last night i had a dream about my friend who commandeered an old, rusty, garbage truck and put a huge plow on the front. he was determined to make it to my cottage to clear the driveway, and would do whatever it took to get here, mad max armageddon style. many thanks for your loyalty, my friend, and perhaps winter has worn out it’s welcome, even in my dreams.
Winter lingered so long in the lap of Spring that it occasioned a great deal of talk. – Bill Nye
i ran into this cheerful couple while waiting my turn in an insurance office. they seemed well-matched and quite happy. i think i overheard one of them say to the other: ‘You got a past, I do too. We’re perfect for each other.’
We have lasted this long close together, so we must have something going for each other.
once upon a time, there was a mama bear named beth who had 3 little girl bears. each one was very different, yet for some reason mama bear had thought it was a good idea, (at the time), to give each one a name that began with the letter,’h.’ over time, each had learned just to answer to any name that began with the letter ‘h’ because the odds were that mama bear usually was calling them by the wrong name. especially when she was tired or was excited or was laughing or was a bit worked up about something.
well, the little bears grew up and each went to their own cave, but there were some special moments when they all were all back together, in the same place at the same time. it was during one of those times, that mama bear had another good idea, and she gave two of the little bears a certificate to go to a local spa as a gift for their birthdays, which were close together. it had been a long season, and they were tired and needed some pampering. the third little bear stayed with mama and played games and had coffee and chatted about how much fun the other two must be having and how relaxed they would be after their special day.
when the two little bears got home, and came through the door, they had sad and disappointed looks on their faces, and one was even hobbling a bit. and they shared their story of what happened at the spa that day. it seems the spa had gotten them mixed up, as both of their names began with ‘h,’ and they had arrived together.
one had wanted a deep tissue sports massage, and spent a long time waiting for the massage to ‘really begin.’ she said when she heard the enya music, and smelled lavender and her masseuse was whispering, she had a feeling it was not going to be the experience she had expected. when she was finished, she walked out and came around the corner, only to run into her little bear sister who had tears in her eyes, and was walking very gingerly. she had been given the hardcore sports massage and had moaned and groaned throughout the treatment, as she was pummeled and twisted and turned, and she was waiting for the gentle massage to begin, and her whole body was now aching and she was in pain.
when they told mama and the third little bear the whole story, the listeners really did try to be sympathetic, they really, really did, but they could not stop laughing about the mixup. this did not make the two little spa bears feel any better. the ones who stayed home realized they had been the ones to have the relaxing day, not the ones who went out to seek comfort. but they were smart, and thought it might not be a good idea to bring it up right then.
when everyone calmed down, and when it had been quiet for a bit, they all sat down (carefully), and mama bear made everyone some comfort food, and gave each bear a healthy glass of red wine, and then all of the ‘h’s’, (who knows which went first?), took turns retelling their version of the story. and then there was laughter in the house once more, along some painful wincing going on.
The whole campaign was a tragic case of mistaken identity. – George McGovern
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image credits: art.com, http://www.alisal.com/spa.html
in warmer days of not so long ago, kinders w and n, try to figure out how to blend the past with the present and the future.
Study the past, if you would divine the future. Confucius
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image credit: pick up and play
“Remember that when you think you are seeing giants, they may not be giants at all; perhaps it is you who is the dwarf.”
and yet another true story, of path-crossing, and timing, and luck, and circumstance. i was on my way to school for a faculty work day, and walked into a huge multi-purpose all-things-you-could-ever-want-and more store, (air compressors, makeup, yarn, chicken tenders, cabbage, towels, scotch, and goldfish – all sold there), and i went to get a cart.
as i pulled my cart out of the corral, i turned and was stopped in my tracks because –
i saw a giant.
literally.
his hands were huge and he stood right in front of me, manning his cart, ready to head off into the aisles, in search of whatever diverse collection of items he may on the hunt for. and everything about him was huge. stunningly massive.
my eyes slowly looked up, and up, and just kept going. and going. he was the tallest man i’ve ever seen close up, other than a basketball player, but he was not built anything like a basketball player, he was built like an oak tree- huge, and solid, and unbending.
i was in awe of his physical presence and as i kept looking up and looked up finally got to his face, he smiled at me with a huge giant’s grin. i smiled back, he seemed so gentle, not scary at all, as i had always imagined a giant would be if i ever encountered one. and we headed off through the aisles, each on our own retail scavenger hunt.
when i got to the grocery section of this massive store that is a like small city, i turned the corner from the cereal aisle, and who should i encounter –
but a second giant!
again, another surprised reaction from me, but i just took it in, and wondered about the odds of finding two men of this ilk, in the same building at the same time. i thought perhaps there was some kind of convention or fest going on in the area, that both may have attended. sort of specialized, like a ‘mothers of twins’ event, but for really, really, really big people.
i finished my shopping, not crossing paths with either of them again, and went on to school. i sat through the professional development meetings, but could not shake the memory of these men. i tried to imagine what a day spent as a giant must be like, how it must be to always have people surprised by encountering them, wondering if people were kind or cruel to them, and wondering what kind of items a giant shops for.
