Booklover's Revenge!

So clever!  Need I say more?

Does This Bother Anybody Else?

"Where Books Come To Life!"

Painting by Christine Kornacki

Isn't this a great picture?  The story the young boy is reading has literally come to life!  This is what happens when a child (or an adult) becomes engrossed in a book.  You can imagine yourself right there with the hero or the heroine.  Your mind drifts away from the daily problems we all face and you find yourself falling into a reverie with words that tell a story.

My bookshop has a couple of sections of children's books.  The best ones are in a bookcase directly on the aisle.  The other books are in a smaller area and I have a sign that lets you know that those books are only 50-cents each.  I want to sell them off and just concentrate on the better ones.

Unfortunately, there are few children who stand there looking at the books.  The children are there with their parents who are shopping for something in particular and are in a hurry.  Though the children are looking at the books, they can't stay because their parents call them away.  "Come on... I don't have all day," they say as they move on down the aisle to check out other shops.  It's a pity.

I don't think the parents even realize that they are teaching the child that books aren't important.  Instead, they stop at the shop further down the aisle and let their children buy some inexpensive toy instead.  I guess the parents are not readers themselves so the bookshop doesn't entice them.

Both parents and children are thereby missing out on one of the joys of life.  Sure, these children can go on to read books electronically...  but it's not the same as holding a hard bound or a softcover book in your hands and using your imagination to bring its story to life.


 

My Favorite Passtime!

Post-election Analysis - Voting them back in!

Loss

Another one of those lovely cemetery angels that I like so much.  I've had this one sitting on my desktop for months and never took the time to share it with you.

This mournful creature can't bear the loss of whomever she is guarding.  "How could this have happened?," she seems to be thinking.  "I can't bear to go on.  What will I do?  Lord, why?  How could you let this happen?  I'll never get over it.  I'll never be happy again.  This person was my life!"

Of course, by her pose, our beautiful angel is expressing exactly what the stone artisan wished to convey: the grief of those left behind.



"Blessed are those who mourn; for they shall be comforted." (Matt 5:4)



~ Beautiful Cemetery Sculptures

 

Okay, so I Trashed a Friend's Blog!

I have been receiving a few odd emails recently.  As any smart computer user does when they are not sure of the source, I deleted them.  The Subject was simply "SOMETIMES".   And then it dawned on me...  Maybe I'd better take a look.

Well, as it turned out, my friend from Ohio had long ago started a blog and I signed up to receive notification of any articles she posted there.  However, she never got her blog off the ground and I had long ago forgotten I had signed up.

I'm so glad I opened that email this morning.  Looks like she is back to writing.  Writing is her thing anyway.  She had been a columnist in her local newspaper back in the day, so now I am looking forward to interesting observations from her.

Maybe that will get me to write more too.



~ Pic found on the Clancy Tucker Blog

My Kind of Table Clutter!

Still Life with Books ~ Vincent van Gogh

The Story of My Bookshop!

Change ~ "... the worst day of my life!"

One of our vendors at Mixie's is leaving.  She has had her shop for about 12 years and we have been friends for a long time.  B. is 93 years old!

B. was a doll maker long before I met her.  Some of her dolls were in her showcases at her shop, directly across from mine.  She was so good at making dolls that she won Blue Ribbons at the State Fair.  But those days are gone and her family is helping her to close her shop.

B. also sold jewelry.  She had nice rings reasonably priced that she bought from a jeweler she knew.  She also had lots of costume jewelry to sell.  But those days are gone.  The jewelry she wanted to keep has been taken home and the rest has been bought in bulk by several of us vendors who sell costume jewelry.

B. also sold glassware and collectibles.  But those days are gone too.  Lots of figurines like clowns and animals passed through her shop and into the hands of vendors who bought what she didn't want to keep.  Lots of things were packed into boxes and will probably end up at Goodwill.

Her many showcases have been sold to vendors who have already resold them or have them up for sale in their own areas.  Other furniture, like bookcases that held the figurines are gone.  The place is almost empty.

Through all this, B. has sat in her chair and mourned.  She has been very angry at how quickly her family has acted in closing her shop and I have heard some harsh words spoken.  Because B. had become forgetful, she doesn't understand or remember why she has to leave.  Even with all the thoughtfulness her family used in trying to prepare her, their explanations counted for nothing as she watched her shop being dismantled and her inventory sold right out from under her.

B. wanted to hold on.  B. wanted to fight to keep her shop.  "This is the worst day of my life" I heard her say.

Although B. had spoken the last few years about giving up her shop, when the time came, she wasn't ready.  She feels betrayed by family and friends.  Next week she will be at home and a new shop owner will take over her space.


       

How could I possible resist this????

... or in my bookshop at the antique mall!!!


~ Grammarly.com

Book Addiction!

This so reminds me of my bookshop; except that my shop is much more organized.  However, I really don't have enough room for all the books I have, so I have some extras laying on shelves that have no room for them.

