Our camping trip was a darned wash-out. That isn't to say we didn't stay out camping; we did. We are a hearty race, we Heffingtons, and take a Post Office-ian view of our scraped-together vacation time: "neither snow nor hail nor wind nor rain shall keep us from our rounds." So we dripped and moisted and generally made slippery nuisances of ourselves. In the worst parts of the day we ferried across to Williamsburg and inhabited the outlet stores and shops. Funny, because I didn't have any money to spend so I was strictly window-shopping.
The second day I got to spend quite some time hovering in the College of William & Mary's B&N bookstore. That was a lovely thing. I came in at a brisk trot from dodging rain and was quite wet but once inside, the store was just the thing to minister to a mind diseased by overmuch standing out in the elements. I made myself laugh with various P.G. Wodehouse novels in the aisle. I hunted up Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers. I picked up a biography of Audrey Hepburn which I very much wanted to have money to buy, and Mama thunked a huge tome of The Letters of P.G. Wodehouse into my hands. Darn her mushrooms, it was $35.00. When I actually have an income, my expenditure will be equally divided between Books and Starbucks. Who needs food, shelter, and clothing? I ask you! Benjamin found a volume of the entire script from Downton Abbey S 1. This would be devastating for our family as we are all fair hands at British accents and love to act. You'd never see us outside of that tome did it ever set leaf in our house. In addition to all these finds, I found the most curious book: excerpts and photos of drawings from the travel journals of the rich & famous. Such a converstaion-piece; wish I'd had funds to buy that too. I perused the youth section and made up my mind to buy one something for a certain comrade's gift come Christmastime as well as deciding I want a copy of The Hobbit with the pretty green/blue/black symmetrical cover. You know the one. I also decided that I haven't read enough Lois Lowry, so we'll have to remedy that soon.
As far as what I've been actually reading (versus yearning over in the bookstore), that runs rather scapegrace:
The Sacrifice by Beverly Lewis (not too keen on Amish romances but I promised the sister-in-law-ish.)
The Mind of the Maker by Dorothy Sayers (almost done)
The Mystery of the Blue Train by Dorothy Sayers (good fun. I never suspected the culprit but then...I never do.)
Ella Enchanted (I keep finding kid-novels I somehow neglected to read and therefore one of my favorite treats is to bundle myself off with a thoughtless read like that and pretend I'm eleven again.)
Autumn is reluctant in coming temperature-wise but I fixed that by wearing dark-wash jeans, a golden-rode colored shirt and a deep blue cardigan. Take that, thermometer. Well, my cinnamon scones are calling and I've got to make a latte to accompany them. Cheers and all that.
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4 comments:
Blue Train is Christie, right?
That bookstore you visited sounds better-stocked than any B&N I've ever been in. I can only imagine what Wodehouse's letters are like! I just finished a selection of E.B White's, and I'm toying with the idea of reading his whole volume someday...some far future day, since it's a thick tome and I've got all sorts of other things I want to or ought to read first.
Just wanted to drop by and say I've been reading through your blog and you're an amazing writer and I wish I could write like you. :) Have a lovely day!
What a marvelous collection of books! We dropped by the same bookstore when we were in Williamsburg a few years ago, and the rain was incessant. ;) Elizabeth and I found a gorgeous copy of Les Miserables (leave it to us to find Les Mis wherever we go...) and numerous other lovelies. But unfortunately one can't go around spending $100 on books every month, so window-shopping it was for us too.
I've got to get Lizzy to let me borrow The Mind of The Maker. One can only listen to recommendations for so long before wanting to read the book herself!
that bookstore sounds heavenly. :)
And your family vacation sounds a lot like ours every year. It seems every time we decide to camp, (whether in tents, or an RV.) the weather decides to be absolutely frigid, or dump loads of rain, or else someone in the family gets the flu. ;) Definitely makes for an interesting time. :) (Especially considering there are 11 children in my family, so it's hard to keep the littles interested while in a tent or RV, trying to stay dry.
"Who needs food, shelter and clothing? I ask you!" hehe. I must say, I agree wholeheartedly!!
This whole post amused me, and it is one of my favorites, Rachel!!
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