I could walk 500 miles and get a new lesson each time.

I probably could walk that long. Literally. Friends and family can't keep up. I don't do it on purpose, I just simply get my mind going when my feet are strolling on the ground, not curled up on the couch. What better way to imagine what life might have been like for a research subject then standing in front of a 100 year old tenement, or a former speak or seeing the site of something that once was something else? Books and words will only reveal so much.

So I think yesterday I logged close to 10 miles or more. ( My friend did the counting close to the end of the day). From the Upper West Side to Central Harlem and back, then back and forth over twenty more blocks then, oh yeah think I need to grab something from the library, another notch on the invisible odometer. Wasn't worn out at all, then I go into this wacky vintage clothing store by accident and I hear this:

Sales woman with a real New York accent, not from a can, probably in her sixties referring to a customer:

" She's from Paris."

Another sales woman, same description as above:

" Nah, nah, she's from the Upper West Side now, it doesn't matter that she was born in Paris, she lives on the Upper West Side so that makes her apart of the UWS. We all came from somewhere else at some point in our lives."

Me: " I really like hearing that."

Sales Lady: " Well, it's true!" Looking at me: "How old are you? My, my this store has been here nearly twice as long as your age! You should visit us more often."

Just the fact that they have a giant leopard printed bag with a clock in the center of it, hanging next to cloche hats, and glittered shoes that would make Dorothy's head spin, makes me think I will..on my next 10 mile walk.