My books are in alphabetical order by author.  At least the fiction and historical romances are.  The rest are on shelves dedicated to their subjects.  For instance, I have shelves of bios, history and politics, health and medical, cookbooks, sports, and so on.  These obviously cannot be placed in alphabetical order...  I have no time for that.

I bought a tall bookcase from a vendor who is leaving at the end of the month.  I placed it in a conspicuous place and put children's books on the shelves.  I sell very few children's books...  parents don't encourage their children to stop and look at books.  It's a pity.  Surprisingly, soon after I placed the book case and filled it, a young girl who is being looked after by one of the vendors, came by and asked if I had any kids' books!  I pointed her to the books and she bought THREE of them!

Yes, books can be an addiction alright.  I just finished my 37th book of the year!  Maybe, I'll end up with 60 again...  :)  I LOVE TO READ!

Your Kids... My Kids?

Love it! 

Fear and Trembling...

This morning, soon after I arrived at my shop, G. came to my area in the flea market... "I have it... the doctors are going to do a biopsy but they are sure I have cancer... it is in my left lung...that's why I have been hurting so much in my shoulders and ribs."  The words came out in a jumble because G. was trembling so hard, she could hardly speak.

I put my arms around her and pulled her close to me... and she wept...

G. lives in her car much of the time...  Sometimes, she can stay at a friend's house.  The friend is a vendor here at Mixie's like I am... G. befriended me some months ago when she asked if I wanted to buy some jewelry she was trying to sell so she could put gas in her car. It was wintertime.

G. has grown children but I think she is estranged from them, although I have seen her daughter once with her in the flea market.  Mostly G. is on her own.  She is thin as a rail and appears ill... I don't think she eats regularly either.  She probably has issues that keep her from utilizing the county welfare system.  I don't know.  I've helped her in small ways and she has always been grateful.  She has had a hard life from what I can tell.

Yesterday morning, she came to me and announced that she had finally gone to the doctor who sent her for an MRI... she was to get the results the next day...  "Please pray for me"...  And that I did.

Today, after she had calmed a bit, we talked about the possibilities... what might happen... her fears for her children...  And I added, her fears about herself.  "Let me know what happens... Let me know if I can help... do you have someone to go to the hospital with you?"

I said, "You have to fight this."  "Yes, I will", she said.  I said, "You have to fight until God says it's enough..."  "I will", she said.


Lord, if it is Your Will, bring healing to your daughter.  Mind, body and spirit.  She is so frightened... Comfort her and be with her in the days ahead.  Let her recognize Your presence and be at peace.



Photo Credit: Angie Ryg

This is Soooooo ME!

Back in the Day ~ Listening to the Radio

My parents had a radio very much like this one when I was a child.  I remember it well.  It had been placed in a corner of the living room next to the sofa where my Dad sat.  His favorite spot.  He would sit there reading his newspaper and listening to the radio.

On the other side of the radio, next to the radiators that heated our home, was an old hassock.  When there was a program that I wanted to listen to in the evening, you would find me hunched over the hassock as close as I could get to that radio so I wouldn't miss anything being said or played.

I was not allowed to touch the knobs of this radio...apparently I was considered too young to master all the intricacies of locating stations, etc.  The radio had several bands, including a shortwave band; and since it was wartime (1940's), I remember my Dad listening for news of the conflict from wherever he could find information.  I still remember one time hearing the fanatical and screeching voice of Adolf Hitler, though I couldn't understand a word he said.

My Dad listened to boxing during this time.  I remember the fights with Joe Louis, Jersey Joe Walcott and Billy Conn, because I was right there, hunched over the hassock listening.

On Saturday afternoons, my Dad would turn on the Metropolitan Opera program.  I wasn't too interested in that music, mainly because I couldn't understand what was being sung, but I remember it in the background of whatever I was doing in the house that day.

Of course, there were lots of other programs that we listened to...  I recall Amos and Andy, George Burns and Gracie Allen, The Great Gildersleeve, Ellery Queen, The FBI in Peace and War, Baby Snooks, Gangbusters, Dr. Christian and soooo many others.  You can look here for a long listing of some of those 1940's programs.

The old radio finally gave out and my brother, who had begun working at Miller and Rhoads or Thalhimers (don't remember which) gave my parents a new console radio/record player for Christmas in the late 1940's.  He was so proud of himself that Christmas. I don't think we had a record player before that time, though I vaguely remember a child's record player in the house at one time; but I think that was later in my early teens.

It's amazing how a photograph can bring back so many memories.

 

Remember these?

Remember these card catalogs?  I surely do.  Of course, anything remotely having to do with books is going to be on my agenda!

If you were in school before the computer age, you knew about card catalogs.  Every library had them.  How else would you know what books the library had in its collection.  Did it have books on the subject you had selected or been given to write about?  Was the book located in the main body of the library?  Or did you have to ask someone to go to the Stacks to get the book you needed.

