It took some work to push the toolshed door open. My grandfather, one of the finest pack rats to ever live, had used the tiny shed to store things both necessary and random. Gardening tools. Old wooden mirrors that, one day, he might want to hang again. Little boxes of this and that. Stuff. As [...]
Archive for September, 2009
Reading America: Coast to Coast: Vintage Travel in North America
Posted in Reading America, tagged Antony Shuggar, Boldt Castle, books, brochures, cigar box, Coast to Coast, collection, ephemera, Heart Island, NY, Peach Lake, postcards, Thousand Islands, travel, vintage on September 14, 2009 | 7 Comments »
Autumn Rituals
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Austin, austin city limits festival, autumn, California, chili, dry creek valley, festivals, fire ant festival, Interstates, Maine, Michigan, minnesota, pumpkinfest, Sonoma County, terlingua, Texas, yamboree on September 11, 2009 | 4 Comments »
Now that we don’t go back to school in autumn, we can face the season without anxiety (though we kinda miss the new school supplies) and enjoy our own autumn rituals. While there’s much to love about a planned leaf peeping excursion to Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, and beyond, the early fall leaves that surprised me [...]
I am, therefore I ‘Clark’
Posted in America on Film, Outdoorsiness, State-by-State, tagged camping, Clark Griswold, Matt Villano, National Lampoons, road trip, San Juan Islands, Washington on September 10, 2009 | 3 Comments »
Flyover America has moved! Please join us at www.ReadFlyoverAmerica.com As a total word nerd, I’m always inventing new phrases on road trips. In the lexicon I’ve developed with my friends, “To Clark” means “to overly plan an adventure in an attempt to make sure everyone will have a great time, only to see the plans [...]
What's Left Behind: American Ruins
Posted in Uncategorized on September 9, 2009 | 2 Comments »
Ruins thrill me. Especially when they’re just…there. When they’re free of guided tours, other people, and too much information. I like to wander decaying exteriors and see how nature has started to claim them for its own. To see trees and plants growing where people once danced or ate dinner. I like to see sunlight [...]
What’s Left Behind: American Ruins
Posted in Outdoorsiness, State-by-State, tagged Cold Spring, discovery, Edward G. Cornish, hiking, Hudson Highlands State Park, New York, Newport, ruins, San Simeon on September 9, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Ruins thrill me. Especially when they’re just…there. When they’re free of guided tours, other people, and too much information. I like to wander decaying exteriors and see how nature has started to claim them for its own. To see trees and plants growing where people once danced or ate dinner. I like to see sunlight [...]
Counting Down to the State Fair of Texas
Posted in Kitsch Factor, News Around the Nation, Tasting America, Uncategorized, tagged Big Tex, State Fair of Texas, Texas on September 8, 2009 | 12 Comments »
The Texas Star Ferris Wheel looms on the Dallas horizon, visible from Interstate 30. It’s motionless most of the year, except for three glorious weeks in autumn, when it is lighted and turning because the great State Fair of Texas is in swing. In nearly three decades in Texas, I have missed the Fair just [...]
Three-fer Friday: Leave Room in Your Carry-On
Posted in Uncategorized on September 4, 2009 | 22 Comments »
Though adding books to carry-on luggage can make that final schlep home somewhat exhausting, compulsive book buyers–like, say, the three of us–just can’t be stopped. (Luckily, the shoulders we hang our bags from don’t get a vote.) Here, some beloved bookshops from coast to coast… *** After you’ve been bewitched by the West Texas landscape [...]
Leave Room in Your Carry-On
Posted in Reading America, State-by-State, tagged Alpine, books, bookstores, Dockside Books & Gifts, Elliott Bay Book Company, Front Street Books, guidebooks, Hallie Stillwell, I'll Gather My Geese, John McPhee, Kirby Warnock, Maine, Marathon, Pioneer Square, Seattle, Stonington, Texas, travel, Washington on September 4, 2009 | 22 Comments »
Flyover America has moved! Please join us at www.ReadFlyoverAmerica.com. Though adding books to carry-on luggage can make that final schlep home somewhat exhausting, compulsive book buyers–like, say, the three of us–just can’t be stopped. (Luckily, the shoulders we hang our bags from don’t get a vote.) Here, some beloved bookshops from coast to coast… After [...]
A Rude Awakening at the Renaissance Faire
Posted in Rants, State-by-State, tagged bad ideas, bus, day trip, New York, Renaissance Faire, Short Line, Tuxedo on September 3, 2009 | 4 Comments »
“How are you m’lady?” It would have been nice to smile back at the man asking me the question. After all, he had a really big staff. Alas, he also had a jester hat on his head, bells a-tinkling. And I was at the New York Renaissance Faire. As an adult. On my birthday. In [...]
Reading America: Southern Ladies and Gentlemen
Posted in Reading America, tagged American South, books, Florence King, Southern Ladies and Gentlemen on September 1, 2009 | 9 Comments »
As you can see, this book has been around a while. (The back cover is held on with masking tape.) I first read Florence King’s Southern Ladies and Gentlemen long before my move from New York City to Dallas in 1982, and have reread it many times since. After my move, it served as an [...]
