Two years ago, when I was afflicted with horrible sunburn and confined to the house, I started a tradition of decorating notebook covers with strange collages. As I was completely sunburn-free last August, I missed my opportunity. But this year I’ve revived the tradition! Not only that, but I’ve revived it with poetry. This year’s notebook brought to you courtesy of T.S. Eliot and The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.

Imagine a town with bookshops on every corner. And in between every corner. And, well, everywhere. Guess what? That town exists, and it’s in Wales! Hay-on-Wye, often called “the town of books”, is the kind of place I want to go when I die. Everywhere you turn, books! New, used, antique, fiction, nonfiction, prints, maps… everything you could ever want! There are around 30 separate bookshops in Hay-on-Wye, so start planning your trip now.

Spent a few nights in Herefordshire, visiting my great-aunt and uncle. If you have never thought of “sinister” as a description of cows, you have not met my new bovine friends. One by one, they wandered up until there were about twenty cows standing a few inches away, just looking at me. I think we all know what the next big creature flick should be.

I spent my final day in Cornwall in one of my favorite towns: Zennor. Home to the famous mermaid chair, Zennor is a cute little village near St Ives that boasts dramatic cliffs, ocean views, a beautiful old church, and (of course) a great pub. Usually, we hike the four miles to Zennor from St Ives via the coastal footpath, which is gorgeous. There are always raspberries and blackberries to pick along the way, and once I even encountered a couple of curious seals after wandering out on some seaside rocks. This time, though, we drove to Zennor and arrived (alas!) too late for our usual shepherd’s pie and lemonade at The Tinner’s Arms. Instead, I explored the church and graveyard, then hiked along the coastal path far enough to find a good spot to read my book.

To be honest, nothing much happened on day five. It rained all day, and we were supposed to take in an evening performance of La Traviata at the Minack Theatre, but that rained out. So I’m cheating a bit and including some leftover day four photographs. At the end of the day (after Kynance Cove) we stopped by Roskilly’s Farm to see if they had food/ice cream for us. But as it was a weekday, they had closed already. So instead we took a little walk, gushing over adorable baby ducks and marveling at giant rhubarb plants.