Maurice Sendak at the bookstore

Oh, Maurice Sendak.

I read his books, of course, but to be honest I don't remember all that much about them. What I do remember is Sendak as a crotchety bookstore patron -- and I mean that in a good way.

The first bookstore I worked at was Sendak's local. He wasn't a frequent visitor, but he came in several times while I was behind the counter. Not that I ever spoke to him -- I don't remember him interacting with the staff at all.

(Note to authors who are not Maurice Sendak: Do not interpret that as advice. You should continue to be polite to the booksellers you meet. If you can manage charming, that scores you even more points.)

So Sendak, whenever I encountered him, was usually pretty quiet, with the possible addition of some grumbling.

Except for one time.

Sendak was in the children's section, in the back of the store, when another customer recognized him. (I suppose I should refer to her as the other customer -- it was late, and the store was empty.)

From my spot at the front counter, I could overhear bits and pieces of the conversation. And it was a conversation, not just a fan meeting an idol. There was even laughter, lots of it, on both sides.

The woman, it turned out, had grown up in the same Brooklyn neighborhood as Sendak. They'd never met before, but that was enough of a commonality, and they started trading stories, sharing memories, having a little reunion.

It was a good ten or fifteen minutes before Sendak left the store, and he went out, as usual, without a glance at the booksellers.

And I loved him for it.

Naturally, July is the time to think about snowstorm pictures

Ridgefield Again

Grrr. I got caught up in setting up my new phone yesterday, and forgot to post more pictures. Again, I'm making up for it by posting a bunch today.

Ridgefield is a quintessential New England town, complete with Main Street
and Town Hall

and eighteenth-century buildings.Lots of churches, too. Naturally, there's a Congregational churchbut it looks like it was plucked from an English village, while the Methodist church
has the classic spire and location (which was the original Congregational church location, but at some point they moved down the street).

Oh, and fall is absolutely gorgeous here.Next up: blizzards, the highlight of any kid's winter. (Snow days!)

This is Ridgefield

I'm late to the party, but I like Cynthia Lord's photo challenge. To make up for my late start, you get lots of Ridgefield pics today.

Winter, naturally. Just in case we ever need to prove that there are wetlands in back.

The second one is old, I'll admit - this space is now occupied by an Asian-fusion restaurant called Koo. At the time of the picture, it was a sports bar-ish place called Bully's, but that part of the sign was frequently missing. (It doesn't really show up in the thumbnail, but click the picture to see a full-size image.)

For the last one we go back to winter - specifically, the part of winter that overlapped with my cat-sitting duties. This is a neighbor's very cool drainpipe on a rather cold day.