at lunch that day, i sat with one of our phys ed teachers and told him about my stop at the store on the way to school. he got a very surprised look on his face, asked me if i was kidding, and told me he was shocked that i brought this up because he had also run into a giant at another location of the same store across town, that very same morning. it was a surprising encounter for him as well, and he’d taken a picture of his giant because he didn’t think anyone would believe him. he shared the picture on his phone with me, and it was yet another giant that i had not met.
what are the odds of this set of circumstances? that we would each encounter one or more giants on the same morning, in the same brand of store, in different locations, on different sides of town, that he had taken a picture, and that we actually had lunch together, and it would come up in our conversation?
it raised so many questions. why so many giants in one state at one time? why at this chain of stores? did they offer a giants’ discount, like they did for senior citizens each tuesday? or did the giants feel comfortable there because the store itself was so giant? how did the universe conspire to have us all cross paths on the same day and then have the two of us cross paths to share our stories and be amazed by it all?
we will never know the answers to any of these questions, but it was a huge day for all of us.
Definition of giant in English:
NOUN
an imaginary or mythical being of human form but superhuman size.
an abnormally tall or large person, animal, or plant.
a person of exceptional talent or qualities: a giant among sportsmen
Astronomy a star of relatively great size and luminosity compared to ordinary stars of the main sequence, and 10-100 times the diameter of the sun.
“Well, first of all,” said the BFG, “human beans is not really believing in giants, is they? Human beans is not thinking we exist.”
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credits: library of congress, roald dahl, the bfg (the big, friendly, giant), quentin blake, harper collins publishing, oxford dictionary
i have found my favorite bookstore, ‘literati,’ and feel happy each and every time i walk in there. it is independent, local, walkable, friendly, and welcoming. when i open the door and step in, i feel like cliff in the old show ‘cheers,’ but without the bar or the beer or boston.
winter comes to literati
one of my favorite pastimes is to spend time with books, reading, browsing, picking them up to see the cover, the text, reading the notes, and just hanging out among them. after the demise of borders, (created by the local borders brothers), which was based here and included the original store, a local couple decided to open ‘literati.’ a giant had fallen. and in it’s place, three lovely bookshops have come to the forefront here. one has held on throughout the mega-giant bookstore era, and been around for years, with the others, more recently arriving on the scene. each is wonderful, but something about the feeling of ‘literati’ has immediately grabbed me. the owners of the three have embraced and welcomed each other, and rather than be rivals, they’ve become friends and partners in the community.
on
downstairs at literati
in this, its first year, the store has supported and invited local authors to share their work, created nooks for reading, and spaces for browsing, provided a small staff that is well-read and friendly, a children’s story hour, a book club, a newsletter, took part in community charity events, and the place simply oozes with an amazing good feeling.
have an set up an old typewriter for people to leave notes and messages. here are a couple of them:
“To be in love gives you the ability to raise up the sky and see the whole world.”
-Note left on our typewriter
“I am 7 months sober today. I’m finally learning how to forgive. Not only those who hurt me, but myself. I’m forgiving myself…”
-Note left on our typewriter
a recent note from owners, mike and hillary, written in their newsletter to the community, shows a bit of who they are:
Happy New Year, everyone!
This past week, we’ve been feeling nostalgic. Since we signed the lease one year ago we’ve zoomed along with build-out, construction, opening, logistics, accounting, and the chaos of the holidays… Finally, we’ve had a chance to catch our breaths, pause, and reflect.
Thank you everyone who has bought a book from the store. You didn’t have to. You could have gone to Amazon, but you didn’t. You came to us.
A huge thank you to Jeremiah Chamberlin and this profile of our opening in the latest issue of Poets & Writers Magazine. Jeremiah witnessed the store long before anyone else did. He was there when we painted the floors, for our shipment of boxes, for all those anxiety-producing pre-opening weeks… and then he wrote about it. We thank Jeremiah for taking an interest in telling our story and doing such a wonderful job.
Thank you all, again, for making our 2013 successful. It’s a scary time to open a bookstore. But everyone here made it much, much less scary. We have a lot of work to do. We are inspired by this year’s success, but there is a long road ahead.
Thank you again. -Mike, Hilary, and the rest of the Literati Book Ninjas.
It is what you read when you don’t have to that determines what you will be when you can’t help it. ~Oscar Wilde
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image credits and links: http://literatibookstore.com
I shall not die of a cold. I shall die of having lived. – Willa Cather
the kinders are so proud of what they have built together. they say it is ‘the biggest thing in the world!’
Whatever good things we build end up building us. –Jim Rohn
s, age 4, has taught himself to read. here, he has a teaching moment, when he reads a challenging non-fiction book, about the amazing story of two unlikely animals who became the best of friends. the animals were drawn together, through circumstance and fate, and each found what they needed in the other, becoming somehow better, and changed forever, by being together. as s reads aloud to his classmates, they begin to understand this, and learn that all things are possible.
“Teachers have three loves: love of learning, love of learners, and the love of bringing the first two loves together.”- Scott Hayden
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* title quote credit: a saying, alternately attributed to Buddha Siddhartha Guatama Shakyamuni and the Theosophists.
I didn't have my glasses on.... 