unexpected findings

Between unexpected friends in the city, meeting new friends, finding amazing books and taking far to many cab rides, last week had many fantastic twists and turns. Two exciting friends to see were Hunter and Erin Riley. They were in town for the ING NYC Marathon last Sunday and stayed for some work as well as some fun. Being a West sider I was near the finish line watching and although the siblings finished together, I only saw Hunter. We concluded it was because Erin was standing east of Hunter.

After a very successful business meeting last Thursday I ventured to Brooklyn to meet up with a group of fellow Arkansans as well a Panamanian and Honduran. One of whom is "Juan in a million."

Clearly we decided to take a new photo for Rhea Drug Store since our parents work together. I haven't seen Hunter in a long time and since Erin has been living in China, er, I mean Japan for the past two years, it was a fantastic pharmacy reunion. P.S. we expect to see this picture on Marilyn's side of the printer when we are all home for Thanksgiving.

Since Hunter had to split early that evening due to an early meeting Friday morning, Erin became my unexpected house guest. When I know people are coming, my apartment is pretty much spotless, but on the account that I have four trash bags of clothes for Goodwill and my mothers ginormous Christmas present, together taking up a minimum of ten square feet, it was quite a cozy evening to say the least. Thankfully Erin only compared my apartment to a "slightly larger dorm room" once, I let it slide and she was allowed to stay.

Friday we made our way to The Strand. Basically the best book store south of 14th street. After grabbing every book we liked in sight and then realized we didn't have unlimited funds we settled on few classics and a couple eye turning art books. My favorite book purchase... a first edition, mint condition 1937 copy of John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men.

Clearly I was excited... but not as speechless as I was when we went to the third floor. If I ever track down a first edition or even a great condition early copy of my favorite book in the world, Catcher and the Rye, I wouldn't think twice about maxing out my credit card. Hopefully, whenever I find it maxing out anything will not be the case. Friday, finding this very early edition was up there with priceless. This particular edition is well known for the full back cover photo of J.D. Salinger. This would have been an immediate, no-questions-asked, purchase but the jacket had a very unfortunate tear in the top right corner. The back, being in very good quality was hard to put down, but the cover was a deal breaker.

Needless to say my three purchases were the following. A first edition copy of Of Mice and Men, a copy of Charles Dickens' Great Expectations, which was only issued to the members of The Heritage Club in Norwalk, Connecticut in 1967. The third book is Lyn Davies' A is for Ox. Along our 36 hour adventure, we found great public art. From graffiti owls to hand-painted brownstone doors, Erin and I took pictures accordingly. 

With these images I'll leave you with a quote we found along the way:

"All the lives we could live, all the people we will never know, never will be, they are everywhere. That is what the world is."

-Aleksander Herman, The Lazarus Project