ignite the candles at twilight

it is early evening on a relaxing saturday. after a lazy morning of eggs and bacon we rode our bikes downtown. recently dan's sister passed on to us her alleycat, a children's bike (minus the front wheel)that attaches to an adult bike. dan and tashi rode in tandem while i followed or lead, depending on the stretch of road. sometimes i would feel like the surprise parade when we would pass folks amused or alarmed by the two seater.

once downtown we locked up our bikes and did a lap around the farmer's market admiring beautiful pumpkins and multicolored corn husks. tashi was treated to an absurdly decadent caramel apple. i was saving the space in my backpack for the booksale, so i didn't purchase any of the expiring harvest's treasures.

the sale was at the book cellar -- a store that lost its lease in the midst of the sale of the historic building it's housed in. the book cellar offers tons of great used books, some collectors editions, and lots of brand new cut-price books. today their books, which are already half price or less, were reduced an additional 40%.

we compiled a pretty big stack of books which is a bit nutty considering we haven't even an inch of space on any of our bookshelves. we picked titles as far ranging as, "A Pictorial Anthology of Witchcraft, Magic and Alchemy" to "The Ultimate Muffin Book." tashi also picked out a nice stack of chapter books including an old hardcover about a cat called "Pyewacket.

i digress but it seems like so many good things in downtown charlottesville get sold to this one rock-industry individual and then the good thing changes. i've only lived in charlottesville a year, but am often told how wonderful the grassy bowl at the end of the downtown mall was before the concrete slab covered by an imposing tent was erected. i managed to squeeze in several $3 movies at the funky jefferson theater before it shut its doors for rennovation. and now he's bought a building called the hardware store, where there is a galley of shops which includes the book cellar, the only place i care about. the saddest part is, after 18 years in business, another independent bookstore must fold its walls and liquidate its books.

we spent the rest of the afternoon in the twisted branch tea bazaar, the beloved slice of india teahouse on the downtown mall that is not owned by coran capshaw. at least, i don't think it is.