~ Happy Halloween

"This one!"

In North America the Jack-o'-lantern is carved from pumpkins ~ fruit native to our continent. In other countries folks used other fruits or vegetables such as turnips.

Halloween hearkens to an ancient tradition: The Celtic festival of Samhain. The word Samhain comes from old Irish, meaning summer's end.

Cheryl MacDonald, well-known local author, writes, "What is a bookshop worth? Among my best memories are trips to downtown Montreal's St. Catherine Street. It was crowded, everyone mesmerized by colours, covers, the smell of ink, and the array of topics. Mum, Dad, my sister and Sandra and I split up to pursue our own particular interests. . .then met at the cash with our treasures. Then it was back home to delve into books ~ trading back and forth. Often, all four of us would read the same book simultaneously, picking it up when someone else laid it down.

"Today at chain stores you sometimes get the feeling people are just shopping for a product, not the whole experience of discovering a book. But the independents!! Fantastic! Neat Little Book Shop is a stellar example. The books are the draw, of course, but the atmosphere is such that you get to share ideas, exchange thoughts and recommendations about books, and always leave with a smile on your face. Bookshops like this are cultural centres, gathering places, sources of entertainment possibly focal points for rebellion and social change, community builders, and totally irreplaceable."

~ Cheryl, We could not have said it better ourselves! Thank you.

What is a bookshop? What is a bookshop worth?

After all ~ there is nothing like a good book!

Emma & Aiden, of Vavoom Photography, visit the bookshop

"What is a rare book and what is it worth? How high is up? The first question is easily answered: A book is rare when the supply is short and the demand long. Its value is what one is willing to pay for it in a competitive market. Often, a rare book is rare by virtue of its limited first printing. If one hundred copies were printed and most of them landed in institutional collections, the chances are the price will be prohibitive."

~William Targ, p. 264 A Passion for BOOKS, Harold Rabinowitz & Rob Kaplan, Three Rivers Press, 1999.

The Neat Little Bookshop is a used bookshop.

Today we are meeting with a reporter from one of the local weekly newspapers. What is the story? What is the lead? The fact that we are now in our fourth location? The fact that we believe that there is a role for used bookshops even in small-town Ontario? The fact that the downtown business section of Cayuga has experienced an exciting revitalization in the last five years? (At one point in our entrepreneurship there were five empty, abandoned commercial spaces in our block! There is only one today ~ the one from which we just moved. Five years ago, an unimaginative landlord waved his hand over the main business block declaring, "This all needs to be converted to apartments." )

We get asked for "rare" books. We follow the legendary Herb Martindale who opened the first Neat Little Bookshop. He probably had more rare books than we have. His books were certainly old. When we have remained long enough in one location to have the confidence to house such treasures, we will have made it!

What is a bookshop and what is it worth?

In the book, How to Write & Sell Your First Novel, Oscar Collier points out, "The editor, usually a person who has chosen the profession out of a love of reading, is first and foremost a reader, a consumer of books. For a novelist to have a successful dialogue, the necessary give-and-take, with his editor, the novelist must first regard the editor as a reader or fan and ignore the notion of the editor's power over the writer's business success. The relationship, to be successful, must be one between equals. Editors must find, and get along with, many types of authors. And unless you, the author, are interested in self-publishing -- a rough road for a first novelist -- you must work with an editor at a publishing house. Just remember the equation has two sides, separated by an equals sign, and you'll find it easier."

*Writer's Digest Books, F& W Publications Inc.

Lilly & Rebecca ~ Carving the Jack-O-Lanterns

"When something can be read without effort, great effort has gone into its writing."
~ Enrique Jardiel Poncela

"Write something to suit yourself and many people will like it; write something to suit everybody and scarcely anyone will care for it."
~ Jesse Stuart (1907 - 1984) American Writer

"Some editors are failed writers,
but so are most writers."
~ T. S. Eliot (1888 - 1965) Nobel Prize in Literature, 1948

Treasury of Wit & Wisdom, 2006, Reader's Digest

Harold Robertson proudly shows us his latest stained-glass piece before he packages and ships it to a client. Laid off from a corporation during a down-turn, Harold took up an art which provides enjoyment and satisfaction. Meticulouly constructed, each piece of glass is chosen for its effect in the completed work. Colour, texture, variation, degree of clarity or opaqueness are considered.
For a glimpse into PICTURES IN GLASS visit http://www.haroldrobertson.blogspot.com/ The Neat Little Bookshop is pleased to display one of the artist's pieces available for purchase in our bookshop window.

". . . I'm going to imagine that I'm the wind that is blowing up there in those tree-tops. When I get tired of the trees I'll imagine I'm gently waving down here in the ferns ~ and then I'll fly over to Mrs. Lynde's garden and set the flowers dancing ~ and then I'll go with one great swoop over the clover field ~ and then I'll blow over the Lake of Shining Waters and ripple it all up into little sparkling waves. Oh, there's so much scope for imagination in a wind!"

Anne Shirley in Anne of Green Gables. L. M. Montgomery, 1908

"Every day is a new beginning,
Every morn' is the world born new."
~ L. M . Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables 1908
L . C. Page & Company Inc.

What drives entrepreneur Richard Branson?

". . . being in a position to change things, to keep learning and to be in a position to make a difference. Throughout my life I've been trying to get into that position, and now I'm in that position. I don't waste a minute of it. But I also have an attitude in life that however hard I'm working and however tired I am, you know, to make sure I just enjoy every single second of my life, and, you know, if you just make sure you enjoy every person you're with and every second of your life, the pleasure you're going to get out of life ~ and the pleasure you're going to give other people ~ is enormous."

