"No Time to Stand and Stare. . ."

"What is this life if full of care
We have no time to stand and stare?
No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep and cows?"

~ Wm. Henry Davies, "Leisure" (1871 - 1940)  Welsh poet and writer

Photo:  Riverside Park, Cayuga.  lbwalker

Under the Walnut Tree Among the Willows~

We cherish a relationship with Mary and Joyce Martindale, sister and daughter of Herb Martindale, founder of the Neat Little Bookshop.



Willows on The Grand

In the early eighties, Mary wrote historical "vignettes" for The Grand River Sachem and many of these articles were published in a couple small booklets.*  As well as the historical, Mary often shared personal stories.  At a teachers' meeting, a Dr. Wendy Weaver spoke on how to cope with stress.  "One way is to have a special place where you can relax in your mind and get away from it all.

"To my surprise I found myself by the Grand River under the walnut tree among the willows. 

"I forgot my surroundings as I enjoyed again with my mind the stillness, the shale rock of the river bank, the blossoming water plants along the shore and the blue sky dotted with banks of white fluffy clouds.  This way of relieving stress really works."

* Historical Vignettes, Historical Vignettes II. Grand River Sachem, 1983 & 1988.
Photo:  Riverside Park, Cayuga.  lbwalker

"Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls"

"Pied Beauty"

Glory be to God for dappled things ~

For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;

For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;

Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches' wings;

Landscape plotted and pieced ~fold, fallow, and plough;

And all trades, their gear and tackle and trim.

All things counter, original, spare, strange;

Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)

With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;

He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:

Praise him.

Thank you to Laurie Miller for introducing us to the Victorian poet Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844 - 1889) and the poem, "Pied Beauty."

Quoting Laurie Miller ~ "Longfellow's poem ["The Village Blacksmith"] uses the strength of the tree and the extent of its shade, probably as emblems of the blacksmith's strength, etc., but the one [poem] I think of ["Pied Beauty"] goes to the transient heart of the blossoms themselves."

*Pied/ Parti-coloured;

  Stipple/ w/dots, small spots or flecks.

~ Canadian Oxford Dictionary

"Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls"

The Wonder of a Blossom ~

Intricacies of a Chestnut Blossom

"The Village Blacksmith" ~ Wikipedia

Please Click on Image

Heritage Grand River South of York the West Bank ~

Smile for Today !~


"I persuaded our brother Alex that he was a horse and that horses eat grass.  We were out in the lawn of the big house one evening and I got the idea of getting Alex to eat grass.  What idle boys won't think of.  It was easier than I thought.  My powers of persuasion must have been all right then.  I got him started then had to keep his manger full so as we had no lawn mower then and grass was let grow naturally,  it wasn't too much of a job.  Of course I had to make sure it was all grass and eatable.  This continued for some time till the horse got sick and started to vomit, then we were in real trouble and had to call for help.  I believe it stopped then and as luck would have it the horse recovered as fast as he got sick."


~ John A. Turnbull (1890 - 1975) East Seneca farmer
Writings dated Nov. 13, 1970

Laughing Song ~ Wm. Blake

Laughing Song ~

When the green woods laugh with the voice of joy
And the dimpling stream turns laughing by,
When the air does laugh with merry wit,
And the green hill laughs with the noise of it;

When the meadows laugh with lively green,
And the grasshopper laughs in the merry scene;
When Mary, and Susan, and Emily
With their sweet sounding mouths sing, "Ha, ha, he!"

When the painted birds laugh in the shade,
Where our table with cherries and nuts is spread;
Come live, and be merry, and join with me,
To sing the sweet chorus of "Ha, ha, he!"

~ William Blake (1757 - 1827) English poet

Today The Neat Little Bookshop Colours Fly Proudly In The Breezes Off The Grand ~ We opened as a used-book store.  When local authors streamed in with their books, we added "new" to our shelves.

Visit us at 29 Talbot Rd. (Hwy. 3) at the corner of Cayuga Street ~ the stop-light before the bridge.  We hope that you will "Come in.  Stay a while.  Read a book."

Sign by Scott Walker.  Helium Balloons, "Buck or Two", Caledonia, Ont.

 The Neat L'l Bookshelf ~

The Neat Little Bookshelf



On its Way to The "New" Bookshop 7 Years Ago

Today's Neat Little Bookshop is one of various reincarnations.  The pine cupboard shown above began its history as a bookshelf in a market-place on Cayuga Street seven years ago.   Build by Hubert Turnbull of East Seneca, Haldimand, today it is the heart of the bookshop. 

After two beginnings and endings in different locations on Cayuga Street, The Neat Little Bookshop opened its door in time for Mother's Day, 2007 at 11B, Cayuga Street.  In the summer of 2011 fortune had it that 29 Talbot Road became available and we moved to what we think is a perfect location for a neat little bookshop.  The original Neat Little Bookshop* was founded in the seventies by Herb Martindale of York. Today we are honoured whenever Herb's daughter, Joyce, and his sister Mary Martindale return to the bookshop.

"Even if you're on the right track,
You'll get run over if you just sit there."
~ Will Rogers (1879 - 1935)  American cowboy, actor, writer.

* Herb's would make five locations!

  DISNEY MEETS BROADWAY

A musical that will make you feel good!

An Afternoon of Lively Entertainment ~ The Robert Wood Singers
 & the Wood Kids Coming to Your Neighbourhood

Sunday, June 10, 2012, 2:30 p.m.

