something new

in my life.

I use a backpack all the time. And I think I already said that I tend to overstuff suitcases and the like. Well, for the past I don't know, 6 months or so I've been struggling more and more to get the zipper on my faithful and beloved backpack to shut...it kept unzipping itself. I had visions of being on a train or bus or, worse yet, racing down a platform and *pop* the zipper busts open and out pops all my stuff. That b/p had been in my life since Vienna, 2001...I was having a hard time coming to terms with maybe having to say good-bye...but it was becoming more and more undependable.

Sharon A and I went last-min con shopping last week... I'm racing through the new Interspar store (which is like Super Target or something- it's fabulous), zipping through the sporting goods dept en route to the food... *screech*

That looks like a backpack...like a good one...I mean, the zippers look good, Whoa- there are compartments, secret cubby-holes, adjustable straps to make the thing exactly fit your back (I mean it goes from large to petite- I'm not just talking about the shoulder harness; the whole back thingy adjusts)... its very own rain coat. oh man... the color isn't exactly my thing but that puppy came home with me anyway. I moved right in... got a pic of that process at Fergie and Hazel's... so far, so good. The bad thing is, it holds more than is good for my back, so I'll have to be careful about that.

Oh- and there are so many straps and buckles and things- I feel like I'm hitching up a horse every time I put it all

together...and all the little zipper pockets just make me giddy. It also reminds me of when I moved into a suitcase for the first time ever and lost things- I mean lost, like

for months at a time sometimes- in that thing. It had so many pockets and stuff...and then Margaret and I took out some of its stuffing and made 2 more pockets... I actually lost things in it...well, here we go again... it's so fun, though...