The Old & New Side-by-Side

       
Progress on the New Bridge ~   See you in Cayuga-on-the-Grand!

Smile for Today ~

"On the anniversary of Queen Victoria's death, her children would visit the mausoleum at Frogmore.  One year, as they knelt piously in prayer, a dove entered the mausoleum and flew about. 'It is dear Mama's spirit,' they murmured.  'No, I am sure it's not,' contradicted Princess Louise.  'It must be dear Mama's spirit,' they persisted.  'No, it isn't,' said Princess Louise.  'Dear Mama's spirit would never have ruined Beatrice's hat."

Queen Victoria born May 24, 1819, died on January 22, 1901 after a long reign on the British throne -- sixty-three years, seven months.

The Neat L'l Bookshop will be closed for holidays; opening again on Wed., January 8, 10:30.

 We are available by phone 905.577.5635 or e-mail lbwalker@shaw.ca OR neatlittlebookshop@gmail.com

Eleven years to produce a dictionary ~

"Andrew Millar, the bookseller who published Johnson's Dictionary, had great difficulty in extracting the copy for this work from the author. [Johnson's dictionary took eleven years to produce.]  At last a messenger was dispatched to Millar with the final page.  Upon the messenger's return Johnson asked, 'Well, what did he say?'
  
   'Sir,' Replied the messenger, 'he said, 'Thank God I have done with him.'
   'I am glad,' said Johnson, 'that he thanks God for anything.'

~ Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784) English Journalist, critic, poet & lexicographer, the son of a bookseller.
Source:  THE LITTLE BROWN BOOK OF Anecdotes, Clifton Fadiman General Editor.  1985.

    Wishing you health, happiness & prosperity in the New Year.
                               ~ The Neat L'l Bookshop

"What a lot of books!  Have you read them all?"

Umberto Eco's Answer:  "...while your jaw stiffens and rivulets of cold sweat trickle down your spine.  In the past I adopted a tone of contemptuous sarcasm 'I haven't read any of them; otherwise, why would I keep them here?'  But this is a dangerous answer because it invites the obvious follow-up: 'And where do you put them after you've read them?'  The best answer is the one always used by Roberto Leydi: 'And more, dear sir, many more,' which freezes the adversary and plunges him into a state of awed admiration.  But I find it merciless and angst-generating.  Now I have fallen back on the riposte: 'No, these are the ones I have to read by the end of the month.  I keep the others in my office,' a reply that on the one hand suggests a sublime ergonomic strategy and on the other leads the visitor to hasten the moment of his departure.'

"The contents of someone's bookcase are part of his history, like an ancestral portrait." ~ Anatole Broyard.

~ Umberto Eco, How to Justify a Private Library, Author of The Name of the Rose.

"...a shock of banality occurs to many people in my condition ~ that is, people who possess a fairly sizable library (large enough in my case that someone entering our house can't help but notice it;  actually, it takes up the whole place).  The visitor enters and says, 'What a lot of books!  Have you read them all?'  At first I thought that the question characterized only people who had scant familiarity with books, people accustomed to seeing a couple of shelves with five paperback mysteries and a children's encyclopedia bought in installments.  But experience has taught me that the same words can be uttered also by people above suspicion.  It could be said that they are still people who consider a bookshelf as a mere storage place for already read books and do not think of the library as a working tool.  But there is more to it than that.  I believe that, confronted by a vast array of books, anyone will be seized by the anguish of learning and will inevitable lapse into asking the question that expresses his torment and his remorse."

~ Umberto Eco, author, professor of semiotics, University of Bologna. [two essays, 1994]
Source:  A Passion for BOOKS, edited by H. Rabinowitz & R. Kaplan.  1999.  Three Rivers Press/Randomhouse.
[Tomorrow:  Eco's answer to "Have you read them all?"

Authors don't always have it easy ~

Scott Fitzgerald wrote to editor Max Perkins:

Dear Max:

. . .

"My big mistake was in thinking I could possibly deliver this collection for this fall.  I should have known perfectly well that, in debt as I was to the tune of about $12,000 on finishing "Tender," I should have to devote the summer and most of the fall to getting out of it.  My plan was to do my regular work in the daytime and do one story every night, but as it works out, after a good day's work I am so exhausted that I drag out the work on a story to two hours when it should be done in one and go to bed so tired and wrought up, toss around sleepless, and am good for nothing next morning except dictating letters, signing checks, tending to business matters ect; but to work up a creative mood there is nothing doing until about four o'clock in the afternoon."

