BOB DYLAN BOOK. I got to Church and Market straight from work and twenty minutes earlier than what the Salvadoran and I had agreed to. I am meeting him with our friend E, who is also from El Salvador, for dinner. The hostess at Chow's wouldn't seat me until the whole group is present. She added my name to her list and then I walked to a nearby Aardvark bookstore and waited there instead. The bookstore is a couple of doors away from Chow's. From the sea of new and used books and magazines, I saw a paperback version of Bob Dylan's The Chronicles I as if the book has been waiting there for me. It was the last copy. I am no Bob Dylan fan but the first ten pages made me imagine his humble beginnings in glorious colors. I was immediately inspired. Hastily, I bought a copy. I managed to step out of the bookstore before the Salvadorans arrived with my impulse purchase hidden in my bag.FARMER'S MARKET. We were out of grapefruit. This is what we normally use for our breakfast juice. We also use navel oranges when they're cheaper and plenty in the market. I used to think that we only drink freshly squeezed citrus juices to justify my buying of a juicer. Just like tasting the difference between freshly brewed coffee over instant, the juice out of the juicer is definitely better than the bottled ones. The camioneta where we get our oranges this time of the year no longer park next to the Glen Park BART station. They get the oranges from the valley and sell them for $3 per ten-pound bag. That's a lot of oranges! For now, our only choices are the neighborhood produce stores or the farmer's market. To the Ferry Building we went on saturday. I couldn't remember the last time we were there. We couldn't help but notice that half the people who go there nowadays are camera totting tourists. The sweet tasting organic navel oranges cost us almost a dollar each. Our consolation prize were the fresh olive baggettes, the dollar and fifty a bunch of basil, asparagus, chinese brocollli, and fresh chesses from the north bay. But for oranges, I think I'll go to the Mission produce stores next time.
DRAMA SERIES. I recently discovered the Audio Visual section of the Main Library. I generally checkout library items online to be picked up at the library's kiosk so I've never been to the physical shelves to leaf through the collections and look for the items myself. The AV section was not huge but big enough to contain cd, vhs and dvd collections Netflix might not have, especially rare classical music and foreign made movies. This is where I found Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South. It is a BBC drama series set during England's Victorian era and in the same league as the movies Emma and Pride and Prejudice. I had to watch all four episodes all over again to comprehend some scenes that I missed because of my ear's inability to hear the old English drawl.
MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND. Last year, we were debating whether to go to Montreal or NYC for a five day Memorial Day weekend getaway. We eventually went to NYC. This year, we were debating whether to go to Montreal or Mexico City. Mexico City won unanimously. Maybe Montreal for 4th of July?
~ral
(The photo above was taken 'discreetly' at the Ferry Building Farmer's Market on a sunny Saturday in San Francisco.)