Yesterday: Don had just finished reading The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead and he loved it. I suggested that he might want to follow up with The Underground Railroad, Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize winner. As we try to buy locally, he called a bookstore in the neighboring town where he had purchased The Nickel Boys via the phone and curbside pickup just a few days before. But they didn’t have it in stock. He called the used bookstore across the street. Didn’t have it on hand. Finally, he resorted to Amazon. In the meantime, I suggested Postmark Books, a shop in a neighboring town that I’ve shared with you many times in the past – great owners, terrific stock of books. I knew that they weren’t officially open to traffic; they were being wise and doing curbside pickup. Don wrote to them via their website and asked whether they had it in stock. Yes. They did. We hurriedly went to Amazon to see if we could cancel the order – we could. So Don bought it through Postmark and arranged for a curbside pickup at 2:30.
Suddenly, we were in the car and ready to take the beautiful drive into Rosendale, a drive we had suggested to ourselves as a future possibility the week before. The scenery along with way, all backed by the Shawangunk Mountains in the distance, is so lovely. There are farms and orchards and charming cottages and houses. One of the things that drew us to the East Coast was the fact that no house looked exactly like another house, though every part of the country has subdivisions, of course. But most every house that wasn’t in a subdivision was different from the next, some of them quirky, some of them magnificent, some run-down. We saw it when Don was working in the Berkshires and I visited him (we were still living in San Diego,) we saw it in rural New Jersey. And we definitely saw it here when we started looking for a house. That’s one of the things we love about this area. It’s very, very old, having been settled in the 1600s in some cases, in the early 1700s in others.
Anyway, we loved the drive; one we haven’t made in quite a long time. When we arrived, I put on my mask and ran across the street to get Don’s book. Then…we actually parked in a lot behind some shops and walked. Just walked. We looked in windows. We took pictures. We didn’t have to run an errand. We just walked, like we used to when we would visit an interesting town.
Before.
(Note: We live in the country and we live in an old part of the country where sidewalks are usually narrow and, as in our nearby college town, it’s hard to avoid brushing shoulders with people who may or may not be masked. So we usually avoid it.)
The bookstore. You pick up books from the box in front of the door. How I miss simply walking in a door and browsing!
New Yorkers are pretty good about wearing masks, though I saw one guy without a mask and let’s not talk about how many people filling up their cars with gas while we were doing the same were unmasked. Thank goodness Don was wearing a mask.
In front of a pet supply store. There were two of these masked dogs.
In front of our friend Elizabeth’s shop.
Elizabeth’s shop, which is the shop where we found the French Bistro table and the retro 40s patio chair we have in the living room. Right next to it is the Rosendale Theater which hosts an eclectic movie series.
A favorite house.
And us – in our masks from Kathy.
Anyway, the end result was a huge deal for us. We felt like we’d been freed from house arrest. The simplest things are the most powerful; the chance to amble down a street, doing nothing but observing, looking in windows, chatting – one of our favorite things to do and something we’ll never take for granted again. We felt lighter, more buoyant, and very happy.
We have to be cautious, of course. Don is nearly 70. I am soon to be 68. We can’t just take off and go anywhere, nor would we. But we have decided that we will take more of these little jaunts, trips we choose because we are pretty sure they’ll be relatively safe. No agenda. No need to go inside a shop. Not in the woods, though we love that. Not in our neighborhood, though we love that, too. Simply something that we now realize we desperately need: a simple walk on a paved sidewalk in a little town.
Stay safe.
Happy Wednesday.
What a great post! I loved the photos of Rosendale, it made me feel like I too had been out and about. Charming.
Take Care,
Kaye
Park City UT
Thank you, Kaye!
Stay safe.
Such a pretty little town. I love exploring as well and I’m glad that you had the chance to go on a mini expedition. Stay safe and take care.
It made a big difference in our day, Carol!
Stay safe.
Oh, a change (of scenery) must be as good as a rest. I wouldn’t know, as I haven’t left this place in months! But I loved seeing your photos of your outing, thanks very much. Is that sweet masked fox terrier a life-size guy? Love, love, love 💕 Makes my heart skip a beat.