~ Baltimore, Mayland, November 8, 1934

~ Dear Scott Dear Max/ The Fitzgerald ~ Perkins Correspondence,  Edited by J. Kuehl & J. Bryer.  CASSELL & COMPANY LTD.  1971

You cannot box a sunset.
    It is hard to wrap up snow.
There is no way to package
A lighted candle's glow.
Enjoy each lovely moment
As you walk along the way.
There is a bit of beauty
In every passing day.

~ Joyce Sandeen Johnson

Photo:  Cayuga After the Ice Storm lbw

Week at the Bridge ~

Old & New Side-by-Side

[For larger image, click on photo ~ lbw]

"HOW could I tell?" the innkeeper asked.
          "How could I have known 'twas He?
There were just a carpenter and his wife
   Come up from Galilee.
I would have bade them enter,
    And found them food and wine;
If only they'd explained to me,
If only there'd been a sign. . ."

~Author unknown

Here's wishing you ~
Peace for the pathway,
Wisdom for the work,
Friends for the fireside,
Love to the last.

~ Author unknown

Photo:  files lbw

THE LEGEND OF THE HOLY THORN

Cuttings of the original Glastonbury Thorn (which was destroyed by the Puritans, who did not approve of Christmas celebrations) were fortunately taken and planted elsewhere, and some of these are still alive today.  There is one in the ruins of Glastonbury Abbey and another in Herefordshire.  More than once it has been recorded that these winter-flowering hawthorns have bloomed precisely at midnight of Old Christmas Eve.

~ The Tasha Tudor Christmas Book TAKE JOY!
 PHILOMEL BOOKS, 1966.
~ Illustration, Cover Leisure Arts, 1992.


Our best wishes for health, happiness and prosperity in the coming year ~
John & Lorna

"Peace on the earth, good will to men,
From heaven's all gracious King!"
The world in solemn stillness lay
To hear the angels sing.

Still through the cloven skies they come
With peaceful wings unfurled
And still their heavenly music floats O'er all the weary world;
Above its sad and lowly plains
They bend on hovering wing,
And ever o'er its Babel sounds
The blessed angels sing.

~ Richard Storrs Willis (1810 -1876) American composer and journalist.
Photo:  Greeting card circa 1980.

After the Storm ~

Author Brad Smith

Today in the bookshop ~

BRAD SMITH, author of the mystery series Crow's Landing, Red Means Run, Shoot the Dog ~ will be in The Neat L'l Bookshop at 1:00 p.m.

Hard cover, Shoot the Dog, Brad's 2013 release by Scribners $26 tax incl.  Put one under the christmas tree.
www.bradsmithbooks.com


[Photo:  Brad speaking at bookfair the Lighthouse Theatre, Port Dover.  lbw]

Local Authors ~ Great Gifts

Author HARRY B. BARRETT, life-long resident of Port Dover sees a story wherever he goes.  Visiting with Florence Misner Watkinson in November last year, 2012, Harry knew that the World War I nursing service of Minnie and Laurel Misner needed to be told.
His 2013 book is dedicated to the "Army and Navy Nursing Sisters of two Great Wars.  A priceless collection of drawings and photographs illustrate this treasure of "almost forgotten history." 
The contents of "tattered photo albums and compact diaries, which had been used as autograph albums by [Florence's] two aunts" were a rich source for Mr. Barrett's research.

[Click on photo for larger image.]

BREAKING NEWS ~ Monday, December 23 Brad will be in The Neat L'l Bookshop signing books.  Put one under your tree ~  Watch for times.  We will post in the bookshop window as well as on-line.  (If you have books at home that are not already signed, bring them in.)


"All Hat" ~ (Have You Seen the Movie?)

 
Books by Brad ~  Read one, you want the next.  Brad Smith grew up in Canfield, Haldimand County.  He currently lives in Dunnville where he continues to write fast-paced mysteries sometimes referred to as "country noir."  A distintive style that feels to us like home.

Shoot the Dog is Brad's third book and recent release in his Virgil Cain series.  Available in The Neat Little Bookshop.   Hardcover $26.  Simon & Schuster/ Scribners  2013.

    www.bradsmithbooks.com or find Brad on Facebook:  "brad smith author"

Books by Local Authors Make Great Gifts ~



A Family's Harrowing Escape from East Germany

 The Author, Doris Kienitz, lives in Haldimand County.  This is a true story of how her family under extreme secrecy escaped from East Germany.

Available in trade paperback or in hardcover. 

[Photo: files lbw]

Josie's "So Few on Earth" will touch the reader's heart.

