a lovely, lazy saturday.

[dragonlady7]

This morning Dave and I were up early. We went to the farmer's market, bought bagels on the way, and got some wonderful apple cider to drink with them. We sat on a bench overlooking the Hudson, ate our breakfast, and then wandered back through the village. We went home, watched the second movie we'd rented (last night we rented O Brother Where Art Thou and Detroit Rock City, and we watched one last night and the other this morning), got a bottle of water, returned the movie, and went up for a hike-- basically along my route to work, but branching off to explore things I'd been wanting to look at but never had time. We played on the school playground, and watched the frogs at the pond in the park I hike through. Then we went up a ways. found a clearing with a garbage bag full of Budweiser cans, and then found an elementary school (we explored their playground briefly too) and then the community pool. Woo! That was a good find.
We ended up back downtown, where we had lunch at the local diner. Then we came home. Dave passed out on the couch. I took the busted hard drive out of my computer, set the working hard drive to be the single one instead of the master, and then e-mailed Dave's grandma like I'd been meaning to do for days.
Then I found the paperback i'd bought at the library's used book sale three weeks ago, and read it.
I lay out on the fire escape for a while, enjoying the day, until the sun swung around to the west enough to get me. Too sunny; my skin doesn't handle that.
So I came inside and finished the last chapter.
The book was fabulous, as I knew it would be. Hunting Badger, by Tony Hillerman.
The man just writes fabulous books. They're engrossing, they're anthropologically fascinating, they're full of wonderful characters and humans, and he even addresses the fact that his two main characters are so similar in a wonderful and indirect, leisurely way. Over dozens of books their individual characters have become so rounded, and their interpersonal relationships so strong-- the one is an older man who often solves crimes through his extensive network of contacts. Most of them reappear from book to book. He really, truly does have that many characters that he's created, rather than throwaway plot advancers.
And his descriptions of the Navajo Indian culture, and of the amazing countryside-- I just love his books. The people are wonderful characters. And the plots are fabulous. And they end right where they shoulld end. His beginnings? Fabulous, too.
I should stop gushing already. I wish I could write like that.
I wish Tony Hillerman weren't so old. Except then his older stories wouldn't be so good. I wish he could live another fifty years and write seventy more books. I don't know how old he is, but I remember it was some terribly advanced number. Long life and good storytelling to him, is what I want. I love his books. They're just brilliant.

So, that was my day so far.
Tonight we might go get ice cream at Friendly's. We can't really afford all this eating out, but we feel like it. Oh, Dave took me out for sushi last night. Sushi Mike's, a cute little place down on Main St. in Dobbs Ferry (I think)-- we always turn down Elm St., but it's up a little ways, on the corner, facing a park I think, and its parking lot is the Old Croton Aqueduct. Fabulous place, and we met Sushi Mike himself. Quite a funny and charismatic guy, as well as a skilled sushi chef.
Anyhoo... We need to buy "crix" for my frogs-- crickets-- so we have to go out tonight anyhow. I wanted ice cream at lunch, and so did Dave. We had planned on going to Friendly's after lunch, but didn't. Yet. I still think we might.
Only I'm still full. Oh well... Perhaps I won't need to eat dinner tonight. Just as well; i usually only have two meals, and i'm trying to become skinny and buff. Dave says he can't understand why I'm not already, after doing half my hike to work this morning, but the fact remains that I'm not.
Though i've noticed that my calves are huge and even more muscley than they were when I "fenced" (we put that in quotes because what I did with the fencing club rarely qualified as actually fencing). Which is nice and all, but simultaneously is the part of my body I'm least worried about looking trim, and ensures that I will never, ever be able to wear the knee-high black boots I so covet.
Sigh.
But, perhaps my muscley calves are heavy and are contributing to my lack of weight loss.
Somehow, i don't think so.
I need to buy myself a pair of running shoes and take up jogging, too, now that I've discovered the location of the high school track. A nice track, at that.
Well, anyhow. I'm going to go wake Dave up. He's slept long enough; he'll never sleep tonight if he keeps it up.