Location:  Fisherville Community Centre

Proceeds from this event will go to the Cayuga Food Bank and Cottonwood Mansion Museum

Adults $15      Children 12 and under $10

Please come by The Neat Little Bookshop; ask for tickets.  Include all your friends; support our local charities.  Or call Lorna 905-772-5997 Cell 905-577-5635 to reserve.

Photo:  lbwalker

"Great, wide, beautiful, wonderful world,"

With the wonderful water around you curled,

And the wonderful grass upon your breast ~

World, you are beautifully dressed,

The wonderful air is over me,

And the wonderful wind is shaking the tree,

It walks on the water and whirls the mills,

And talks to itself on the tops of the hills.

You friendly Earth!  How far you go,

With the wheat fields that nod and the rivers that flow,

With cities and gardens, and cliffs and isles,

And people upon you for thousands of miles!

~ Wm. Brighty Rands (1823 - 1882) English Writer.

Photo:  Conway Park, Cayuga. lbw

"Land was slowly reclaimed from the forest"

"However disparate their origins [early settlers], and however different the imperatives that brought the first settlers, they all faced much the same problems once they were here.  For the majority, starting again in a new country meant first clearing a small patch of land upon which to grow enough food to stay alive."

~ John & Monica Ladell, Inheritance, Ontario's Century Farms Past & Present.  Macmillan of Canada, 1979.

Photo:  Mount Olivet, Haldimand County, lbw

Mount Olivet Lilac Drive Thru'



"All the authorities on the Language of Flowers agree that the purple lilac expresses the First Emotions of Love.  As Robert Tyas explained, the lilac's chief beauty lies in its flowers with their rich, heady scent, but these are short-lived and transient, like the first intense pangs of love."

~ Gill Saunders, Victoria & Albert Museum


"Oh were my Love yon lilac fair..."

 O were my Love yon lilac fair,
Wi' purple blossoms to the spring,
And I a bird to shelter there,
When wearied on my little wing

~Robbie Burns



Bridge Over the Grand



"My most important rule [of writing] is:  If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it."

~ Elmore Leonard (b. 1925)  American novelist and screenwriter.

And, "Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip." ~ E.L.

Photo:  lbwalker



21 Ouse Street ~ Beside the 2nd Boat Ramp


Conway Park Restaurant ~ Cayuga-on-The-Grand


"The Best Kept Secret In Cayuga" Down By The Riverside  ~ Fresh-Cut Fries, Hewitt's Ice Cream

Victoria Weekend Special - Perch Dinner $12
Hours:  Fri 4 - 8:30, Sat. 8:30 - 8:30, Sun. 8:30 - 7:30

Jeffrey Archer Fans ~

Canadian, Jeffrey Steiner, Senior executive & director Film & T.V., has announced plans to make ten and possibly an additional five of Jeffrey Archer's books into movies for T.V. and the big screen.  Steiner is CEO & Founder at New Franchise Media Inc. Source:  The Agenda, Steve Paiken, TVO.  Find Jeffrey Steiner on http://www.linkedin.com/




Oversized and Moving In



Wind Turbine ~ One Section Moving Through Dunnville



In summer I am glad
We children are so small,
For we can see a thousand things
That men can't see at all.

They don't know much about the moss
And all the stones they pass;
They never lie and play among
The forests in the grass.

~ Laurence Alma-Tadema (1865 - 1940) "Playgrounds," English novelist and poet.

Little Folks ~


How to Impress The Girls.  The Bug.

 



Have You Seen One of These?





Smile for Today ~

"I think at some point old people should qualify for a teleprompter. . ."

~ Daniel Wallace, (b. 1959) American Author, article, "Our State", Sept., 2010 issue.

Chiefswood National Historic Site officially reopens on Saturday, May 19 for the 2012 season. Open House will be held from 10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, May 19 and Sunday 20th.

Chiefswood is the home of renowned Canadian poet, Pauline Johnson.  The site is open throughout the season Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.  http://www.chiefswood.com/

Earlier photo:  files of H. Melick

Our Mum Ready for Parade

Happy Mother's Day



















"And yet for all her professed secularism, my mother was in many ways the most spiritually awakened person that I've ever known.  She had an unswerving instinct for kindness, charity, and love, and spent much of her life acting on that instinct, sometimes to her detriment.  Without the help of religious texts or outside authorities, she worked mightily to instill in me the values that many Americans learn in Sunday school:  honesty, empathy, discipline, delayed gratification, and hard work.  She raged at poverty and injustice, and scorned those who were indifferent to both.


"Most of all, she possessed an abiding sense of wonder, a reverence for life and its precious, transitory nature that could properly be described as devotional.  During the course of the day, she might come across a painting, read a line of poetry, or hear a piece of music, and I would see tears well up in her eyes.  Sometimes, as I was growing up, she would wake me up in the middle of the night to have me gaze at a particularly spectacular moon, or she would have me close my eyes as we walked together at twilight to listen to the rustle of leaves...She saw mysteries everywhere and took joy in the sheer strangeness of life."


Excerpt from The Audacity of Hope, Barack Obama, Crown Publishers, 2006.  Ch. 6, p.205.



Author Margaret Buller



Marg Buller and Friends

Reading and Signing Newly Released Comfortable In My Skin.  Marg's book is available at The Neat Little Bookshop or from her website  http://www.seekingspirit.ca/

Ready to Assist ~ At a Moment's Call


Our Heros



The Scene on Cayuga & King St. Today ~