The fall vacation--a report:

So, I again had a vacation-week, and I again spent my time at the aforementioned Peddlers' Village and also at New Hope--jaunting along Main St--scoping yon tasty shops. Again have I purchased jewelry--having now a garnet ring set in silver to grace my pinky--a finger I have long considered an afterthought, it being much skimpier and harder to fit then my other, more swollen, digits. I have again visited Farley's Bookstore--and found books regarding US history that are right interesting. One in particular references the UK's "Glorious Revolution" and how it relates to the US: Our First Revolution: The Remarkable British Upheaval That Inspired America's Founding Fathers (Hardcover), by Michael Barone. This was great in putting some of our religious history and our Constitutional history into great perspective--the Englishmen who by and large wrote our founding document were after all, the inheritors of these battles--stemmed from religion. That religion should not loom large, and that the rights of the Magna Carta should--are very much a part of America's heritage. It's an interesting, if involved read--it takes a bit of thinking.

(Again I posit the notion one goes to the independent bookseller and finds books one should read--not that one actively is looking for. I think my dislike of the current administration--Bush/Cheney, and my sense that they have no grounding in history for their policies, has been reinforced by my reading.)

I also got in the same book binge, Founding Myths: Stories that Hide our Patriotic Past --by Ray Raphael. It has long occured to me that the early founding history of our nation read like Livy--he remedies the myths by contexturalizing (is that a word--I hope?) them. The two books are related in helping establish how and why the US is a nation founded as we are, with just such a Constitution, and the importance thereof--or something like that.

In addition, I have picked up more Gibson--I do not know why I never read Neuromancer or Mona Lisa Overdrive before. The novels are well-done--hard-boiled--but, alas, I am reading them a wee bit too late. Perhaps I miss something. I will say I also picked up Neal Stephenson's Zodiac--I have not finished this--but I like every word. I mean that--I have left it on my workstation and will get back to it Wednesday--but I already know I like it very much--the language and scenario draw me in. Quite good--I will always wonder how I came across his writing only as of this year.

Erm, whilst in New Hope, I also ate pizza and bought the loveliest purse ever! At Fred Eisen . It's a great big black leather purse--I previously got a sort of smaller, red-brown bag--he does great work, which is why I came back. My large bag is sturdy and will contain pretty much anything I need to face my day. I also picked up a really awesome pair of shoes there--a very fine successful trip.