Each card contained all the pertinent information about a particular book.  Title, author, ISBN number, etc.  How many times did you have to copy this info down, so that you could complete a footnote or a reference paper for your assignment?  You had to copy it down just right too.

The card also provided you with the information about where the book was located in the library.  Which section... which shelf.  You had to know the basics of the Dewey Decimal system while you were at it.  Each book had a magical signature consisting of letters and numbers.  If you followed directions that the letters and numbers gave, you soon found your book; or discovered that someone else had beaten you to it.  Then you would have to wait for the book to be returned or find out from the librarian if a branch library had a copy.

Nowadays, of course, with the advent of the computer, all this has changed.  Locating a book is probably faster now, but we may have lost something by it.  Life has sped up... There's no more lingering in the card catalog to discover a book that you hadn't even been looking for; but that would lead to another avenue for a reading adventure.

  

This could NOT be resisted!

Ya'll remember that now.... !

Me and Tom Jefferson!!!

Headline from my local newspaper: Nervous calm grips...

Headline: Nervous calm grips Fallujah as residents return (Richmond Times-Dispatch, 1/11/14)

Here are excerpts from the article...

- residents trickling back...
- a tense calm...
- Iraqi troops have taken up positions...
- other ant-government gunmen, their faces hidden by scarves...
- Markets have begun to open...
- situation remains tense...
- health care facilities running short on supplies...


This article really struck me and made me wonder how we would react to conditions of war right here in the United States.  Of course, we have the Civil War to look back on as a war fought on our own continental soil, and much has been written about that period in our history, but that war occurred 150 years ago.  There are no longer any survivors to lend an immediacy to our lives today.

It's tragic to think of ourselves having to flee our homes, seeing them destroyed, losing family members, going hungry, having to rely on others to take care of us, and so on...

We surely need to pray for these unfortunate people (men, women and children) who have so much to endure in so many countries around the world.  We need to thank God for all that has been given to us: for our lives, our work, our worship, each other. And we need to work for peaceful solutions to problems, rather than having to read headlines like the one above.

After all, we are brothers and sisters.  We all bleed the same color.  We all have hopes and dreams for ourselves and our families.  We may call our God by different names or by none at all, but He knows our needs and cares for us even when we think that no one's there...

Our God relies on us to be His workers in the world... to continue to bring about His Kingdom... Looks like we're falling down on the job, don't-cha think?



~ Image - Salon.com

New Year's Resolutions Revisited

Last year I made a New Year's resolution to fill an empty jar with notes reminding myself of the good things that happened to me.  I was checking out the jar today and here are some of the events that were special.

~ I have been placed in a prayer note on the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem by C.

~ K called to let us know that Ricky's $5000-plus hospital bill has been cancelled!

~ Ricky has been walking without his cane or brace today.

~ A sent papers for me to correct.

~ I fell in the street at church but didn't break anything!

~ Wonderful trip to see the grandkids.

~ I sold over $130 worth of jewelry to one customer today!

~ I found the church keys!  Whew!

~ David survived a serious low blood sugar event.  Thank you Lord.

~ Someone complimented me AGAIN about how well organized my book shop is!

~ Ricky got his disability approved!  Thank you Lord.


These constituted about 6 months worth of notes.  I didn't finish the year as I had hoped but will begin again this year.  You should try it!  All you need is an empty jar, placed where you can see it as a reminder to write a little note to yourself.

Aaaaahhhhh! Clever!

I saw this cartoon on Facebook the other day and I knew I had to put it on my blog.  I guess this is one way to entice kids to start reading again.  Notice I said "again"... this is rather hopeful, I guess.

I doubt if it's news to anyone reading this blog that I love to read.  Another year has gone by and my list of books reached 45 books for the year; not quite as good as my all-time high as an adult, of 61 books the previous year.  But no matter, the important thing is to keep reading.

At my age, I'm not too hung up on the fact that I forget most of the books I read, since I read just for the pleasure of the moment.  What my reading does, is to keep my mind active; and believe me, at 77 I can use a clear brain!  Not in the sense of a brain that is drained; but a brain that still functions for most of the things that I need to know and want to do.  Hey, I run a vintage and collectible shop!  I at least have to remember how to add and subtract; without using a calculator either!  I don't make too many mistakes since I'm still in business after 11 or 12 years!

Actually, I do more than read books.  I also read our daily newspaper and work the crossword puzzle.  I also read a lot online... and I still "tsk, tsk" to myself about all the misspellings I see there... One of the things I have enjoyed over the years is to proofread other people's writings for publication or for important mailings.  It's very interesting to do and I catch a lot of grammar or spelling errors that need correcting.  We all make mistakes at times but if something is going out to the world, one hopes it will be right!

What do you think about reading books, newspapers and periodicals online?  For my own sake, I need to have these things in my hands... to feel the paper and turn the pages...  To put the book down when I feel like it...  take it up again wherever I am.  I can't imagine taking a laptop, Kindle or other contraption to bed with me.  It's gotta be a BOOK!