I think he was pretty close to life-sized. Can’t quite remember!
Stay safe, Shanna!
Oh yes I agree with you about east coast houses.
Even though we lived by the ocean in southern Ca, we were happy to flee beige stucco land.
We love our grey weathered shingle home by the ocean here.
Call us crazy but we even love the snow!
Even though we lived in a Craftsman home, my memory of San Diego is acres and acres of beige stucco.
Thanks, Linda.
Stay safe.
Oh the dreaded beige stucco. Why didn’t anyone speak up when they started building identical faux “Spanish” or “Tuscan” style homes all over Southern California? Fortunately we do have many charming craftsman, some victorian and plenty of unique 50’s ranch homes but they are hidden among a sea of beige boxes. Sigh. Driving through a unique neighborhood is one of my favorite things to do and is one of the things we still can do safely during these isolated times.
What a charming town! It really is good for the spirit to see some new scenery once in a while.
I l.ive a few miles from Lake Michigan so I often drive by. It always lifts my spirits.
I have not read The Nickle Boys but have friends who have raved about it. It is on my list.
Take care
Love the Great Lakes – a big part of my youth!
Stay safe, Marilyn.
I’m happy to read a positive post by you, Claudia. I had been concerned about many things that have happened to you and Don recently…Lyme, the tree destruction and subsequent need for expensive clean up, the weather, and, of course, the ever-present sheltering and change in lifestyle we’re all experiencing. I’m so happy what would have been a typical day trip in the past turned out to be the best medicine for relaxing, self-care and rejuvenation. Stay safe, Claudia, and stay happy.
Well, all of that is still ongoing and the tree cleanup (and payment) hasn’t happened yet, but a little time away (even for just 3 hours) really helps.
Thanks so much, Wendy.
Stay safe.
Can I tell a little story that might lift the spirits? We have a handicapped daughter 48 years old but o the level of a one year old at best. she has been spending her days leaning over the sofa back looking out the front window. She likes to watch people especially kids. Though not too many to watch lately. Anyway a group of kids walked by and waved at her. They looked like siblings and I have seen them go by before but the important part is they wave at her. Even the oldest who looks like a 15-16 year old boy. I love this area so much because almost all the kids are like him. They are good to retarded people more often than I can count. My daughters siblings had friends who would let her join them any time she wanted from kindergarten through their 20s! Love them all!
That is a great little story…warmed my heart! ;)
Perfectly beautiful and wonderful and life-affirming and just what we need to hear, Jan.
Thank you so much!
Stay safe – and love to your daughter.
xoxo
hej, jan …
thanks for sharing about neighborhood kids being kind to your daughter.
wish i could walk by your home every day; i’d wave to your daughter and bring some (sanitized) thing with the hope of making her day and yours a bit easier.
i keep you, your family, claudia and don and everyone else here in my prayers.
hope you all are safe, well and have all you need and want. stay safe!
kathy in iowa
It’s a very, VERY big deal and I’m glad you allowed yourselves to do that and will again. Being careful is what it’s all about, but there are ways to be careful and still lighten the emotional load by doing little safe field trips and taking good care. Well done. I loved the photos of the town — it’s charming and I can see why you’d like to be there.
I know what you mean about the Berks and other areas in New England having unique houses. I really appreciate that. You see that in Michigan too — but in the newer subdivisions it sometimes looks as though they used two or three plans for every house. I love older houses. The shop looks great. And loved the pet store! Thanks for taking us along with you!
I grew up in a subdivision of modest bungalows and though there were slight differences in the exteriors, they were all very much alike. I’ve done my best to live in houses that are unlike any others since then!
Thanks, Jeanie.
Stay safe.
What a charming little town. Those are narrow sidewalks! It’s been a long time since I’ve been out East. But other than sidewalk width, it looks pretty much like most Wisconsin small towns. They just ooze charm, don’t they? It’s always a treat to visit special places like that during this time. Just a change of scenery can do us a world of good!
