The Unofficial Mayor

Now that I'm starting to meet people here, which is a really great thing, I'm feeling a bit strange about mentioning names or being too exact in my descriptions. Of course there's no other way to write well about personal experiences without this level of detail. I'll do my best.

The health food store, not surprisingly, seems to be a good social hub and resource for local happenings. It's also the only nearby place I can find that sells The New York Times. I buy the Poughkeepsie Journal, too, but it only takes me about 10 minutes to read. My most recent visit brought me into acquaintance with J.G., a self-proclaimed impresario. His long, curly, salt-and-pepper mane suggested as much, but it was also written on the business card he handed to me with notable flourish. When I commented on his title, he let me know it was an opera term. Good to know ;-)

It was J.G. who informed us that Pete Seeger would be playing that night at the town arts center. We already had important dinner plans at Mercato, where a Travel & Leisure journo who was covering the Hudson Valley was going to meet us. The proprietor is my step-sister and my best friend, so plans really couldn't be changed. But I was indeed distraught by the idea that I would miss this icon of my childhood and important figure in my parents' life. When I moved to Sullivan Street and West 3rd years ago, my dad reminisced about the night that he and my mom drove into "the city" to hear Peter Seeger at the Village Gate. That was before my time. But The Weaver's song book and the Woody Guthrie songs were road-trip staples for us, back when we drove everywhere -- sometimes for days. My dad really liked to drive.

So anyway, here I am at the health food store, kind of upset that I would be missing this seemingly once-in-a-lifetime experience. Not to worry. Pete Seeger is this town's unofficial mayor. Apparently he appears at just about any town event, no matter how small. The next scheduled appearance is the Pumpkin Festival in October. Sigh of relief.

And, dinner was absolutely amazing. Thanks Michele and Francesco (I can mention them by name because they want you to come and eat with them!)

In other news, I finally bought the solar lights for my lawn. They don't seem to be working yet, but it's been overcast today. It gets really dark out here. REALLY dark.

Oh, and I picked up a job application at the Health Food Store.