Tag Archives: Library

Day Thirty-Nine: Places to Sit

The Sunny Side Café

The Morrison Library at the University of California at Berkeley

Jupiter

The Destination Baking Company

***

I like going. I also like staying.

I like walking. I also like sitting.

I wander around Berkeley and San Francisco and eventually my feet get tired. Plus my heart wants to meditate, read a bit, and devour some yummies

Jinder at the Sunny Side Café welcomed me most mornings at breakfast with her marvelous smile. From my perch on the second floor, I could watch the chef flashing through meal creation. And after I paid the bill, the gentleman would always ask “Coffee to go?”

At the Morrison Library, I twice gravitated to a luscious red couch. I was hunkered down and cozy, with all the time in the world to contemplate the ornate ceiling. So very quiet in the room. Often I’d tap away on the phone. But then there were all those other times. As some wise one said, “Sometimes I sits and thinks. Sometimes I just sits.”

Look at those Christmas lights adorning the Jupiter patio. There are vines climbing a brick wall, heaters above beaming their goodness through the chill of the evening, and happy servers bouncing around. Plus little groups of patrons laughing the night away. As well there are the joys of craft beer and a chicken pesto pizza! All is right with the world.

Yesterday in the south of San Francisco, far from the skyscrapers of downtown, I plodded up a tippy street to find the Destination Baking Company awaiting me. Two young men smiled from the counter, and offered me the ecstasy of Quiche Lorraine. The sun was newly out after a deluge that lasted for hours. I was safe and warm. At one point, when the two guys were busy by the oven at the back of the store, I heard this:

“I love it when I bring a smile to a customer’s face”

Well said, young man. There’s lots to see and there’s lots to enjoy when you park your bum for awhile.

Islander

I tootled off to Toronto Island yesterday, with a backpack containing two of Jody’s books.  I had a destination.  It’s a little kiosk on Algonquin Island, where you can take a book, leave a book.  So cool.

I sat on a bench nearby and wrote:

Dear Algonquin Island reader,

I hope you take a copy of Jody’s and my book from the Algonquin Island library.  It’s a love story.

Thank you for accompanying us on our journey.

Be well,

Bruce

Gosh, I felt good slipping the two volumes between other creations.  A day later, do they still sit there or is each one now residing on someone’s end table?  It doesn’t matter.  I know they’ll find their way into human hearts.

All pleased with myself, I decided to explore Snake Island, a tiny little thing joined to the main by a walking bridge.  No cutesy homes on Snake, just nature.

As I plopped my feet down onto a new world, I thought of my pocket.  Inside was a plastic bag, perfect for anti-littering.  I so much enjoy picking up garbage and removing it from the paths of life.  I drifted down the trail, seeing this and that in the realm of manmade objects.  They got stuffed.  For awhile I was 100%, but as my bag filled as well as a discarded fabric cooler, my leaning over quotient started to max out.  There were just so many “things”.  Finally, I declared completion.  The rest of the little buggers will just have to sit there until the next explorer comes along.  Back over the bridge from Snake, there sat a black garbage can.  Cha-ching!

A notice board drew me.  And there it was … my next adventure.  There’s one church on Toronto Island, and on Sunday, November 20 it’s hosting first a brunch and second a concert, featuring a folk music duo.  I’ll be mellowing out on the carless island, just like a local.  Sweet.

Library , litter and lyrics.  I’m there.