Then I (literally) ran into this.
I'm a big fan of the right to free speech, so I mostly ducked through the crowd, browsing signs and wishing I had my camera with me. There were thousands gathered on the back lawn of the Capitol and the front half of the Mall, and then there was a NCNW Black Family Reunion taking place on the back half of the Mall, complete with a step competition, so all was chaos and madness, which I am now coming to expect whenever I leave my house. Chaos and madness, in my experience, is delightful, especially when it's well regulated and involves hordes of clueless tourists riding the metro.
The one thing that did bother me about the demonstrators, actually, was the amount of cigarette smoking. I will confess a bias here, since there's nothing worse than having secondhand smoke blown in your face while running - impossible to hold your breath for too long, and impossible to breathe the stuff when you need the oxygen to move. And it got me thinking, since the demonstration was mostly about health care: when about two-thirds of a crowd of protesters are either overweight or obese (this is representative of the national population) and nearly a quarter are smokers (also representative) - you think we maybe have bigger problems with health care in America than our legislation? No matter what side of the aisle you're on, or even if you have no opinions of proposed health care reforms, I think a number of things are going to have to change if we want to even come close to other industrialized countries in our level of spending on health care (we spend a far greater percentage of our GDP than anyone else), quality of health care, and distribution of coverage.
It's always nice when people at national publications agree with me, so for your perusal, here's a recent Op-Ed from the NY Times, discussing the potential impact of new health care legislation on the way we approach public health.
On a lighter note, I spent the afternoon wandering Eastern Market, a historic indoor marketplace about a mile from my house, which on weekends also is home to an outdoor flea market, with tables of fresh local fruits and salsas, lots of handmade jewelry and clothing, and various local artists selling their work. And (finally) I have some pictures to show for it!
The Market. The sky was a bit overcast - not a great outdoor photography day.
I played with my new camera for a while, sorting out the right settings for different pictures (below: Fun with Aperture).
You can sample most of the fresh produce being sold outside the market, which of course I did on my way out. Thanks to delicious free slices of apples and peaches, I discovered (and subsequently bought) a bag full of Honeycrisps and a single yellow peach.
Wandering away from the market, down 7th St., I couldn't help but notice a white A-frame sign on the sidewalk. In wide block letters, it read: BOOKS -->.
I may have a soft spot for new apples, but I have an even softer one for BOOKS -->. Investigation ensued immediately.
Following the sign, I pushed open a dirty glass door and entered to find myself suddenly and violently surrounded by giant stacks of used books. There were classic leatherbound editions of Chaucer priced at over $200, battered Danielle Steele paperbacks selling for pocket change, and just about everything else you can imagine in between. And when I say "in between", I mean that the entire store was filled, floor to ceiling, with so many books there was barely enough room for the customers.
As if the whole thing could get any better, a wiry little man with a shock of white hair looked up from his desk (buried in stacks of manuscripts) and rasped, in a not-unkind sort of growl: "Hello, there. Today is second Saturday, so everything in the store is ten percent off, and there's free wine and cheese to your left." He jabbed an elbow to the left, where there was a table squeezed in amongst the books, complete with three different kinds of wine, and paper plates of cheese and crackers.
Needless to say, I was enamored of the place with no further ado.
A glass of Chardonnay and an hour later, I left with a paperback copy of All's Well that Ends Well and a novel by Kazuo Ishiguro, who's one of my favorite writers. The total came out to $7.00, plus tax, and the grizzly old man winked at me as he wrote out the receipt by hand.
It was good wine, too!
So there you have it. I collided with a protest, ate free slices of fruit until my fingers were sticky, and then made out like a bandit in a shop with books enough to make me want to move in, permanently.Yeah, I'd say that's a pretty good day.
I would LOVE to move into that bookstore. To quote Tina Fey's daughter, Alice, "I want to go to there."
I love these small glimpses into your world, and your knack for describing your surroundings. :)