Last Friday, we decided to shake out of our small-town doldrums, and drove north in hopes of wild adventure.
A few hours later, we found ourselves in Brooklyn tried to visit Homebody Boutique, a trendy shop in Park Slope that sells a few of our books.
Alas, Homebody was a bit too trendy to be open at 11:00am on a Friday, and so we had to settle for a photo of their gated front window.
On our way back to the car, Robbi noticed this sign for the Thistle Hill Tavern and, digging into the far, shadowy recesses of her mind, remembered that it was owned by one of her high school classmates, Dave Massoni, son of our long time champion and benefactress Carla Massoni.
Unfortunately, we didn’t have time for lunch, but we did have a moment to play with crayons.
We headed off for a meeting at a large brick warehouse…
…which happened to contain a fantastic old linotype machine. I stopped a moment to compose my thoughts.
Our meeting went well. It had nothing to do with the illicit exchange of illegal substances, and was, instead, related to the publishing trade.
Afterward, we visited for a while with young Oliver Wolf Shenk, the inimitable son of the inimitable Joshua Wolf Shenk, the fine fellow who treated us like lab rats for a year and wrote about it on Slate. Oliver is sweet and good and mighty. He is one month older than Kato but weighs as much as Alden.
Then I drove into Manhattan while Robbi played with the camera.
I’m making this shot big so that you can see the pleasing red tracers.
Of course, we took the opportunity to hang out with Baby Calla, who we had not seen since our return from Japan.
She has grown wiser and more skeptical.
But still likes to throw one back with her old traveling buddies.
We are so used to walking or driving to get from here to there on the Eastern Shore, and so we enjoy the novelty of public transportation.
The loneliness of the tracks.
The anticipation while waiting for the train.
The excitement of its arrival.
The thrill of the ride.
And the crushing exhaustion of life in the big city.
We small town hayseeds can only take the blistering urban pace for so long. We spent exactly 26.5 hours in New York and spent the following 26.5 sleeping it off.
Hey! Nathaniel Rowan (really good friend, dude who made my violin and banjo) has his workshop in that building with the linotype machine. Neat.
Hey! Brian! I actually saw Nathaniel’s studio door. And I thought to myself,”I wish I played the violin, so I could get a custom-made violin and not have it be a complete waste.” Hopefully, your custom-made violin has not been a complete waste. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen evidence that it wasn’t.
I can’t believe you had a meeting in that building – it’s just down the street from me! I love the look of it and have always wondered what the inside looks like. I’ve never been to Homebody, but I’ll have to check it out now that I know they carry your books.
I almost asked if you saw the door–as you know, it’s pretty much right next to the linotype machine. And yeah, the violin he made for me is the green one that you’ve seen me play many times. That girl is one badass instrument. Like many women, she’s so much better than I am.
Nathaniel also makes, you know, regular-looking instruments that classical players–or people that just want a normal-looking instrument–would buy. They are also beautiful. And all of them sound and play beautifully.
In any case, you guys should meet him someday, because you’re all so very awesome. (Also, his workshop is rad.)
Alesta –
Doh! Every time we go to the city, we run the risk of this very thing happening – it seems everything in NY is just down the street from something. Drat!
Well, while you’re checking out Homebody (they only carry the Baby books) definitely check out Thistle Hill – the owner is a good friend of mine from high school and puts together a GOOD MENU. If you do go by, tell him I sent you (his name is David Massoni, Extraordinnaire). Seriously. You won’t be disappointed.
That last frame is pretty funny. Perfection is a tiring endeavor indeed.
It’s fun to see A and K with Oliver!