We are having beautiful weather these days…not too hot. So, I’ll be out working in the yard today…sprucing things up. Stay safe…love those masks!! ;)
I love charming small towns, though so many of them look like ghost towns at the moment. Can’t wait until that changes.
We are also having beautiful weather. Virtually no humidity! Today, it will only get to 78 degrees. I love it!
Thanks, Donna.
Stay safe.
Thanks so much,Claudia. I feel as if I had a stroll alongside you and Don.What a charming town ! I do miss browsing in bookstores and thrift shops. xo
Oh, so do I! But I guess I’m saving money…but maybe not.
Thanks, Annette. Stay safe.
Oh, the ‘little’ things we all used to do…very glad that you two had this time. It’s essential. Lovely photos too as always.
Yes, all those things we took for granted, Naomi. I don’t think I’ll take them for granted again.
Stay safe.
Glad you could get out have a little adventure. I was lucky enough to be able to stroll through a large greenhouse a few weeks ago and it was so peaceful. Just that little trip a few miles from my house made me feel so good. I am curious about your doll house. How many have you made? What got you interested in building them? Do you collect them or gift them? You must have patience and steady hands to work with all the small pieces! Enjoy you day!
I had a tin dollhouse as a kid and I grew tired of it because it was already decorated – they stamped the curtains and wall coverings on the tin. I also decorated the inside of my Barbie case. Years later, my niece had a wooden dollhouse made for her daughter and that intrigued me. I was blogging by then. So I followed a lot of miniaturists. I couldn’t afford an expensive kit at the time (still can’t) but I found my first dollhouse on Craigs List for $35 and proceed to rehab it over 6 years. I have about 5 dollhouses – 2 of those are in progress. And another half-scale dollhouse that I have yet to build.
They’re all for me! I collect them.
Stay safe, Cindy.
Your reply put a smile to my face, especially the all for me! Enjoy!
xoxo
The little pleasures of being out and about, esp in a charming small town, are so vital. Thanks for taking us along with you. One of the things I loved most about Newport, RI, when I moved there from Southern California was the amazing diversity of architecture, everything from tiny neat Colonials to Victorian ladies to Summer Homes of the gilded age. Your little town’s Main Street seems so quintessential American to me, bookstores, quirky theater, antique shops, but than so modern with the Black Lives Matter message and the masked mascots at the pet store. You’ve warmed my heart. Road trips, even just an hour or so down the road, are uplifting!
They are indeed. Small towns tell a story and I love observing them. And learning about them.
Thanks, Nora.
Stay safe!
Wonderful that you 2 got out. Nothing like a change of venue!! Nice to see you’re in a better mood today, too. Stay positive…it’ll help!!
Thanks, Priscilla!
Stay safe.
What a wonderful day trip. We say it ~~ we have heard it all our lives ~~ but, I finally, at age 70, feel like I actually understand: “it is the little things that matter” and “don’t take things for granted”. Renewing our spirit and our souls is always a very good thing!
Our weather here has been spectacular. No humidity, windows open, and lots of sunshine. Trying to enjoy every moment and keep the memory of it for Jan and Feb. I think we will need those memories more than ever this winter. Enjoy your day!!
So has ours. It almost feels like early autumn! You’re right – I must imprint these days so I can remember them come winter.
Stay safe, Chris.
The East Coast and The New England States are places of longing for me since the sixties. I love the Indian Summer and these old wooden houses in these small towns. Know all about it through books and american movies (Hitchcock etc.), but never been there in person. Hope someday I will! Thank you Claudia for awakening those beautiful pictures before my eyes! Stay safe and hit the road!
I hope you get to see them someday! You’re very welcome, Helga! Stay safe.
Me again. I just saw that tomorrow (8/20) on Sundance at 9 p.m. ET is the Law and Order: Personae Non Grata, with Don Sparks as James Kelvin!
