But Not a Bad Day

I've been working really long days and today is my first one off, so I needed to go shopping.  After a grueling session of grocery shopping followed by assembling the new trolley I bought without instructions and minus one cotter pin, during which it rained a bit, I felt too wiped out to torch so I headed back out for a walk downtown.  This is something I haven't done in the 2 1/2 years I've lived here, and I learned quite a bit.

Rome is not a large town and I was able to walk from the northwest corner to 1/3 of the way on the southern edge and then to the southeast corner and back in 2 1/2 hours.  There are some nice, old houses in town, some of them quite well maintained, and some pretty areas I wish I brought my camera along for. 

I was on a mission to find a "real" health food store that didn't just sell sports supplements (which wouldn't do me any good at all) and I found two.  Plus, I stopped in the shop that sells smoking paraphanalia to see if he carried lampwork and if so, if he had a local source (he doesn't sell beads or jewelry, just pipes and T-shirts, hmmmm.....) Then I was drawn by their window display to the local jeweler, who does carry lampwork beads, but they looked like mass-produced numbers and the salesperson was helping a couple look at rings and I felt I shouldn't wait for them to make up their minds if I wanted to be home in time to make dinner.  I then suffered a whim of nostalgia and stopped in at a game room stocking the latest in Dungeons and Dragons literature and offering Thursday night gaming for oldsters and other games for the young (Magic, the Gathering still seems to be popular.)  I was the only one in the shop other than the shopkeeper over 12.

All in all, a good walk.  I should have checked out the coming attractions at the theater (yes, it's a theater, not a cineplex) to see if any shows were coming I would want to see.  The weather was pleasantly cool and overcast but it didn't actually rain until I was almost home.  I'm already dry and the walk must have done my diet no end of good.  It's still early and I may yet fire up the torch, but I don't feel at all like I wasted a day.