Up late last night reading while James worked on John Campbell's Flying Wing downstairs (watching "The Antimatter Man" on Lost in Space and a black-and-white–read: decent–episode of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea), so was dismayed when I awoke at eight and then couldn't go back to sleep. I just lay in bed, eyes closed and mind working, then James stirred. Aha, he couldn't sleep, either. So I asked drowsily, "What time is it?"

10:45? Nope, couldn't go back to sleep, could I? Heh.

So, the usual: dress, dog walk, breakfast.

Then the good stuff: we were off to Buckhead. Had a nice ride through Paces Ferry Road, which is mostly residential and borderline posh, except for one shopping center near the old steel bridge, and lined with big, old trees until you get to the turn at the very end, when it turns back into commercial blah. Apparently they had some hard rain and wind through here last night as West Paces Ferry was smeared with leaves and had the occasional branch scattered at the side of the road.

We decided to go to Binder's first. Now, neither of us has been to Binder's since it was in the no-longer-existent Lindbergh Plaza (now a yuppified residential/business glom boxy with high rises). We followed the GPS directions and it turns out it is now right next door to what we used to call "the disco Kroger" (because there used to be a disco in the shopping center, natch). You actually enter at the Kroger level and have to take the stairs or the elevator down to the store proper.

I'd forgotten how much I love wandering around art supply stores and flitted in and out of the aisles happily looking at all the goodies. They had handmade paper in the most gorgeous colors—peacock and pale blues alternating in wavy stripes, vivid purples deep enough to drown in, shades of green to rival the leaves on the trees, fire reds and oranges, even luscious pinks (and I hate pink!)—and paper mache animals, gorgeous frames which were just what I needed but too expensive, rows of calligraphy pens and India ink (which is really Chinese) and even a bottle of walnut ink, one row full of colored pencils alone (Prismacolor mostly, but other brands as well) with the opposite side lined with differently colored markers, plus hundreds of paintbrushes, stands of canvas, scratchboard, highlighters, paint, Modge Podge, paper for decoupage...it was delightful.

Barnes & Noble was less magical, but I did get a "This England" out of it, plus I bought a sketch pad with the coupon I had. James bought a trio of magazines, and we had a nice look around.

Neither of us had eaten lunch, so we decided we were adults and could have dessert before dinner. We drove home past the stately homes of Buckhead, past electrical trucks working on a power pole that had lost its crosspiece, and up Cobb Parkway via Bruster's ice cream and each had a small cone, watching the steely black-grey thunderclouds boiling up from the north. Bruster's was crowded and the street noisy, but you could still hear the low growl of thunder over the usual street racket. So made tracks home after a stop for a Sunday paper, but got caught in about ten minutes of Georgia Monsoon Season. We'd covered the power chair and it stopped before we got home, so no problem.

This afternoon we watched Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Unfortunately we had to watch without benefit of surround sound, as our wheezy old receiver (it's about 20 years old and hasn't worked properly since we moved into this house; the volume numbers go backwards to zero when you increase the volume instead of the proper way, and for the past year the display numbers don't show up for the first five minutes the unit is on—plus any time there's a loud sound in the movie, like a boom or a crescendo in music, it shuts off) quit working during the first scene when the music swelled. I put the TV on "movie sound" and it was adequate. Looked great, though, and got to pause during Rey's flashbacks. I notice they play "Luke's Theme" every time she has a revelation; is that a clue to her identity?

We had Asian chicken salad tonight for supper with a chaser of Call the Midwife and an episode of Hill Street Blues showing on the newly acquired "Heroes and Icons" channel. This was a seventh season episode and you could tell the show was losing steam; what was crackling and fresh when it premiered looked tired by the time this episode aired. Amused by seeing Peter Jurasik (Londo Mollari on Babylon 5) in his recurring role of "Sid the snitch" opposite Dennis Franz as Lt. Norman Buntz. Noticed a familiar name in the credits: Cuba Gooding Jr as "2nd gang member." It was his third credited role.

Labels: art, books, movies, shopping, television, weather

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