Losing a landmark

Snow today. Not much, and it didn't stick, but enough of it in the air to remind us that winter isn't done just yet. This time last year it was unseasonably warm, and remembering that I can't help but be disappointed by spring's tardiness now. We lazed about this morning, eating cherry walnut pancakes and playing geography games. Jon and Calvin practiced the piano while I hit the treadmill (really, spring, I'm ready to run outside already). After lunch, though, we broke our winter coats back out of the closet and headed out into the still frigid world. Jon was teaching, but Calvin and I spent that time perusing the jumbled and dwindling shelves at the closing Borders store in Ann Arbor.

It's hard not to go there. We shopped there the weekend they announced its closing, when the discounts were much smaller and the shelves much more full. It's hard to resist sixty percent off classic fiction, science books, and even children's books. We usually buy our books used—almost always—but some wish list titles are hard to find that way, especially new releases or more obscure older ones, so we gave in on a few books, to the tune of a few dollars each. At that price it's almost like buying used anyway so all I have to reconcile myself to is the tree loss. There's a Tolkien rewrite of a Norse legend and a new Elizabeth Kostova that I can't wait to read. But after wading through shelves of books that are no longer sorted alphabetically, and barely even sorted by subject, I think we've said our goodbyes to the Arborland Borders.