Looking for a Local Author?  "So Few on Earth" by Jose Penny.
A fascinating autobiography about growing up in Labrador.

[Photo:  files lbw]

Retail $20

 BOOKS by Local  Authors ~ To List a Few

Technical Difficulties!  This may take a while...

Retail $15

Retal $7

"A thing of beauty is a joy for ever:
Its loveliness increases;  it will never
Pass into nothingness;  but still will keep
A bower quiet for us, and a sleep
Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing."

~ John Keats (1795 - 1821)  Endymion (1818) bk.i, 1.1

Photo:  files lbw

Neil Paul & John Passfield ~ Cottonwood Mansion

"When Christmastime draws near, hearts fill with gladness as people everywhere come together to share the joy of the season." ~ THE SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS Creative Holiday Ideas, Leisure Arts, 1992

The Third Thursday of December folks will be reading special Christmas stories.  Everyone Welcome...  bring along a favourite poem or excerpt.  Thursday, December 19, 1:00 p.m.
...stop by for a few minutes even if you can't stay!


Photo:  Neil Paul & John Passfield at Cottonwood Mansion, Selkirk.  Files lbw

"Christmas is coming

And the geese are getting fat,

Please put a penny in the old man's hat,

If you haven't got a penny,

A ha' penny will do,
If you haven't got a ha' penny ~

God bless you!

~ Old rhyme

After all there's nothing like a good book ~
Look for local authors

"Unpacking the ornaments is like opening a box of memories.  Many of the decorations bring to mind a special time or place or person.  The tree will soon be laden with ornaments collected over the years, each with its own story to tell.  When we have finished decorating, the shining evergreen creates a magic that we are never too old to enjoy."

~ COUNTRY CHRISTMAS, Country Living Staff, 1990 The Hearst Corporation

"We know we are very much alive when, head bowed against a blast of cold air, we hurry on our errands.  It is a good feeling.  On a clear, cold night, the sky is lit by the winter moon and a scattering of stars.  Country life is captured forever in our memories in a photographic mix of shadows and shimmering light.  In December, we are never too young or too old to store up memories of the pleasures around us."

~ COUNTRY CHRISTMAS, Country Living Staff, The Hearst Corporation, 1990.

Elf on Watch ~  Longing for the North Pole

Tasha Tudor Says ~

"Tasha Tudor says, 'Christmas is one of our most exciting celebrations and we spend months planning a marionette show and making presents for this special time of year.  In the long, back room of the house known as the winter kitchen, there is a large fireplace and brick oven, such as may be found in most old New England houses.  Here stands the settle and behind it is the Christmas chest.  Into this chest, the year 'round, go presents and surprises of all shapes and sizes.  Certain drawers and closets, too, are forbidden territory.'
"Christmas is the most joyous season of the year for Tasha Tudor and her family, and their celebration of this holiday embraces both the reverently religious and the festive secular aspects, in the New England tradition...
"On the rolling land is a large stand of timber, providing not only the family Christmas trees, but lumber for the barns and wood for the wide, old-fashioned fireplaces."

~ The Tasha Tudor Christmas Book TAKE JOY!  Illustrations Tasha Tudor, The World Publishing Company, 1966.
Photo:  Cayuga Village Green, Dec., 2012.  lbw files.

Tasha Tudor, American writer, illustrator (1915 - 2008)




Thank you Santa for coming to Cayuga & Thank you Elf Lisa!

 
THE SHARING OF CHRISTMAS ~

"Long before joyful carols fill the air and gaily trimmed trees peek from behind curtained windows, we begin to plan special Christmas surprises for our loved ones.
Gift ideas are carefully considered as we contemplate each name on our list.  And much to our delight, we often discover that it is our handcrafted offerings that bring the greatest joy."

~ THE SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS, Leisure Arts, 1992.

"... and it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge.  May that be truly said of us, and all of us!"

From A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.  [Does anyone remember "him?"]
[*Click on photo for larger image.]

Royal Christmas Message ~  The first speech was written by author Rudyard Kipling.

"At 3 p.m. on every Christmas Day since 1932, the reigning British monach has spoken to the people of the Empire and Commonwealth.  The first to make a royal Christmas broadcast was George V, who had been requested to do so by BBC General Manager John Reith since 1923.  Written by Rudyard Kipling, the speech was delivered from Sandringham Castle:

In part it read:  "Through one of the marvels of modern science I am enabled this Christmas Day to speak to all my peoples throughout the Empire.  I take it as a good omen the wireless should have reached its present perfection at a time when the Empire has been linked in closer union, for it offers us immense possibilities to make that union closer still."

