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Sunday, September 12, 2004 Choo Choo Yesterday morning was foggy, but by the afternoon, the air had cleared up. Bright blue skies, warm sun, and not a breeze anywhere. My intention--after a lonely morning in the lab; I think I was the only person working on my floor--was to go bookshop hunting again. But my plans were dashed once I got to the outskirts of Norwich, Vermont (some call this the twin sister town of Hanover except without the raving academics and snotty college kids) because I immediately got myself ensnared by traffic congestion. A tumorous craft show was in progress with tents and cars and people strewn willy-nilly from Main Street and the whole mass growing ever so fast (as evidenced by the cars on the side of the road) toward city limits. I would have been interested in wandering around a craft show--I have no domestic talents although I do admire those who do--but the crowds seemed a bit too uncontrolled. How unfortunate that Norwich dealt poorly with the large influx of visitors. Eventually, I managed to get out of the jam with the fortunate appearance of an empty driveway and headed back to New Hampshire--only to enter Vermont on a different exit. What's confusing at this point is the location of two towns, White River Junction and Hartford. On a map, WRJ is right along the river across from West Lebanon, New Hampshire and Hartford is a bit further west of WRJ. Except when you actually get to WRJ, there's a sign saying it's the town of Hartford. And to make matters worse, business addresses have different towns depending on where you look. The phone book and the local paper are never consistent. White River Junction wasn't as crowded as Norwich, but there was definitely something going on as the parking was tight. A railroad festival was in progress along Railroad Row. Formally, it's called the 12th Annual Festival: Glory Days of the Railroad and sponsored by the town and the New England Transportation Institute and Museum (which I did glance through while I was there--a quaint little place converted from a train station). White tents were littered out on the field between the museum and Railroad Row selling everything from doll's clothes to toy trains. One couldn't miss the smell of food either--wholly American fare of hamburgers, hot dogs, soda, popcorn--but I skipped on those stands catering to the lunch crowd. No patience, I suppose, and I wasn't that hungry. The local historical society and train hobbyists had some booths although I felt a bit disappointed when I looked through them. Mostly pictures, words, and no models. I perked up, however, when I spotted a stand set up by a local publisher. They were selling off all their remainders (all in excellent condition) for two bucks each. After checking out the railroad festival, I walked through a car show being held in a parking lot nearby. I found it marginally interesting. The shiny colors caught my eye but other than that, I couldn't tell you anything else. I did take some pictures though--I might put them online later if they turn out well. I also shuffled my way through the rest of Main Street and glanced through some businesses. There was a tiny costume shop in a back alleyway holding a sale out on the sidewalk with bolts of brightly colored fabrics and ribbons for the sewing enthusiast to plow through. The only sewing I do is putting buttons back on shirts, but even I was impressed by the proprietress's skill with the needle--she was decked out in one of her own creations, a 19th century-style emerald green gown. And finally, what did I see at the end of the street but the used bookstore I had originally intended to find last week! Anthologie is housed in a building painted trendy bright red with shelves made of wooden crates. They did have books on a variety of subjects and genres, but their most comprehensive section was on modern first-editions of popular literature. Think Oprah Book Club material and novels that got made into movies. I spent most of my time in the store rooting around in the fifty-cent bin and managed to obtain Moby Dick, One Hundred Years of Solitude, and one of John Updike's Rabbit novels (I am currently contemplating on getting the entire series, but I am not sure yet). I'll probably go back to Anthologie not too long from now. Apparently they're closing shop at the end of the year. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 4:48 AM : ]
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