coming to terms....

The last 36 hours have been a study in contrasts. Yesterday morning---finally felt that I was in command of my stomach enough to head out to Bed-Stuy and visit my friend Riley, currently a barista at a new coffee place on Halsey Street right off Tompkins Street. An easy trip, right off the A train---you might say that Halsey and Tompkins is the pure heart of Bed-Stuy. First I had trouble finding the shop, so I wandered north on Tompkins for a few blocks. Here I saw the following: groups of black people congregating while mostly young white people (some with families) moved back and fourth. An interesting contrast---neither group seems to pay much attention to the other.
   As I searched for Riley's place of work---I became hungry to look at all the streets in Bed-Stuy, to understand the Brownstones and their history, to simply give myself a day to wander all those streets. Last year that would have been easy---this year---not sure. Soon arrived at the coffee shop, took my ice coffee and while Riley served other customers, headed to the patio to read Suite Francaise, the brilliantly written novel by Irene Nemirovsky that details in great depth, the frightening displacement of some citizens of Paris, as the Nazis invaded them. It is a hard book to read; the pain and and horror of the evacuees is brutal. But I liked the shop---tables spaced nicely between each other---i can see myself coming back again to read and hang out---as long as I can take the trip.
  After a bout an hour, it was time to move on---I did not want to go home yet---I wanted to stop off at the Center for Fiction, located across the street from BAM, and see what was going on there---they had just reopened. It was hot, but I managed to walk the two blocks from Tompkins to Nostrand, and jump on an A making local stops---which let me off very near the Center. First I checked my other
"hangouts" in the area--the Gotham Market, BRIC,---all closed---even the Center was really a ghost of its pre-pandemic self. Lots of books to consider, but the other rooms that one could sit in and read, or write were not open, nor was the snack bar. So I did not stay there long. At least proud of myself for "daring" to leave my neighborhood, I jumped on a 2 and was back on the upper west side around  2:30.
  My body could hardly move when I arrived, and for most of the afternoon, I listened to the Mets-Braves game, or slept. Out a few times to buy supplies and food--fell asleep around 9:30. Then it happened.
    About 1:30 awoke---body full of energy---no interest in sleep--it stayed that way until about 4 or
4:30. Tried to control the situation---many times lay down to try to sleep, but would always realize that my body was not in a sleep place. I was amazed how much energy was available to me, but what could I do with it?--at that time my eyes are tired, so it is hard to read or put on the computer.
Finally rested, then it was time to get ready for the morning four block coffee walk.
  Now, as it is almost 1P.M., the stomach cramps are back---I assume that they are cyclical and I can just wait it out. But they are harsh. With the heat intense, I am remaining in the apartment---will
 probably listen to the Yankee game, just beginning or read. Just returned from a short trip to Barnes and Noble, where i bought an Agatha Christie mystery---I needed a strong contast to the novel about
the french people fleeing the Nazis and the chaos that ensued. Should report tomorrow to reveal how all this was settled.