I turned 67 today. Although I've lived cleanly, I'm surprised I've made it this far - and grateful. I've always wondered why I should be so lucky. Here are the day's positives as of 5:30 PM EST: I woke up among the living. I got out of bed. Other than stiffness in my left ankle, I wasn't in any pain. My morning back and hip exercises, and my walk were done with ease. I read the NY Post, marveling at the state of the nation and the world. I was touched by the many birthday greetings on my Facebook page. I had an email from Amazon notifying me of a coming royalty payment. The weather was near perfect as I left the apartment. Once I arrived in Park Slope, I didn't have to wait long for a parking space to open up. I easily moved three crates, a large bag, a big box, and several small ones filled with books about 40 yards. Despite the fact that a street fair was underway on 5th Avenue, gobbling the public's money, about 50 yards from where I set up shop, I sold eight books. A young man bought the Kay Scarpetta thriller
Predator by Patricia Cornwell and the non-fiction
Killers: the Most Barbaric Murderers of Our Times by Nigel Cawthorne. A Vietnam veteran bought the huge three-in-one Harry Bosch mysteries by Michael Connelly. And a young man bought three thrillers and Geoffrey Chaucer's
The Canterbury Tales after I assured him it was a lot easier read than Dante's
The Divine Comedy, which he was assigned recently as a lit major. I later smiled when I spotted a guy wearing a T-Shirt that read "Leave Brooklyn? Fuhgeddaboutit." I chuckled when a bald woman passed. She'd waxed her head, which had tattoos from just above her forehead to her nape. It was glowing. Soon I heard the work of a '60's cover band. They were a couple of blocks away and sounded great. When I got back to Sheepshead Bay, I found a parking spot convenient for the operation of the floating book shop - after tomorrow's projected rain-out. I won't have to lug the books very far, and I won't have to move the car until after Thursday's session. The toughest part of the day was resisting the temptation to celebrate with ice cream or cake. That will have to wait until mid morning on Thursday, after I've had my annual physical. My diet has been fairly strict since the start of the month. I don't want to add any prescription drugs to the one I'm taking for BP, which has worked like a charm. My thanks to the kind folks who bought the books and to all those who have wished me well at Facebook.
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