Everything And Nothing

The Writer in the Window Lives On

 

In 1984, hopelessly blocked on a novel, Georgelle Hirliman hit on the idea of setting up shop with her typewriter in a Santa Fe storefront. Beside her, she placed a sign:

Help Me Cure My Writer’s Block — Give Me a Topic.

In Manhattan she wrote in the windows of The Village Voice, Shakespeare & Co. on the Upper West Side and B. Dalton on Fifth Avenue, among other places, sitting daily for eight hours at a stretch.

Though Ms. Hirliman passed away in 2010, her inspiration lives on now through a New Yorker now living in Savannah, Lauren DeRosa. She occupies the window at Paris Market on Broughton St.

I talked to her briefly in the store. I didn't understand the history of her "project" at that time. It just intrigued me.

A writer in a window. Are you on display, like a zoo or a mannequin? Seeking to answer questions in an artsy store, are you part of the block or part of the writer? But there were beautiful words everywhere (whatever the answer).

She asked me if I had a question for her to answer, but, honestly, I saw so many pictures in my head...words escaped me.

How much is that writer in the window?  “I stopped answering that,” Ms. Hirliman told The Albuquerque Journal in 2000. “Nobody paid.”

Time is on your side

Go to www.farecast.com and type in your route and the date of your flight. The site will predict whether the price will go up, down, or stay the same over the next seven days. (In May of 2007, the company released results of an independent audit verifying Farecast's prediction accuracy at 74.5 percent.)

MS Gulf Coast Summertime promotion offers $50 in gas to visitors

Visitors planning a two-night stay on the Mississippi Gulf Coast can receive a $50 gas card in a new promotion launched this week by the Mississippi Gulf Coast Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Mississippi Hotel & Lodging Association.

Families visiting the Mississippi Gulf Coast between June 15 and Sept. 1 will receive a $50 gas voucher with a minimum two-night stay at participating hotels. Those interested should call 1-888-216-1552 to make reservations. At check-in, the visitors will receive a Kangaroo gas card valued at $50.
 

Fear of Flying

It's tough to keep track of all the different fees airlines are inventing to keep their corpulent industry from immediately imploding, so here's the current status, as rounded up by the Baltimore Sun.

The 31 Places to Go This Summer

Gas prices are rising. Airlines are experiencing more and more difficulties. But it's summer - you can't just sit home. The New York Times offers 31 great summer vacation options within reach - from river rafting in eastern Oregon to biking in the White Mountains of New Hampshire.

The Prime Secret of the Open Road

"It is the prime secret of the Open Road that you are to pass nothing, reject nothing, despise nothing upon this earth. As you travel, many things both great and small will come to your attention; you are to regard all with open eyes and a heart of simplicity. Believe that everything belongs somewhere; each thing has its fitting and luminous place within this mosaic of human life. The Road is not open to those who withdraw the skirts of intolerance or lift the chin of pride. Rejecting the least of those who are called common or unclean, it is (curiously) you yourself that you reject.

If you despise that which is ugly you do not know that which is beautiful."

~ David Grayson

The Foodie Train

Trains. Food. Wine. Travel. How much better can it get?

The sexiest, sleekest, fastest train in France, the TGV, is also a foodie's delight, it seems. Great snacks on board AND great foodie stops all along the way, from Paris to Marseilles and Strasbourg.

After all, as Eva Marie Saint tells Cary Grant in North by Northwest on the train, one should "never discuss love on an empty stomach"! ;)

Smart Cookies

In St. Rémy, a southern French village filled with scattered Roman ruins, it seems only fitting that some of the finest cookies in town come from a bakery using recipes of centuries past. Le Petit Duc co-owner Anne Daguin (with her pastry chef husband, Hermann Van Beeck) might take a Roman porridge recipe from 200 or 300 BC (almonds, walnuts, olive oil, red wine, cumin, pepper, honey, eggs) and, by adding flour and a little sugar, turn it into a thick, spicy cookie called "The Ears of the Good Goddess." Other best sellers include the 19th-century caramel-flavored walkyries  and the 14th-century saffron-tinged coeurs du Petit-Albert.

Daguin continues to find antique cookie recipes, while her husband reproduces the old-time sweets - including 17th-century-style "aprhodisiacs" made of chocolate and a blend of spices that they've christened "pastit-iles d'amour" - using only the finest butters, anise, ginger, pistachios, and nougat.

Le Petit Duc is located at 7 Boulevard Victor Hugo in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence.

Travel time

Single-use wipes stash discreetly in any pocket, briefcase or purse. You can’t carry bulky cans and bottles with you, and you can’t always access your toiletries while traveling. Solution: Travel Wipes that do the job quickly and easily anywhere. Stash them discreetly in your pocket, backpack or field bag. Set includes 6 hydrating skin lotion, 6 hygiene towelettes, 6 make-up removers, 6 nail polish remover, and 6 dental finger mitts.

$26.50

The Mile High Club

Mini Cell Phone Charger by Mile High. Kit includes 4 jacks to attach to the charger, which comes ready to go with an AA battery. Simply drop the AA battery into the charger, hook up the correct jack, and charge your phone on the go. Compatible with Blackberry, Motorola, Nokia, and Samsung phones. .75 in X 2.75in

$20