The heart is an autumn wanderer

The heart is an autumn wanderer

This is a quote from Franny and Zooey by Salinger. Thank you, Paul, for the loan.

I am on a train somewhere between DC and Boston. Fall foliage has not forgotten the NE terrain. Even the most bleak, industrial areas look more beautiful. It's almost as if they look remembered, imprinted by the Creator's fingertips.

I am reading Franny and Zooey and writing down quotes that intrigue me. The heart one in particular captures how my heart feels most all of the time but especially in the autumn months. It wanders and longs and loves and aches. For what? It is not quite sure.

As I arrived into the DC station this morning, my heart leapt. I stepped off the train into a grungy outdoor station, people bustling by off all sizes and colors. I thought to myself, "These are the types of people that travel by rail." I then grinned and thought, "I am the type of person that travels by rail."

So here I sit, munching on grape tomatoes, carrot sticks, and am trying to stifle the powerful aroma of my homemade hummus. I won't bring that for a train snack again. It's embarrassingly strong. I would compare this food treat to the distinct aroma of curry an Indian child brings into an all Caucasian cafeteria. There is just no getting around the obvious declaration I am making, "I'm too cheap and too much of a foody to buy 'food' from the dining car!"

I feel indulgent blogging. Then I remind myself, I am on vacation! I feel perfectly content. Here I sit, only to read and people watch, and window shop as the world races by the window of Amtrak train no. 174.

Goodbye for now.