Good List Week 15
Anderson Park
One of my favorite ways to spend a spare hour is to bring a book and coffee to Anderson Park in Montclair. The park itself is lovely, a sprawling bowl of green grass where frisbee, volleyball and soccer is played by athletic youths. Around the central grass the walking path has several shaded benches, ideal for plopping down and nestling into a book (last week's read was A Brief History of the Earth by Andrew Knoll, a fascinating tour of the planet's and our own evolution in time and space). Sometimes I'll bring my picnic blanket and spread out on the grass, lying and taking in the warm summer air.
Nature Walk
For my artist's date this week (it's hard to believe I'm already on week 11! time flies!), I went to Eagle Rock Reservation for a nature walk. I had purchased a loupe (which happened to be a recent crossword answer, serendipitous!), for peering into the depths of moss and leaves and such. Turns out that with a loupe the target must be basically pressed against my face, which was beyond my comfort level to do against the ground or a tree. Loupes aside, I brought a notebook refashioned as a field notebook and pretended to be a wildlife biologist (inspired by a recent read of Annihilation), recording observations on plants and animals. As luck would have it, I got a great look at a fox who I surprised in the woods, a couple deer, and even a large frog swimming in a small puddle left over from recent rains. My inner artist was very pleased.
The Invite
On Friday I had been feeling some kind of way, so I decided to cancel plans and take myself to the movies. I saw The Invite, on the basis of some youtube trailer reviews, and was pleasantly surprised to find myself laughing throughout the movie. The plot revolves around a dinner invite from a couple to their upstairs neighbors. From the get-go, the dialogue and acting were superb, I especially enjoyed the dynamic between Seth Rogen and Olivia Wilde's characters.
Side note: the Good List Visualizer has been updated to include these new entries.