Ten-Finger Exercises

space shuttle and us

Maybe it's my imagination, but when the space shuttle is on a mission, I seem to have a much better weekend. Bill sits at the computer going over the checkbooks, or anything else he can find that looks like work, while he watches the crew's every waking move. That gives me time to get some things done too.

This afternoon we flew to the Tri-Cities. It was the first flying day in over a month, for me at least. Cloudy, but not too windy, and in the 50's-- which makes it warm enough not to get really cold in the altitude. Sure, the heater works, but I always get cold.

Bill has a friend, a contractor that does the over-pressurization for the buildings in his emergency management sector, who wants to learn to fly. When we landed, I went in the little airport to see if they had a loaner car, and they did. So, while the fellows went flying, I went to a big Barnes & Noble! What fun! I haven't been in one, or any big bookstore, in a long, long time. Candy stores are nothing compared to book stores, as most of you know.

I'm a frugal person, and I usually get books from the library or the used book store. I have been limiting my book buying in recent years, knowing how easy it is to buy things I'm sure I'll want to read, and then not. Today I was only shopping for pleasure, for vacation reading. Bought a new Maeve Binchey book, Whitethorn Woods and three unknown ones that were on a 3-for-the-price-of-2 table. I'm a sucker for bargains.

I read an article in the New Yorker a month or so ago about the serious decline of reading in this country. The studies it cited have changed their questions frequently in the past fifty years to accommodate the trend. They used to ask how many books a person had read in the past month. They now ask if a person has read a book, magazine or article in the past year. (I may not have remembered that quite right, but it was that alarming, I promise.) It was a depressing statistic, but it does give some insight into what society is becoming.

The atmosphere at the bookstore was encouraging, exciting, downright heady. The place was jammed. Ten people stood in line at each register. There were several teens in costume, representing the local high school drama departments. When it was my turn to pay, the cashier asked if I was buying to support the drama departments, and, of course, I said yes. What a great idea!

I was wishing I'd found some good book for Bill, since he went to the trouble of ordering me that pilot bear for my Valentine's present, so I looked some more even after I'd made my purchase. Even went to the information counter and asked the man if he knew of any paperbacks with airplanes on the cover. Of course he looked at me like I was crazy. But if it has an airplane on the cover, I know Bill will like it. I suggested several authors that fit that description, but he was at a loss. He said he "couldn't tell a book by its cover." haha

Yes, the bear really was for me, not to give to Zack. I was afraid so. And, although I tried my best to sound positive, I didn't respond with the appropriate, "I love him!" So last night he came home with a wrapped package and said he certainly hoped I'd like it. Talk about feeling guilty.... Then it turned out to be a board with cheese cutter on it, which he told me a while back he'd ordered for himself! I had ruined his old one by putting it in the dishwasher, not a smart thing to do, but it looked so, so...in need.

I took a few more pictures from the air on the way home, although the light wasn't very good for photography. I posted some under my own name on weatherunderground yesterday, and wanted to try some more while I still remember how. It takes me a few times to really get all the steps down, and then I need to practice from time to time.

He's now content to listen to the shuttle activity again, and I can go work on my pictures.

Oh, while I was looking a second time for a book for him, I ran across two more books I wanted, but decided I didn't have time to stand in line again for them. One was about iPhoto, and the other was a book about writing with & Strunk in the title. I've looked on the site and can't find it, may have to call tomorrow and ask a clerk to go look on the table for the one with the yellow cover, a clerk who can tell a book by its cover!

P.S. The other books are: A Thread of Grace by Mary Doria Russell, Saving Fish from Drowning by Amy Tan, and Digging in America by Anne Tyler.