Multiconstruct

Woke up Saturday morning at the Burns-Pavlik demesne specifically in the princess room. I had slept hard and needed it going on a few hours of light sleep the night before. The heavy curtains were nice as sleeping well into the morning was a nice change of pace. Trevor was out for a run so i curled up with Doris Lessings “The Golden Notebook” which is just a heavy and brilliant novel. Dense with meaning she has literary talent, a piercing political consciousness, and rare insight into the human condition. its sweet.

After Trevor returned I made coffee and had some of Jeff’s most excellent cinnamon roll I explored the backyard. I remembered what it was like when they first moved in, typical suburban fenced in grass box, the green rectangle endlessly repeated. Now there’s a nice patch of prairie wildflowers looking very Autumnal to my Missouri eyes, looking very sharp in its benign neglect. I was envious that i couldn’t let my plot be and have it still work.

It was a just beautiful morning and I was glad to have lingered. We drove back to Farmington and went to the farmer’s market. Very cool, very lively lots of great stuff. We got cucumbers and a couple of melons a cantaloupe and something similar and some apples. Besides stuff we could eat in detroit i also looked for stuff to take home. I was delighted to see some Michigan maple syrup and I excitedly picked up a big bottle then remembered that i only had a carry on bag to get home and there’s a 3 oz rule for michigan maple syrup (can’t get it at home). I put it down and said “i’m flying and i can’t take it back. the terrorists have won. i conceded, i admit defeat, please now can i fly with michigan maple syrup?”

so i bought nothing, my innocent glee in the beautiful day of seeing all these folks marketing tempered.

but only for a moment. then it was lunch with rosie, jeff was baking and becky was slinging bread but rosie was up for some chicken chili. tre’ and i had the reubens, good but the french dressing kind which i like a bit less, but really good. i can’t remember the name of the place but rosie thought highly of it.

after lunch we said goodbye to becky and rosie and after stopping to look at discount books and by a map we were off. we decided to drive up 8 mile to most appreciate the transition into the city. for some reason we took grand river instead, a cool street that runs across the state. i’d ridden my bike on probably the first 100 miles coming out of grand rapids getting in shape for my trip to Mexico.

This stretch got shoddier and vacant buildings started to  increase until we were in full on city. we stopped at a ghetto mart and stocked up on food: bread, mega sized jar of peanut butter, chips, salsa, cheese, plastic ware, perhaps other things. We were in line behind an older african american guy buying a nice stock pot at $5.95 and a mess of greens. I commented quietly to trevor that that was a good buy on the pot and was pleased to see the guy straighten up. everybody likes to get a good deal.