16,346. RUDIMENTS, pt. 1,302

RUDIMENTS, pt. 1,302

(read it again books)

This is going to be a Rudiments in

a different fashion. The day will be 

Saturday, June 10, a nice, pleasant,

warm and temperate day which was

quite welcomed in. The drive we took

covered, in total, the 25 miles between.

here and Monticello, NY. We make this

trip perhaps once a month. The main

reason being a used book store with a

a strange sense of assortment and 

selection. It calls itself, 'Read It 

Again Books' - and is run by the

Literacy Volunteers of Sullivan

County. It is run tightly, and squarely,

with an exceptional assortment of 

books, sold inexpensively and

orderly. Now, you must understand

from where I speak. This is the old

Catskill Borscht-Belt Comedy section.

Sullivan County. At this time of year,

whichever Jewish Camps and Schools

are still around  -  and there are many -

are rousing to life as the greenery here 

spreads. Wherever these books come 

from, I do no know. Yet, the selection 

is large, and invigorating, in ways 

you'd not find commercially  -  lots 

of Jewish-religion titles, memoirs 

(One of my first, and most-prized 

buys these, which I've read, and 

re-read, was a book called The 

Rise of David Levinsky, (published 

1917) and written by Abraham 

Cahan, publisher of the Jewish 

Daily Forward

-

I return here to that section of Route

17B that runs to Monticello and then

connects with the larger Rt. 17. If you

look at a map, you'll see. As I said here,

all along the way are remnants of the

old Summer Camps, and (current today)

the Hasidic Communities and settlements

current in place. Monticello Racetrack.

Route 17, the Main Route, reintroduces

one in the larger make-up of the developed

world, with all its assumptions and gross

mannerisms. If you let it; for that need not

happen. Like avoiding a major turnpike,

and staying on back road  -  those other 

roads with their small paths and stories  -  

it can all be avoided. You really can avoid

the 'Present' which is not 'present' at all.

Fosterdale. Smallwood. Callicoon. Liberty.

Mongaup. Jeffersonville. And - lest we 

forget  -  Bethel. Where Woodstock 

actually happened, though it now calls 

itself Bethel Woods. Though places, all 

still speak their tales.

-

All along these ways are numerous

ruinations  -  massive hulks of old Hotels

and Boarding Homes, Summer Camps

and Settlement Houses. When you get the

farthest out, that's Liberty, home to the

Sullivan County SPCA, where, of late, I've 

been sorely tempted to undertake an

adoption. Also along 17B, at some Road

Puckee Huddle Road, there remains standing

a home (?) to which I always swear it will

be falling over in five minutes. Never does.

-

The influx of people are (to the bookstore)

is always curious to me too. Yesterday,

a threesome of svelte, quite fetching, NYC

types came in. They were obviously urban NY

types, and I could only imagine what a

surprise this place may be been to them.

Perhaps they were each about 28-30. They

chattered amongst themselves about what

they were finding, and the prices. I was nearby,

in a reading chair, and could most of all

their conversations and impressions.