Still coping with the last few orders at work, the more complicated ones and some later ones as well. However, on Thursday afternoon I actually had time at lunch to go out, unlike the last few weeks when I just pounded my keyboard during mouthfuls of lunch. But I had a prescription to pick up, and I took a minute to stop at Hobby Lobby to pick up a cool book I had seen last week: Vintage Notions: An Inspirational Guide to Needlework, Cooking, Sewing, Fashion and Fun.

So why do I want a book that concerns cooking, sewing and fashion when I have no interest in any of them? Because it contains articles and illustrations from the 1920s, and for the same reason I bought Jane Brocket's Gentle Art of Domesticity, full of similar associations—the sort of thing you read on a chill day cuddled in a throw.

I also stopped at Dollar Tree to pick up some autumn leaf doilies I'd read about on my Christmas mailing list and found two likely books for $1 each, one about a mother who attempts to wean her son away from television and another about writing.

Back at home within the hour and back to work.

Today I had a nice lie-in until eight o'clock and then after breakfast I had to get cracking on a project. I'd procrastinated on it and now really needed to finish it. It involved a craft I learned long ago from my mom and hadn't done in a very long time (and I wasn't anywhere near as good at it as she was). So I took it slow and though the result didn't come out perfectly, the finished project came out quite well.

In the meantime I was finishing another project, something I had worked up as a gift for Mike and Jen. When it was completed, I packed it up in a box, but realized I didn't have the wedding card to go with it. So I zipped out and found an absolutely perfect one in the first card I saw; it said everything a card should. I put it into the box, sealed it up, and took it to the post office, and it's off. It won't get there tomorrow, sadly, but it will be there when they return from their honeymoon.

I was headed for Michael's by way of Barnes & Noble, then realized that I wanted to go to the Town Center B&N, which has the best selection of cross-stitch magazines. None of the other bookstores has more than two or three at the time. So I headed north instead of south.

Well, I've done it. I feel like a traitor, but with Borders closing there was nothing else to do. I got a Barnes & Noble discount card. Also found a nice crop of magazines: the September British "Country Living," the fall issue of "Victorian Homes," "Christmas Ideas" from "Better Homes & Gardens," and the fall issue of "Vermont Life," which, autumn-leaf wise, is a bummer: only about three photos...and a totally out-of-place eight-page "summer" article about baseball. If this is their "new format," I don't like it at all.

I also picked up the new paperback versions of Susan Wittig Albert's The Tale of Oat Cake Crag and Rhys Bowen's Royal Blood.

(Ironically, I didn't find any cross-stitch magazines. <g> Or rather ones I did see had only one pattern each in them I liked, and I won't buy a cross-stitch magazine for one pattern, especially since most of them are British and are $9-$11 each! Althought I did love the one that came with the Christmas robin/mouse card kit...)

By now it was after noon and my hunger was on edge; it was hours since my oatmeal, yogurt, and milk. So I stopped by Publix to look at the twofers and grab a loaf of French bread. A thin list today; just got Triscuit and our favorite trail mix. Also found some luscious-looking lamb steaks and a bag of grapes.

On the way home I detoured through Kennesaw National Battlefield Park. The Kiwanis had put up flags in the big field outside the park building to represent each person killed on September 11; the display was supposed to be up through today, but when I arrived they were almost done taking down the flags. :-(

So I drove home through downtown Marietta and discovered my favorite of the antique shops, Willow Too Antiques, the one that always had the best prims at Christmastime, has closed. Aw.

Incidentally, it was a wonderful day to be doing errands! It was overcast all day, but not oppressively so, delightfully cool (it never got over 70°F), and with a marvelous breeze that kept the flags snapping out and the car cool. For one bad moment it looked as if the sun was going to come out, but the clouds overcame it. Happily, autumn appears on the way. The dogwood trees are already starting to turn color, as well as the smaller maple trees.

James got home early and we ended up eating supper at Ken's before five o'clock (which suited me fine because I never did eat lunch except for a cup of soup) and then realizing there was nowhere we wanted to go. We've always been used to going to Borders on Friday night!

Eventually went by Michaels to get something to finish off the project I had worked on this morning and picked up some birdseed for Schuyler next door at Petsmart. Then we had dessert at Baskin-Robbins before coming home and ending up watching some of the famous British "Carry On" films, including the very first, Carry on Sergeant, which features William Hartnell, later cast as the first Doctor, as the crusty sergeant. I've heard about these films for years and always thought they were more slapstick and kind of silly, more like the Three Stooges or Jerry Lewis. Sergeant was actually quite low-key, with amusing chuckles and a rather touching ending.

Labels: books, food, magazines, movies, shopping, television, weather

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