One tiny little Batman walked his pudgy legs up the stairs to get his Halloween candy. His mother, in the background, was jumping up and down, cheering him on. He was the only child I got to see on my porch, and he somberly received his one piece of candy and headed back down the stairs.
Visiting cherubs, princesses, and PowerRangers — this is what I miss from when I lived in the suburbs. But I do not miss how far away I was form everything. Today I walked to the library; I made some of the late ripening figs into fig marzipan cake; I walked to the corner bakery for bread. All in all, a satisfying day in the city, with fall leaves decorating the streets with gold, while roses still bloom. I would never have been able to walk to anything except a library in the suburb in which I used to live. Everything there was set up for car commuting.
I brought home the following books from the library:
- Miles Harvey, The Island of Lost Maps: a True Story of Cartographic Crime. Published in 2000 by Random House, NY.
- Bernd Heinrich, Summer World: A Season of Bounty. Published in 2009, Ecco.
- Julie Phillips, James Tiptree Jr: a Life of Alice Sheldon. Published 2006, St. Martins, NY.
- Agatha Christie, Murder in Our Midst. Published in 1967 by Dodd, Mead and Company, NY.
The book about the maps is interesting. But I’ve been drawn into the dual life of Alice Sheldon. (How could one resist a story of a child taken on an African safari at age 6, who then grows up to write fascinating science fiction from the persona of a reclusive male author? The family she has is very different, and it’s an interesting study of how environment can cause odd growth patterns in people.) I’ve been a fan of Heinrich’s writing ever since I read his book about ravens years ago, and I’m looking forward to reading Miss Marple as well.
Meanwhile, I am knitting. I have found that my gauge is off on one project, so I may have to frog it and get different size needles. Perhaps 2.25 mm. Bah. Frustrating because I like the fabric I’m getting, but I know that if I have any hope of the little garment fitting anyone, it needs to be redone.