The Friday 5ive- March 13, 2020

Welcome to the Friday 5ive, a weekly blog post about five things that caught my attention during the week. It's been a week that seems like it has lasted a year, so much has changed with the Coronavirus situation, and it changes every five minutes.


1) Sunday was another gorgeous day, so we took a walk along the East River Esplanade. We saw this HUGE dog with his owner, and wondered if he/she had its own bedroom in the apartment.

2) I go to the grocery store everyday (that's a thing in New York City- no car means you can only buy what you can carry home in a bag) and up until today things were fine. I went this morning and it was insane. I was going to buy some pasta to make mac and cheese, and while the shelves were full yesterday, today there were only boxes of manicotti left. I saw a guy who scooped up the remaining three boxes of that, and then he grabbed four huge containers of quinoa. I really wanted to ask him what he was going to put in the manicotti because that was all he had, but he seemed frantic.
This is a photo of the empty pasta shelves at Morton Williams. I guess everyone is making pasta this weekend. God bless the people working in grocery stores this week.

3) A lovely woman came into the Book Cellar, and she bought some baseball books for her brother. When she pulled out her wallet, it looked like a baseball- white leather with red stitches. I told her as a baseball fan myself I thought it was very cool and asked if I could take a photo. She said yes.

4) Now that the Coronovirus has closed the New York Public Library branches, that means the Book Cellar, where I volunteer, is closed as well. (We are located in the Webster branch of the NYPL). But don't worry, I have enough books to get me through. This is a photo of my bookshelves. Maybe I'll open up a lending library....

5)  In more book and baseball news, I read Emily Nemens' debut novel The Cactus League, about people involved with the fictional Los Angeles Lions Major League Baseball team as they go to their annual spring training in Arizona. There are many characters telling their stories- the All-Star outfielder with a big problem, the team owner hiding a secret, the batting coach who doesn't want to retire, and the next-big-thing rookie who is struggling. I loved this book, and if you like baseball (and will be missing it while it is on Coronavirus hiatus), get your baseball fix from The Cactus League. My full review will publish this Sunday in the Citizen newpaper in Auburn, and on auburnpub.com.  

The Cactus League

Stay safe and well everyone.