I will be at the lake again with no TV (DRAT — I look EVERY DAY at the L&O, SVU and CI listings to see if I can find one of his and it comes where I am without TV!) But I just wanted to let you know!
I’m not sure I remember what character that one was – Don was on L&O several times – though I certainly remember the episode title as I see it on residual checks! Thanks, Jeanie! So kind of you to let us know! xo
We are lucky we live in a very small town…no sidewalks. Just wide streets. So we take walks every evening and rarely even encounter anyone else. Sometimes there’ll be a person on the other side of the road taking a walk, too or walking a dog, but they’re about 10 feet away from us. Or, people will be sitting out on their front porch or working in their yard and they wave and say hello.
We’re both actually out and about often…Brian still works outside the home FT, we run errands, we’ve both had doctor appointments and I’m currently in physical therapy every week. We’ve been out to eat, mainly outdoor dining. And we visited a couple of Chicago neighborhoods last week; smaller, quiet neighborhoods where we only went into four independent shops. Two of them, we were the only customers and the other two, only one other customer was in each. Everyone was masked everywhere we went, even outdoors and everyone kept their distance. We ate lunch at a little cafe outside on the sidewalk. We used a lot of hand sanitizer and used disinfecting wipes in the car on the steering wheel, handles and knobs.
The only places we won’t go are where there are a lot of people in close proximity; for example, tourist towns. We live close to Lake Geneva, WI and will not go there. Same with another WI town that we love to go to, called Cedarburg. Narrow sidewalks where you’re constantly passing people and crowded little stores.
Glad you got out and about!
We’re still not ready to dine out – and not ready to trust someone else’s food prep. I know we might be the exception but everyone has their own comfort level. We take hand sanitizer and wipes with us everywhere we go.
We’re out to get groceries, for Don to get the shot he needs for macular degeneration, to get prescriptions, to run to the hardware store and the post office. Those kinds of things have to do with basic necessities, so we don’t count those as purely pleasurable excursions, which yesterday was. That’s what I meant about being freed from house arrest.
Thanks, Melanie. Stay safe.
claudia …
you and don are not alone … indoors/outdoors/take-away, we’re not comfortable yet to be eating at restaurants and won’t be for who-knows-how-long.
kathy in iowa
We just talked about that the other day on our drive. We’re not ready for that yet.
Thanks, Kathy.
hej, melanie.
a wish and prayers that the physical therapy is helping and you stay safe!
and agree … lots of sweet places to go in wisconsin. someday!
kathy in iowa
Thank you, Kathy!
Thank you for sharing this lovely outing.
You’re most welcome.
Stay safe!
Claudia,
How perfectly charming! Sounds like you two had a wonderful afternoon. There was a bookstore in Great Neck that looked quite like Postmark Books. It was in a charming little downtown with a grey/blue facade. So sweet and memorable.
Upstate New York is lovely. You and Don chose such a nice place to live. The country life with access to one of the best cities in the world, who could want for more?
Hugs,
Christy
It is the perfect place for us, that’s for sure.
Thanks, Christy! Stay safe.
Loved the excursion you and Don took today Claudia! I am a true New Englander. Born and raised in Boston. Traveled the country with my husband’s military career and we are settled south of Boston in Plymouth. Sad, this summer was to be the big 400 yr celebration for Plymouth, but like everything else, just a memory. On a good note, the Mayflower which has been missing from our waterfront for the past couple of years for repairs, just last week made her way back home! I never cease to be amazed at the history here. One of my dogs favorite spots is to go to Plymouth Rock after we go out on the pier. She always has to stop and look to be sure the rock is still there :-) I am hoping and praying that we have all of this behind us just as soon as humanly possible. The Gov of this state just mandated today that all school children, including those in child care and college get the flu vaccine starting at age 6 mos. Some exceptions as always, but has to be administered by the end of Dec.
I’ve been to Plymouth once, when I was living in Boston. I didn’t have a car in those days, so my trips out of the city were dependent on a friend or visiting family. It’s lovely there.
Thanks, Donna.
