baggins

The sun is shining but the temperature has dropped back below zero. It is -10C, -20C with the windchill, but where the sun is shining the snow is melting, especially if there is something dark nearby. Spring seems near.

Monday we helped our friend Dave buy a computer and then went to Capital City Luggage to look at their day bags. They had a huge selection and we each chose a 'pacsafe' bag with lots of security features on it. I didn't have all the stuff that I would normally carry, but they have a 7 day return policy.

As soon as we got home I loaded up my bag - everything fit… but… I didn't really like mine. Carm's is good and holds all the stuff that it will have to cart around, but mine… well, I just didn't like it… it had a big flap over the front which was bulky and  unwieldy. Tuesday I had stuff in and out of that bag a hundred times. I walked around the house with the bag slung over my shoulder. I looked at it. I took everything out and looked at it again. rinse and repeat… in the end I decided I wanted to look at the bags again and see if there was something that I liked better.

Today we visited the store and I looked around some more. It turns out that the little brother to Carm's bag will do the trick. It is slightly too small and will be cramped with my jacket, a water bottle, my big camera and a few other odds and sods, but that's okay. With both bags available we'll be able to handle any situation.

So complicated just to get what amounts to a purse but since Carm read yesterday that Barcelona and Rome are two of the top pick-pocket spots it seems prudent to take precautions.

The people at the family owned and operated Capital City Luggage were helpful and pleasant - we will shop there again. In fact after our lunch (see below) we went back so I could buy a scarf that will nicely dress up some t-shirts that I have. Plus the wrap around ones are easy to pull a bit over my head if needed for getting into churches.

At lunch we stopped at Art-is-in, a place we'd seen on the Food Channel. I had the deep fried pickle sandwich which was amazing. Carm had a ham sandwich that he also enjoyed. I wondered if I might get sick of the pickle flavour as I like them but aren’t made for them. No worries, it could have even used a few more. Hot pickles, who knew.

We made our first camping reservations yesterday. We've decided to just camp in the fall (aside from the Titanium Rally in June) and stay home again this summer. We can always change our minds and go last minute if we are going stir crazy.
Last night we had a lovely dinner with Trudie & Leo and Monday night Dave was over so I'm keeping up with my plan of staying busy to banish winter blues. So far it seems to be working.

"And there is quite a different sort of conversation around a fire than there is in the shadow of a beech tree.... [F]our dry logs have in them all the circumstance necessary to a conversation of four or five hours, with chestnuts on the plate and a jug of wine between the legs. Yes, let us love winter, for it is the spring of genius."
~Pietro Aretino, translated from Italian