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.
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.
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.
you truly ARE living my dream life. vintage cigar box and all – no, REALLY. what a PERFECT day. will have to add The Typewriter Is Holy to the book list. look forward to hearing any MGO updates – said in a very soft whisper. kisses!
You know, Rachel…I would really love to have you over for a cuppa. That’s not likely to happen anytime soon, but I just thought I’d let you know anyway. In the meantime, I suppose a post card will have to do…XOX
Hey, you did all that without me. I’m very jealous but what a fabulous day. xx
I can’t tell you how many times I thought to myself (if only Paul were here for this…). But then, I think about Paul Theroux touting the benefits of traveling alone and I think of all of the stuff that I have done that we probably would not have done together; there is that, as you say : ) It has been a great experience but two weeks is a bit long for me to be away from you. Can’t wait to see you and Milo and the garden and the Bay…tomorrow!
You go, girl. I am really enjoying sharing this adventure with you.
Your story took me back to a day I spent in Brussels in 1983 – thanks for the memories!
Thank you, Sean. Love that my story had that effect on you. I am hoping to have some international stories of my own here soon. We are aiming for Europe in August. Hoping to have a good excuse to get to CO before then, as well. And, I am doing my best to cast an Airstream spell on Paul(see Long Long Honeymoon interview and comments : ) In other words, life is good. Loving that we are able to keep in touch this way – my eyes light up when I see that there is a comment from Sean!
I’m glad we have this medium to communicate, too!
I was at Tattered Cover last night and saw this cool book – “Airstream Living” ( http://www.amazon.com/Airstream-Living-Bruce-Littlefield/dp/0060833068 ) and thought of you guys.
…very nice…
Thank you, dear friend. Just checked out Emily’s blog – good for her : ) Have you been to http://www.waiterrant.net yet? Anyone in the restaurant industry can relate to it on so many levels. The book is great. Love you.
Valynne, I too enjoyed our walk and, for the first time, walking faster than a dog! glad you were able to extend your day and make it memorable… I hope that I had a part in that . Hope to get to see other parts of Cambridge and the general surroundings. Kevin
You had a major part in it, especially considering you got me the sit in the first place : )
Cosmo wasn’t up for the loop today, so I brought her home and walked it without her. I thought I would be so much faster without her but I wasn’t, really. Just a few minutes. I am going to miss Fresh Pond – it has become a daily routine.
What a great neck of the woods you live in. Thank you for all of your suggestions re: food and fun. Any chance of you blogging about your sitting adventures this summer? You are hitting Wyoming and Montana, yes? Anywhere else? Keep me posted!
I would get up just when I wanted to, take my time getting showered and dressed, wear my favorite clothes, go to a “come on in and sit a while” coffee shop and have a decadent double shot rice milk latte, sipping slowly while reading a great book. I am reading one now: The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown. I am not a great fan, per se, but the themes he touches on get my juices flowing. I’ve been glued to google often along the way. What a wonderful overview of power of mind/related subjects.
I would then bump into someone interesting who thinks for themselves, and see the world with well practiced glasses willing to expand reality as they go, and have a chat until I was hungry, and went home to have lunch. After, I would pull out my kayak, and go for a row around a lake, until inspiration hit me and I just “had to” go home and write further -that book I’ve been working on.
Once I was quite spent of that idea and its baby followers, I would luxuriate with a glass of vodka tonic until my lover pulled me to bed…yeah, that would work great as a perfect day for me.
I love it. Thank you for sharing this, Erika. I am excited for us both – what an interesting few years it has been since we first met. I feel we are on the cusp of something…well, two different things, actually. Hoping to discuss this further over a decadent double shot rice milk latte very soon. Are you still in Sedona?
Hey “V”
I am soooo over winter . . . instead of my normal afternoon cafe mocha I opened a bottle of champagne – WTF? A little toast to “Old man winter” whom has been haunting me for almost 8 months. BASTARD! Anyway, I turned the heat all the way up to 68 degrees – seriously, with the price of propane, I never do that. Again, my screw you to winter! Drew a hot bath – came back to get it – the water was BROWN. Remember what the water looks like here when the moisture seeps into the well?? Yuck – good thing I already had a few drinks so I could enjoy my nature enhanced bath water. Are you sure you really miss it here??
~Sadie
Ha! Someone’s feeling sassy today. How I do miss you. Brown water – yes – I remember the first time I saw it. The house was on the market and I was like what the??? I was told this was normal but I never embraced it : ) As for missing CO – I do miss it, but not as much as I miss my friends. Thanks for giving me the giggles!
Truly enjoy reading your blog. You are able to make the simple things in your daily life very interesting. I look forward to your next entry. Hugs
Thank you very much, AE! One of my favorite Buddha quotes is “As you walk and eat and travel, be where you are. Otherwise you will miss most of your life”. I’m doing my best to honor the present : ) XOX
Valynne, I am so loving hearing about Cambridge… you are enjoying my old haunts as much as I did. I’d like to talk with you about a beautiful little cobblestone walkway hidden between the square and a neighborhood there… glad all is well.
Denise, you are teasing me with the cobblestone walkway…did you receive my e-mail? Details, please!