Sousa. Sousa! Okay, I'm not big on flag-waving - a piece of cloth doesn't get my heart stirring the way ideals do - but Sousa marches! I'm listening today, and I hear joy and talent. The music seems to me to glory in America, Americans, without being jingoistic. I could be wrong, but that's what I hear. I also hear years of high school marching band doing their best to make the tunes sound right. He does give them a lot to do.

Plus, my heart warms to someone who wrote a march for a newspaper. As a fan and beneficiary of the First Amendment, I'm pleased we have our own march.

Hip hip hooray for John Philip Sousa!

Sometimes the excitement in a small town is unplanned. Today's was a huge - HUGE - truck stopping in the middle of Main Street to change a tire. They had two state troopers and at least three other vehicles accompanying them. I took a couple hunderd photos of the long red truck carrying its mysterious load - they told me, but I've forgotten already - something for a power station in Connecticut. As good as a parade for breaking up the day.

I love the view from our windows.

Went to Joe's Comics in Geneseo yesterday - Free Comic Book Day. Excellent fun; they had an artist doing free sketches, which five-year-old Henry loved. Saw some old familiar comic books - though who knew Archie has, at least in part, a new, "darker", style? - and some new stuff to check out. I ended up with a copy of Mad Magazine and an Archie Digest; Henry got a (purportedly "all ages") Spiderman digest and a free Cars comic. Not sure what Jason found. The store, though tiny, had a large collection of comics, as well as some collectors' supplies. The store includes a couple unexpected services, too - they sell stuff on eBay on commission, and they are a Trailways bus stop. Plenty of reasons to stop in. Now that I've been in, I can recommend the store enthusiastically to the bookstore customers.

I was wondering if a Free Book Day would work for independent bookstores, as a way to promote reading and our stores. Most bookstore owners are reading fanatics - like me, I'm sure most would be happy to give books away all the time, if we could afford it. Maybe one day a year, with the help of like-minded publishers, we could.