These couple of weeks have been an exploration of Montclair. It’s a sweet town with lots of interesting shops. No malls, no big box stores, beautiful houses. (I’ve taken lots of photos but will have to wait to unload them until I get home.) There’s one street that has a lovely, organic gelato shop, a frozen yogurt shop, a cupcake shop, an old fashioned candy store and a branch of a local ice cream chain. The cupcake shop replaced a cookie store. I think that’s it. But that’s enough. There is a store called the Chocolate Path, but it’s on another street. Sweets heaven.
I especially like the Montclair Book Centre, the second-hand bookstore. It has a mixture of both new and used. And a big selection. I picked up a few books I’ve been wanting for a while: a couple by Elie Wiesel (to continue my current obsession with his writing), Night and Dawn (Dawn came before Night, but does it always?), Joan Brady’s Theory of War and Too Close to the Falls by Catherine Gildiner.
Montclair also has some beautiful parks. We’ve gone for walks every day. Except for the first couple of days, the weather has been warm and sunny. Damian takes his scooter and is off and running. But mostly, I’ve been helping Tamar and Dan get ready to move in a couple of weeks. So it’s been washing down bookshelves, sorting through toys, cleaning out the car, vacuuming, dusting, cooking, washing dishes, etc., etc. It’s been good to see things coming together for them so the move will be easier.
I’m home tomorrow, Tuesday. It will be good to be with Lila and get back to work.