  Paul never does this.  Once he is up, he makes the bed and doesn’t think about it until a good sixteen hours later.  If I get back into bed I feel a bit guilty around him.  But Paul isn’t here (tee hee).  Decadent.    

Around 11am, Kevin joined Cosmo and I for a walk around Fresh Pond Reservoir (2.5 miles).  It is lots of fun knocking around ideas and sharing stories with other caretakers. Kevin and Alicia live a couple of miles away from here and introduced us to this sit.  Their website is www.KevinandAliciaShea.com.     

After dropping Cosmo off at home post-park, I walked to Formaggio Kitchen and browsed their chocolate and bakery sections (yum), then sat down with a Bundaberg (ginger beer) and  waited for the bus.  Fifteen minutes later and I was wandering Harvard Square.  Again. It’s gonna be a hard habit to break.   

Crema Cafe has been calling my name, so I got me a latte and a coconut macaroon (it’s been years) and sat down at the balcony to write a few postcards until an outside seat became available.     

Latte & Coconut Macaroon at Crema Cafe

A few minutes later I had relocated and was enjoying a healthy dose of sunshine with an older gentleman that lived across the square.  He sat at this spot almost every day and I could understand why.  It was perfect for people watching. 

Men walked by with flowers from the shop next door (I love watching men walking by with flowers) and I admired more than one Red Sox hat.  College girls sat in groups of three, giggling away and reminding me of my little Sister Em, who will be a Freshman at Cal Poly next year.   

Crema Cafe asks that you limit your stay to an hour and it was time I moved on.   Next stop, Harvard COOP.  I was wandering the third floor for the first time when I came across this sign: 

Tuesday May 11th at 7pm Discussion/Signing with William Morgan

His latest book, The Typewriter Is Holy, claims on its front cover to be The Complete, Uncensored History of the Beat Generation.  Are you kidding me?    

View from my seat at the COOP Cafe

For this event, I would have to plan accordingly.  A couple more stops and I’d be walking back home to hang out with Cosmo a bit before catching another 72 Bus.  My first night out in Cambridge.  Party animal that I am.   

Leavitt & Peirce is mainly a tobacco shop.  It also sells chess sets, violet flavoured chewing gum, playing cards, and mustache wax.  Say what you will, I love the smell of tobacco.  Real tobacco.  The kind you find in tobacco pipes, the kind rolled into quality cigars.  I like this place.  

View from the Chess Balcony at Leavitt & Peirce

And I’m not just saying that because I scored me a wooden Ashton cigar box (Made by Hand in the Dominican Republic) for $1.  That was just a bonus.  I do love wooden boxes.  And this one is perfect for my vintage button collection.  Now all I need are some vintage buttons.   

What a great way to repurpose!

As I was walking across campus (after being denied entry to Harvard Library), I overheard a tour leader asking a small crowd of would-be students whether they thought the Science Center looked like a Polaroid Land Camera.   As they all looked up at it, the leader asked if any of them even knew what a Polaroid looked like.  Just then, it hit me.  Holy Crap, I’m thirty-seven.  For real.  

Harvard Science Center

I took the long way home.  Typically, I walk down Brattle Street or take a bus down Huron Ave.  Today, I walked through North Cambridge.  If you asked me to retrace my steps I doubt I’d be able to.  Glad I went this way, though.  Not all of Cambridge looks like Harvard Square, you know.   

Mike hurt his hand (this was his Barber Shop)

This route was roughly twice as long, but I had a great time along the way.  Back at the homestead and time to break it gently to Cosmo that I would be going back out.  I explained to her that I have this thing for Kerouac, Ginsberg, Burrows, Ferlinghetti… And that Ginsberg’s archivist and biographer of twenty years was only a ten minute bus ride away.  Whatever, Lady.

Name of Band TBA

I’m jogwalking to the COOP when this band stops me in my tracks. Cocaine’s … Gonna Kill My Honey Dead.  Wow.  They’re good.  But I cannot be late.  I throw a buck in the guitar case and up the stairs of the COOP I go, promising myself I will catch them before the end of the week.

Complimentary Starbucks coffee and real cream with Sugar in the Raw?  Nice.  And I’ve scored myself a decent seat.  Bill Morgan gets up to talk and I’m surprised.  He looks more like a librarian than a Herbert Huncke.  Oh. He is a librarian.  And did I mention he spent twenty years as Allen Ginsberg’s archivist and biographer, editing an essay here and there while he was at it?  How did he get that gig?!?  It’s a cool story.  Half an hour later I am convinced The Typewriter Is Holy will be a cool story as well.  So I buy it, and have him sign it when almost everyone has dispersed. 

Waiting to get my book signed. Facing the camera is photographer Elsa Dorfman!

I’d like to write more about the “Beats” and am pretty sure I can tie it in with Caretaking Couple.   What do you think?  In the meantime, I can’t wait to dive into this book, being the Dharma Bum that I am…   http://store-locator.barnesandnoble.com/event/65501.

OK.  Now. To find a bus home.  I have taken a bus to the Square, but never from it.  I’ve gotta go underground for that.  But first, what’s going on in front of Cardullo’s?  It’s a small crowd, watching the Red Sox on TV.  

Red Sox vs. Blue Jays

The deli is closed at Cardullo’s and the cashier recommends a burrito from Boloco.  I walk there and back and find a seat, thinking I would watch an inning or two.  Next to me is Bob (who recently retired after forty years with the Cambridge PD), Steve, and Jerome. 

A photographer starts taking pics as I shove the burrito in my mouth.  Come to find out he is with NPR.  Ha.  Is this to be my fifteen minutes of fame?  I love it.  Check their website for sexy pics of me slouching over said burrito. 

By the time the Red Sox were leading 6-1, Cardullo’s was closing up shop.  I thanked Bob for my Cambridge Police Department Junior Officer badge sticker and found the 72 bus.

Something else happened today (with regards to Mountain Girl Organics) but I don’t want to jinx it.  Seriously, what an all-around amazing day.   Cosmo didn’t look too convinced at first but she has since come around (convincing by means of doggie treats – I’m not above it).   

 

What does a perfect day consist of in your world?  Have you had one lately?  I’m hoping you have.  If not, what would it consist of?  Just curious, is all…