by Betty Smith
The follow-up novel to A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Not the cheeriest of reads, but compelling. Read it in one day.
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Month: September 2021
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Why We Sleep
by Matthew Walker
Interesting book on the importance of sleep, written by a PHD who has devoted his career to the subject.
by Colin Knighton
Fun book about a guy that got dumped and then decided to visit every National Park.
by Henry David Thoreau
The greatest book that was ever written.
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All the President’s Men
by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein
Great book about the reporting Woodward and Bernstein did on Watergate.
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After great pain, a formal feeling comes
by Emily Dickenson
After great pain, a formal feeling comes – The Nerves sit ceremonious, like Tombs – The stiff Heart questions ‘was it He, that bore,’ And ‘Yesterday, or Centuries before’? The Feet, mechanical, go round – A Wooden way Of Ground, or Air, or Ought – Regardless grown, A Quartz contentment, like a stone – This is the Hour of Lead – Remembered, if outlived, As Freezing persons, recollect the Snow – First – Chill – then Stupor – then the letting go –
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Vacation – Acadia
9/11/21 – Flew to Boston. Arrived around lunchtime. Met up with Tyler, then went to Isabella Steward Gartner Museum. They were showing a Titian exhibit, the first time the six poesie (painted poetry) paintings had been exhibited together in over four centuries.
Next, we walked to Newbury Street, a popular shopping and dining district. The houses in the area for the most part 19th century brownstones.
9/12/21 – Drove out to the town of Concord, about a half-hour from Boston. Visited The Concord Museum. A lot of information on the build-up to and the beginning of the Revolutionary War. Listen to a good lecture. Best of all (for me) was the exhibit about Henry David Thoreau. They had a LOT of the original furniture from his home in Walden. Pretty damn awesome.
Next, we went to the Old Hill Burying Grounds. Failed to find the Thoreau family site.
Then, we went to Ralpho Waldo Emerson‘s home. The good news was that it had re-opened from COVID that very day; the bad news was the tour guide was, charitably, mediocre. We saw a grapevine that Thoreau supposedly planted.
9/13/21 – Tyler couldn’t get the same week off as us, big bummer, so he had to stay in Boston. The rest of us headed to Acadia National Park.
It was about a five-hour drive. The little town of Bar Harbor was very cute, beach town vibe. Took a really nice walk along the Bar Harbor Shore Path. Saw the Balance Rock.
We rented a home from VRBO. 1168 Main Street, Someville. The place itself was ok. A bit old and a bit worn, but ok. The TV was good. The house was very close to Route 3. The traffic wasn’t heavy, but when a car did pass by, holy shit, very loud. The house had no reviews on VRBO, probably don’t want to rent one without reviews again.
9/14/21 – After a pretty much sleepless night, we headed out to Acadia National Park. The first stop was Park Loop Road, which goes around the outside of the park for 27 miles. Most of the highlights of the park are on the loop. We stop at many of them, including:
- Wild Gardens of Acadia
- Sand Beach (spectacular)
- Thunder Hole
- Otter Point (lighthouse)
- Cadillac Mountain (highest peak on Eastern US, very nice views)
9/15/21 – Having seen many of the highlights of the main part of Acadia, we headed out to the lesser-known Schoodic Peninsula. This proved to be a good decision. The ocean view from the rocky shore of Schoodic Point was certainly beautiful. Next, we took a hike up to an overlook on the Alder and Anvil trails. (The hike was much longer than it should have been due to our failure to study the map carefully.)
9/16/21 – Woke up crazy early and watch the sunrise on Cadillac Mountain. It was pretty cool up there. Clouds obscured the view, but the sky did turn a nice shade of pink pastel.
After that, we visited Jordan Pond. It was so early we had the place nearly to ourselves. On the first full day of our trip, we couldn’t even find a parking place.
Finally, we took a sunset cruise. Pretty nice.
9/17/21 – Headed home. Dropped off the car and checked in at the Hancock County Airport. I think there were more employees than passengers. Took a Cessna with about eight other passengers over the Atlantic Ocean to Boston. It was a bit disconcerting. We had a long layover, so we went to the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICF) museum. Really wasn’t much of interest this time. The chairs were cool though.