Horse and Cart, Library

I hereby do promise that I'm not going anywhere without my camera, ever. For I saw the most amazing thing as I was biking to school on an ordinary day yesterday, and wouldn't you know it, I didn't have my camera with me. Readers of this blog may recall a previous post where I showed a picture of an amusing street sign--no horses and carts on the freeway? I repost it here just in case. Now what did I see, as I was crossing this intersection (which is quite a huge one: six lanes each way)--but a calm steady bay pony pulling a big heavy cart full of sweet potatoes. It was clopping along right through the middle of the traffic, and heading straight for the "no horse and cart on the freeway" ramp. The driver gazed upon the sign for a few moments, and without even bothering to shrug, headed on up the ramp, where I lost sight of them. People around me were looking me like I was crazy, I was laughing so much. I am never forgetting my camera, ever again. :P

A sunny Saturday morning and I spent it in the library reading room. Yes, I finally got it together to get into the library, figure out what I wanted to look at, figure out which of the many disparate rooms it was in, and manage to get hold of the item. And that made me feel like a winner, even if it was a sort of loserish way to start of a weekend. I spent nearly three hours looking at the book and making notes, the first sustained chunk of research time I've had in a while. Of course I didn't have my camera with me, but here is a picture of the atrium in the library from the second-floor balcony, which I took when I went back there today.

It involved no small amount of organizational skill. Among other things I brought with me was chrysanthemum tea, another Walmart purchase. One of the things that has been making me so dehydrated is the fact that I am so leery of the water. It has an odd taste and smell, even after boiling, and it's hard to make myself drink it. But I can't be drinking tea all day either, because in addition to just getting more dehydrated, it makes me bounce off the walls. But chrysanthemum flowers are non-caffeinated and have an interesting taste. In fact, there are many many choices of fruit and flower teas like this. I shall have to acquire a whole range for variety.

The reading room closed at noon, so I went out and had lunch in a cafeteria before grabbing a couple books and the bookstore and heading back to my apartment.

The turtles were basking when I got home. One was lying half on the edge of the plate/basking surface and one was comically balanced on top of a rounded shell. They both leaped into the water indignantly when I arrived. They don't like people to see them basking. They are semi-aquatic turtles, so they spend most of their time in the water but like to get out bask when practical. Silly things, they are so skittish. But then little turtles have a LOT of predators, so one can hardly blame them.

And that's really all there is to say, I have to confess. I ate in, and didn't do any of the scary things I was supposed to do--like, I don't know, call people and remind them I exist. I was just feeling tired and tired of being a stranger in a strange land. I ate natto for dinner, which other people might consider a punishment, but I like very much. (It is Japanese fermented soybean which gets gluey and stringy like melted mozzarella when you stir it.)

To make up for being so boring, here is a superb video I came across. This is totally worth watching if you have the bandwidth. I thought it fit nicely with the horse and cart theme.