Isn't it odd? No matter what happens, the sun still rises, chores have to be done, and life goes on. But you're always aware that somewhere in Paris, a family is without a daughter or a father, that somewhere in Beirut—a story we didn't even hear because the clamor from Europe was so great—families have been broken up by death, that somewhere in the world violence has occurred. Why so much hate? Will there ever be an answer to that question? I wish I knew it.

The news was still full of Paris this morning. I walked Tucker and we had breakfast, then James headed off to his club meeting. I had coupons for several places and was hoping to get on the road early enough to get back early. Well, one can plan, anyway.

I went to JoAnn, but the place looks sorrier every day. They no longer let you use coupons on magazines, either, so I reluctantly left behind a nifty cross-stitch super-issue. I just bought a couple of tinsel garlands because some of ours are looking tatty (the new ones were half-price or I wouldn't have bought them) and a coupon on a paint pen to use on an Advent project.

I bought a basket at Michael's (40 percent off) to put a gift in, and just a part to make a personalized bookmark for someone. I hate going to the cross-stitch aisle in Michael's any longer; it's short and has hardly anything in it but DMC thread. I couldn't even find pattern books or kits!

Then for something nicer: I headed for Barnes & Noble. They were having a coloring event, and, sure enough, all the people sitting there were adult women. I remember when I used to do this, way back; I called it my "therapy." A friend of mine still does it. I don't really have time anymore: I want to write or blog or tidy or work on crafts, and it seems so much time is spent on "tidy." Anyway, I found the Christmas issue of "A Primitive Place" and the November/December "Landlove." All that's left of my annual Yuletide reading is the Christmas issue of "Landscape." It will be sad where the fall and Christmas things make way for Valentine's Day and then for spring.

(November is going by too quickly! Here it is half-past the month already. Summer crawls by like a constipated sloth, but every nice autumn day lasts about ten minutes.)

I checked for low-priced DVDs at CD Warehouse, but nothing struck my eye. I would have bought Mr. Holmes had it been in stock.

Well, I'd picked up the new "Year-Round Christmas" mystery paperback and the newest Chicken Soup for the Soul Christmas volume with half my coupons, but they didn't have the one book I was looking for. So instead of heading home the way I intended, I plodded through the now-populous Barrett Parkway traffic. I wanted to stop at Five Below to stock up on some Reese's Dark cups for desserts, since they're now the only place that carries them, but made the mistake of turning at 2nd and Charles, and you know I had to go in. :-) I found a "Dear America" book I hadn't read, plus a used but serviceable copy of On Crusade: More Tales of the Knights Templar, which has a Sir Adam Sinclair story in it that I hadn't read. I wish "The Adept" series was still going! We were promised at least one more, about Adam's mother Philippa working with Sir John Grey (from Katherine Kurtz's fabulous Lammas Night) during the Second World War. Plus I picked up a sweet book called Christmas at the Lighthouse, which features the Flying Santa. I've been fascinated by stories about lighthouse keepers' children ever since I read "Maudie Tom, Jockey."

Made my stop at Five Below and bought also some tiny styluses (styli?). The usual ones seem so big for my e-reader.

To skirt traffic, I headed back to Barrett Parkway by way of Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park. I wanted to park and take some pictures, but had to resign myself to stopping in the parking lot and shooting some fast shots since the park was simply overflowing with people all out enjoying the nice high-50s weather, from the silver-haired to the babes in arms. The colors are very muted. I had high hopes for good fall color here, and when we got home from vacation we still had that promise, but the week of rain thwarted that! Only the golds are still brilliant and near sunset the whole world seems golden under the blue sky.

So I went back to the West Cobb Barnes & Noble (we were here last night, but I had misplaced a set of coupons), and since it was almost three o'clock, had a cup of soup. The cafe was clotted with the usual assortment of people doing homework, reading the magazines for free over a cup of coffee, and giggly teenagers, but I managed to find a seat and read more about the aftermath in Paris until the soup was gone. Would you believe no one has put the cart full of new magazines on the shelves since James and I were here last night? Anyway, I finished up the coupons with Always Truly, a juvenile mystery set in New Hampshire, and Schultz's The Hired Girl, which is based on the true experiences of the author's grandmother in escaping an abusive home and going out "for hire" while trying to get an education.

I came home through West Sandtown Road, which, despite the developments, seems to have held on to its country flavor, especially in the one bit of land with two horses pastured on it, and the big expanse of water at "Addie's Pond." The sun was already lowering and flickering through what was left of the gold-and-green leaves and the ragged edges of the pine branches.

I pulled in the driveway just five minutes before James arrived home from his meeting.

We had supper at Tin Drum and then went to Microcenter, since James had a free coupon for a 16GB storage drive (in any format: thumb drive or card; he got a mini-SD card for his e-reader). I broke down and bought a Logitech universal remote and spent the rest of the evening programming it. As I expected, our superannuated Kenwood receiver is too old to respond to it, but I can get to everything else more or less, even the Smart Hub stuff like Tune In radio.

Stayed up a little to talk to Emma and then it was off to bed. I'd stripped the bed this morning and changed it between programming the remote, and the room was so nice and cool, and fresh sheets always are so wonderful.

Labels: autumn, books, chores, electronics, shopping, weather

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:47:00 PM

Comments:

Reading your posts make me feel like such a hayseed, trying to comprehend how many stores are in or near a large city. I live in a town of 1,100 residents, and the county's largest city (with both a hospital and a courthouse) has a population of less than 14,000.

I had no idea there was such a thing as a store with a cross-stitch department. The two cross-stitch samplers on my wall were made in the late 1970s / early 1980s. The "Home Sweet Home" was a kit ordered out of a magazine, and the one with the alphabet and Shaker hymn verse was a design I made up on my own. I live in an apartment that started out life as a motel room, so there's no more room for wall pictures, but a few years ago I paid a dime for a cross stitch magazine at a yard sale. The cover has a Delft Blue Tile design on it, and the four-foot wide wall in my kitchennet is decorated with a few Delft tiles. There really isn't room for more without things looking crowded, but I do have cloth plus a big tin of embroidery floss (more yard sale purchases) and that Delft design is tempting...

# posted by  Unknown : 11:30:00 PM

 

Karen, in the age of the internet, a town with 1,100 residents sounds very nice. There's almost no need for shopping centers. On the other hand, if I don't go to a bookstore once a week I get twitchy. :-) I don't have to buy anything; I just want to be with the books.

Most of the big craft stores have a cross-stitch department, but they're getting smaller by the year. Knitting is the big craft thing now, so there are aisles of yarn and knitting and crochet needles and gadgets. We used to have several cross-stitch/needlepoint stores here and one by one they closed. The only one left is mostly knitting now. Always envious when I read the British cross-stitch magazines and they talk about big craft shops with lots of cross-stitch stuff and, if it's not in stock, to "ask your stockist to order it for you." The stores here just say "if we don't stock it, we don't have it and can't order it."

# posted by  Linda : 8:47:00 AM

 

By the way, I love blue delft!

# posted by  Linda : 7:12:00 PM

 

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