Stay safe.
so glad for you and don to have a fun, safe outing! what a charming place that is. thanks for bringing us along through your words and photos!
great photo of you and don, by the way!
also glad you could cancel that first book order so you could buy don’s book locally. :)
your mention of architecture brought to mind a favorite childhood picture book, “mr. pine’s purple house” (has to do with suburbia, copy-cat neighbors and following your own path). thanks for helping bring out that sweet memory.
i grew up mostly here (also ohio – where i was born – and mississippi) in a wonderful neighborhood with variety in the styles of houses and of people (except for my sister and i being the third set of female twins on that block-long street … haha) on a street divided by a long island of grass on which we played baseball and red rover and volleyball … magical. now, after living in three other states, i live on a very busy street (less than eight blocks away from my family home), on the open end of a cul-de-sac and that side street is full of ranch-style yellow-y brick duplexes and only a couple story-and-a-half homes on the other end. my place was built in 1950 and i wish it was a bit bigger and had the charm of 1920’s buildings … but it is a good place. i feel very safe, have garage parking (and it’s attached to the building) for the first time in my life and a very kind landlord and some nice neighbors who look out for me. plus i am only one block from our wonderful art center.
anyway …
hope you have a nice night. stay safe!
kathy in iowa
The important thing is that you feel safe and secure and have good neighbors and landlord, Kathy. Glad you do.
Stay safe.
We’re so ‘new’ in the West where I am, that it’s not something we see, your 17th-century towns and houses. I’ve added Rosendale to my “Visit New York” bucket list.
Thank you for taking us along for the ride.
All I do twice a month is stare at the world thru my closed car-door window, feeling so much that I’m no longer OF the world.
I’m looking forward to Fall when the beaches usually clear; although this of course is no normal Fall season with so many people off work and out of ‘normal’ school; but I’m hoping to find a spot with fewer people so that my husband and I can actually feel comfortable getting out of the car. Take a portable/collapsible chair, picnic hamper; feel like lizards sunning ourselves on a rock in that usually-cooler sea breeze. Just pray’in for Labor Day to get here and then have those gorgeous September weeks which can be the best beach times for us SoCalifornians.
I used to go to school with kids who’d begin the school year, then disappear for a couple of weeks because it’s when beach-cottage owners saved those weeks for themselves rather than renting the places out in June-July-Aug. Their parents would work it out with the teachers for the kids to be gone from the classroom in Sept. I’m sure the teachers felt the students could make up the lost time, since it was still so early in the school year. I was lucky one time when my parents took us out of school in November to drive to a family reunion out of state and my teacher felt the experience of the road trip, along with all the people I’d meet to whom I was related but who I had never met, was as educational as anything she could be doing for me in that two weeks.
I’m so ready for this heatwave to break. Every day, several days into it now, we approach 100 degrees before noon, and the humidity is just awful. The nights don’t cool down enough. This isn’t the dry heat of the Santa Ana winds. And we’re getting so much smoke from wildfires that I couldn’t be outside at all today. Even my dog doesn’t want to linger outside, and the outdoor/feral cats find a spot of shade and don’t move around for hours, not with those fur coats of theirs. I think I just counted 18 wildfires burning in California in various stages of containment. I’m not in any danger, but one of the fires IS about 20 miles from my house and is only knocked down by about 30 percent, so I hope they can gain headway on it soon. I can’t imagine how hot they get; the poor firefighters. All that gear they have to wear.
I don’t know if you were familiar with Los Angeles county names of cities and towns or neighborhoods from when you lived further south in San Diego, Claudia; but Northridge, in the urbanized San Fernando Valley (infamous as “The Valley” in 1980s film culture/youth culture), was 113 degrees on Tues/Aug 18. We’ve got a whole week of hot weather ahead (and, sure, it’s end of August; I GET IT) but I’m over it.
I am familiar with Northridge, Vicki.
113 degrees is crazy!
I hope this heat wave leaves and that the fires are contained. It’s so stressful in the midst of an already extremely stressful time.
Hang in there and stay safe!