Ruminator-ations

We met some friends for coffee at a cafe on Grand Avenue in St. Paul this aftenroon, and they pointed out that the storefront which had until recently been the home of Ruminator Books was apparently being remodeled to serve as a Patagonia outdoor-equipment store. Progress, I guess. As the Hungry Mind, Ruminator was the place where I discovered Don DeLillo and Thomas Pynchon's books, bought virtually every one of my hundreds of course books over my four years at Macalester, went on one of my first dates with Shannon, and spent hundreds of hours browsing then-copiously stocked shelves. Alas and alack. Maybe Patagonia will comp me a nice polarfleece as partial compensation for the memories...