saturday we spent some money. the 3 of us went to B&N for a few books, a new sketchbook, such and like. after that we dropped Erin at a bowling party. he learned that bowling hereabouts means candlepins, our own local oddity. near the bowling alley was--ah hah!--a liquor store featuring a Beer Tasting. tasted a few--the gamut ran from Fosters to Belgium powerhouses--and gained thereby the inspiration to purchase. so we bought un poco beer and wine. then we went to a nearby art gallery, which features some really nifty works. quite a lot of pastels on display. I know little about pastels, I didn't know they could be so rich and painterly. gotta get me some. settled on 3 little seascapes in pastel. it feels luxuriant to buy art. after that we visited a furniture store, getting serious about a sofa, but we didn't plunk down at this time. yesterday did yardwork, and as the wind picked up and clouds became formidable, I tasked the camera to capture all that primeval arty power. well, the camera did okay, I guess, as well as I would let it. this morn was cloudless, so I took bike and camera early to North Bridge. 1st a stop at Sleepy Hollow cemetery, which was looking real pretty. trees in flower, sunlight thru leafage. a few photos of Thoreau's gravesite. there's a large monument to 3 brothers who died in the Civil War. I have written of this previously. a chain now surrounds it, part of the state's effort to preserve the monument. now one can't read the plaques that the surviving brother placed. the North Bridge is a National Historical Park, and the vision under which the area now must operate is to return the landscape to how it looked in 1775. which is to say farmland: no trees. alas the trees have been removed. which I am sure will make for more effective flooding. the visitor's centre is an old mansion. there are terraced gardens ging down to the river but apparently no funds to keep them up. plantings of iris, peony, daffodil and such are refreshed but not much weeding done. the view from above is much different without the trees. at the gallery we saw an engraving from mid 19th century of this view. you can see the Hawthorne's Old Manse, and fields. no bridge, tho. I don't think a bridge, rude or otherwise, existed there in Emerson's lifetime. the river is still very high, flooding into the field. the bridge itself is closed. near the river's edge it looks more like bayou. when the British were crossing the bridge, a local who'd been out chopping wood saw them, ran up to a grenadier and whacked him with his axe. impetuous fellow. reminds me of a fellow in Beth's family. there's a book that collects the affadavits of Revolutionary War vets who sought the pension decreed for them in 1835. Beth's predecssor recounts his excitement at seeing the British position, even to importuning General Washington's spyglass. he was with several mates when he espied some British, after which he gave chase, only to discover that his mates thought better of such a tactic. and so on. anyway, I took pictures. clouds are getting heavy now.