Journal of a Sabbatical

October 7, 1999

book binge

American League Division Series Game 2

Today's Starting Pitcher: Bret Saberhagen

Today's Reading: Danube by Claudio Magris, Food Habits of North American Diving Ducks by Clarence Cottman, A.C. Bent's Life Histories of North American Wild Fowl: Ducks, Geese, and Swans Volume Two

Midgee is mellowing since she took up sleeping on the dryer.

They were running out of clean litterboxes while I was still doing dishes, so I had to hurry up a little so as not to slow down the cage cleaning too much. I switched to litterboxes as soon as I finished all the dishes I had in the sink already, and skipped the cans. They're only going to be recycled, so it's not like they have to be disinfected and nobody's waiting on clean wet food cans in order to get the cages done.

Lucky is still feeling his oats, taking on all comers. He's definitely enjoying his new found freedom.

Bonnie wanted to know how come I'm there on Thursday. I told her it's because I'm so codependent that all Kendra had to was put that little pleading tone in her voice and I couldn't say no. Besides, I'm worried about Jaguar and wanted to know how yesterday's blood work came out.

I had some vague intention of looking at new binoculars today, but somehow what actually happened was I had lunch at Angie's Diner, a spinach and feta omelet, and then walked over to Olde Port Book Shop in an effort to soothe myself with books.

Domino talked to me, much like Wilbur does, only I have a lot harder time figuring out what Wilbur wants. Domino wants me to buy used books. I think Wilbur is trying to tell me he wants me to have his children.

Olde Port seems to have gotten in a lot of new stuff since my last visit. There's a whole shelf full of John Marquand novels down in the basement fiction section. Sure enough, Thirty Years - a collection of his essays I've been looking for for ages - is there among the novels. It was excerpts from Thirty Years quoted in Raymond Holden's The Merrimack that got me interested in Marquand. That led me to Timothy Dexter Revisited, one of the best books I've read so far this year. Why isn't there a huge Marquand revival going on in New England? Or at least in Newburyport?

In the hunting section, that treasure trove of bird books, I spied Volume 2 of A.C. Bent's Life Histories of North American Wild Fowl: Ducks, Geese, and Swans. Now I know if that was there before, I would have bought it. I sat down in a chair and read the sections on buffleheads while Domino tried to climb into my lap. She posed with some books for a photo-op and then headed back to the bird/natural history section, where I found Crickets and Katydids, Concerts and Solos, which I immediately bought for Nancy as she loves crickets at least as much if not more than geese.

It was a long and satisfying browse, which ended with my buying three excellent books for not all that much money. The Marquand is a "first British edition" but none of them are really heavy duty collectible books. It turns out that the cricket/katydid research in Crickets and Katydids, Concerts and Solos took place in Franklin, New Hampshire where the Pemigewasset River turns into the Merrimack so the book fits in with the Merrimack River theme too.

I was sitting at a table in Starbucks with my head buried in A.C. Bent's Life Histories of North American Wild Fowl: Ducks, Geese, and Swans and my hands wrapped tightly around my coffee cup for warmth when Tom came in and asked me if I'd gone to hear Robert Creeley on Saturday night and if so how was he. Great, now my dementia has spread to Tom! I told him all about the Robert Creeley reading on Sunday morning!

This is getting to be too weird. Tom asked "Have you seen Ned lately?" and about a minute and a half later, Ned appeared.

I had the camera with me because I am afraid to leave anything in the car. I had stuffed the camera and my sweatshirt into my little bag of used books and carried it into the coffee shop with me. Realizing this, I asked Ned and Tom to pose for a picture, looking as natural as possible. That's Ned on the left, Tom on the right.

The guys are impressed with my book purchases so maybe I can recruit them to help start a John Marquand revival. Mostly, they are comparing notes about the play rehearsals. Both of them are a little disgruntled that even though they only appear in the second act, they are expected to be there for the entire rehearsal - especially since Saturday's rehearsal is supposed to last all day. Tom is not playing the magistrate this time after all. The new director decided to make the magistrate an offstage presence to make it seem more impersonal, and didn't want to waste Tom's talents off stage. He's playing Samuel Wardwell this time. Ned is playing William Barker again.

They agree with QI's advice to search the stolen goods marts of Lawrence for my binoculars. Ned offers to lend me a pair of his mother's binoculars while I search for mine or shop for new ones so I won't go too crazy missing the fall migrations. He says to call him in the morning - after 10:00 so he's conscious - and he and Sarah will dig out the binoculars for me.

Back home, the mail had arrived including Food Habits of North American Diving Ducks, which I promptly sat down and read. This goes a long way toward answering my questions about what buffleheads are eating when they're under water. Quite a book day!

I couldn't wait to tell Nancy about the cricket book. When I started describing it to her she recognized it as the same book I'd bought new for her 4 years ago! We had a good laugh about how it's obviously the perfect Nancy book because I bought it for her twice. Originally I paid $18.00 for it new. Today I paid $9.50 for a pristine used copy. I said I'd buy it for her again in a couple of years for $4.50.