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Monday, May 26, 2003
A day out Yesterday was an actual leave-the-house day; yea, verily, a leave the house for a reason other than work day. In the mid-afternoon, J. and I finally got sick of sitting around looking for something to do, and decided to brave the weather. (It rained off and on for the rest of the day, but not too badly.) We went to South Street; to the dismay of many Philadelphians, it's become increasingly mainstream and commercial (it's even got a Starbucks now; and, as I discovered while writing this, a Web site), but it's still got plenty of cool, offbeat places to go. Stopped at Garland of Letters first; I looked at the Tarot decks, but didn't see anything I wouldn't rather buy on-line. Also, there were some patchouli-smelling people standing uncomfortably close and I didn't feel like waiting for the clerk to stop talking to them and wait on me. Then we headed for Book Trader, one of the coolest used-bookstores I've ever been in. It's a rambling, two-story converted rowhouse, complete with two or possibly three store cats. I found a book on the English Regency that I've been looking for; J. didn't find anything he wanted. After that, Mineralistic, where I indulged my shiny rock cravings. I saw a fossil ammonite that is high on the list of the most beautiful things I've ever seen: it had opalized, so it was glazed with a rainbow sheen, and the chambers of the shell had become filled with crystals of different colors; some of them looked like geodes, caverns with crystal walls. Gorgeous. Also $195, so it stayed in the store. I did buy a flourite octahedron; I thought it was a natural crystal, but it turned out to have been cut that way. Feh. Still, very attractive. Then, sushi at Hikaru; it's been a long time since we went out for sushi. (Our first date was at a sushi restaurant, and when J. proposed, we went out to a sushi dinner afterwards.) We only had three maki rolls apiece, plus appetizers and sake, and, with tip, it was only $80. Downright cheap. (For six glorious months in 2000, I was a restaurant reviewer; it wasn't uncommon for us to have a $400 dinner, which, of course, was paid for by the company I wrote for. Oh, that was wonderful...) After that, we went to the new annex of Book Trader; smaller, and a little...classier, I guess; no shelves full of people's old paperback Stephen King novels. The best thing about the place was that they, too, had a store cat; specifically, a store kitten. (I never really thought about it, but obviously that's where store cats come from.) It was a little tabby, absolutely full of energy, chasing shoelaces and dashing up and down the aisles. J. and I both played with it, and got plenty of little kitten-claw scratches to show for it. Frickin' adorable. We can't have a cat; J.'s allergic to them, and besides, cats and pet mice do not mix very well. But other people's cats, for limited time periods, are a lot of fun. At that store, we bought a book titled "Impractical Pets," which I think I'll leave in the living room to freak out my parents. (They never know what odd animal we're going to want next; chinchillas are high on our list right now.) I also was very pleased with myself for picking up Jeffery Deaver's latest book, still in hardcover, for $10.95; it retails for $25. I'd resigned myself to waiting for it to come out in paperback. After that, we went home, and immediately settled down to read. Went to bed around midnight; I slept till noon, then got up and finished the book. Then decided it was time to get back to my usual day-off activity of sitting in front of the computer for hours at an end. And here I am. [ at 3:27 PM • by Abby • permalink • ] |
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