~ The Optimist, One Man's Search For The Brighter Side of Life, p. 185, Lawrence Shorter, 2009 Doubleday Canada

Workshops Grindstone Creek Gallery ~ 16 King Street, downtown Cayuga

Two evenings of making your own pottery. For details and to register, visit http://www.grindstonecreekgallery.com/

Adults & childrens' classes. Includes clay, glaze, bisque and glaze firing.

Mondays Oct. 24 & Nov. 7 or

Wednesdays Nov. 9 & 16

7 - 9 p.m.

Instructor: Deb McBride

The Man Booker Prize for 2011 will be announced tonight. The six short-listed titles are:

The Sense of an Ending, Julian Barnes

Jamrach's Menagerie, Carol Birch

The Sister's Brothers, Patrich deWitt

Half Blood Blues, Esi Edugyan

Pigeon English, Stephen Kelman

Snowdrops, A. D. Miller

http://www.themanbookerprize.com/
Two Canadian authors made the list: Patrick deWitt and Esi Edugyan

Two first-time novelists made the list: Stephen Kelman and A. D. Miller

And the winner is: Julian Barnes ~ The Sense of An Ending

Graphics ~ The Sachem, Caledonia, Ontario

www.sachem.ca

Visit To The Book Store

"Can We Go Now ? . . ."

Happy Birthday Elizabeth ~

5 Years Old Today

Our Elizabeth ~ 5 years old Today !!!

October 14

At Cottonwood Mansion ~
Reading of Edgar Allan Poe's Poems & Stories
Saturday 29 at 6:00 p.m. ~ Everyone Welcome

An Evening at Cottonwood Mansion http://www.cottonwoodmansion.ca/
(For larger image please click on poster)

On Understanding Poetry ~

"The poet's mind is . . . a receptacle for seizing and storing up numberless feelings, phrases, images, which remain there until all the particles which can unite to form a new compound are present together."
~ T. S. Eliot

"I wish our clever young poets would remember my homely definitions of prose and poetry; that is, prose ~ words in their best order; poetry ~ the best words in their best order."
~ Samuel Taylor Coleridge

"Take care of the sounds and the sense will take care of itself."
~ Lewis Carroll

"When you write in prose you say what you mean. When you write in rhyme you say what you must."
~ Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

"No honest poet can ever feel quite sure of the permanent value of what he has written: he may have wasted his time and messed up his life for nothing."
~ T. S. Eliot


Source: The Fitzhenry & Whiteside BOOK OF QUOTATIONS, Edited by Robt. Fitzhenry,1981

Looking at the autumn trees, "I always will be healed. . ." ~ written by Shiko Koga, Japan

The Words resonate in my mind. Find Kayoko Shiko Koga on Facebook.

Thanksgiving Dawn

Thanksgiving Morning ~

Our Canada ~ Our Thanksgiving

Photo: Lake Erie Haldimand County, Ontario

We go to the Farm ~

Hiking Along The Grand ~ In Haldimand

Two blazes placed one above the other indicate a change of direction. The top blaze is offset to the right indicating in this case a path heading off the road and toward the river bank.

Grand Valley Trail winds along the river bank in most areas ~ along country roads in others. Single-use trail meaning walking, running or possibly cycling.

White blazes, approximately five cm. wide by fifteen cm. high, are readily visible on road signs, posts, trees and utility poles.

Happy Thanksgiving weekend ~ Thinking of hiking? Consider the trail along The Grand River.

Available at The Neat Little Bookshop ~ the official trail-guide for the Grand Valley The banks of the Grand River are never more beautiful than in the fall. http://www.gvt.on.ca/

(Please click on poster for larger image.)

BIZ BREAKFAST ~ Thursday, Oct. 20

The Biz Breakfast is generously sponsored by local businesses and organizations. It is an excellent opportunity to meet with area business owners and managers. R.S.V.P. before Friday, Oct. 14 to the Cayuga & Area Chamber of Commerce 905-772-5954.
(Please Click on poster for larger image)

Autumn Colours ~ King & Ouse

Photo: Grindstone Creek Gallery

Apple Inc. Steve Jobs dies at age 56

The world is calling him a pioneer ~ a visionary. CBC recognizes Apple's Steve Jobs, "His brilliance, passion and energy were a source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives."

Steve Jobs, American entrepreneur (Feb. 24, 1955 - Oct. 5, 2011)

This turkey came visiting ~ Showing off for the Camera

Thinking of having ham this year for Thanksgiving . .

From the book, North American Fishing*,

"In a general sense, you locate fish by evaluating the place that you are fishing, watching water conditions to determine where fish may be and how to present lures or bait to them. This is referred to in a general way as "reading water," and is done in all types of environments, especially in freshwater. It is sometimes easier in rivers than in still waters (ponds, lakes and reservoirs) because many elements are more obvious. For example, in current, any kind of sizable obstruction (boulder, bridge footing, pier, etc.) creates a slack pocket where fish can lie without exerting much effort and watch for food; these are readily located."

*The premier guide to angling in freshwater and saltwater, Ken Schultz, Fishing Editor of Field &Stream. Carlton Books, 2001
Photo: The Grand River, York, Ontario.  lbwalker

Smile for Today ~ Fall Maple