Source:  THE WORLD ENCYCLOPEDIA OF CHRISTMAS, Gerry Bowler, McClelland & Stewart Ltd., 2000.

Elves ~

"Small supernatural creatures who are now associated with Christmas through the notion that they work as Santa's helpers.
They were not always so benign.  They originated in [Scandinavia] -farm- or house-elves, who could be helpful if bribed but malicious if they were slighted, especially at Christmas when, as in Denmark, a bowl of milk must be left out for them.  In the second half of the 19th century, the reputation of elves began to change for the better as part of a drive to make Christmas more child-centred.  An 1859 poem in Harper's Weekly speaks of Santa Claus keeping "a great many elves at work,/ All working with all their might, / To make a million of pretty things..."

~ THE WORLD ENCYCLOPEDIA of CHRISTMAS, Gerry Bowler, McClelland & Stewart Ltd., 2000.

"I used to have a sign over my computer that read 'Old Dogs can learn new tricks', but lately I sometimes ask myself how many more new tricks I want to learn.  Wouldn't it just be easier to be outdated?"

~ Ram Dass, US professor of psychology, researcher and writer.

~ Old Geezer Wit Quips and Quotes For the Young at Heart, Richard Benson, Summersdale Publishers, 2006.

                                       Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela 1918 - 2013

"I have dedicated my life to this struggle of the African people.  I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination.  I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony with equal opportunities.  It is an ideal which I hope to live for, and to see realized.  But my lord, if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die."

~ Nelson Mandela (1918 - 2013)  speech in Johannesburg, 20 April 1964, which he quoted on his release in Cape Town, 11 February 1990.

Source:  The Oxford Dictionary of QUOTATIONS,  Oxford University Press, 2001.

www.nelsonmandela.org

"I could feel myself growing stronger as the weight of the long years lifted from atop my shoulders like a wish borne on dandelion down.  Silently, the last poppy's petals closed, and Elder began to vanish from sight, remaining just long enough to speak his final words:
    
'In this end is to be your greatest beginning, Nicholas, for from this day forth, the world will know you as Santa Claus, The Keeper of Childhood Dreams.  So has it always been, so shall it be forevermore.'

"The elves erupted in a glorious cheer that shook the snow from the treetops and began a revelry that has been remembered ever since as The Night The Hills Sang Out.  Hand in hand, Sara and I turned to join the joyous elves, dancing as never before beneath a universe of infinite stars."

~ Santa My Life & Times An Illustrated Autobiography, designed & produced by Martin I. Green and Berkshire Studio.  Avon Books, Inc. 1998.

Note:  Selfie Courtesy of Santa

Greeting Card (Fifties ?)

"As the much-loved novels of Charles Dickens demonstrate, while many English families of the mid-nineteenth century lived in leisured comfort, seeking agreeable pastimes to fill their time, the poorer people lived in appalling conditions. . .
"[Queen Victoria] tried to encourage her subjects with her own example of a happy family gathered around a fir tree hung with pretty decorations:  a day when people everywhere stop to greet one another in peace and harmony, exchanging cards and presents to demonstrate friendship and love."

"In Dickens' A Christmas Carol, even the miserly Scrooge was forced to recognize the joy of Christmas."
~ VICTORIAN CHRISTMAS, Valerie Janitch, Brockhampton Press, 1995

~ Charles Dickens (Feb.1812 - June1870)  English writer, social critic.
~ Victoria (May 1819 - January 1901)  British Queen from June 1837 until her death.

Cottonwood Mansion presents a light-up decoration that will cheer and warm the season.  Set it up in any room where a soft colorful light will add a touch of festivity.  Support the mansion's projects at the same time!

Look for the Christmas display in Foodland, Cayuga.  Available in two sizes.

www.cottonwoodmansion.ca
Photo:  Courtesy of Catherine Stidsen

"If our parents read to us as children, we remember the closeness of the moments together, the sound and power of voice and expression, the sense of wonder that a poem inspires." 

~ Caroline Kennedy A Family of Poems MY FAVORITE POETRY FOR CHILDREN, HYPERION, 2005.

"We live in a world of words and feelings that poems can help us understand.  Poetry captures the most fleeting moments and makes them last forever, or describes the tiniest creature and makes it huge.  Poets express our deepest emotions and ponder life's biggest questions in just a few lines that we can carry with us and bring to mind whenever we need them...." ~ Caroline Kennedy

When we first opened as The Neat Little Bookshop, many will recall that we didn't have a POETRY section.  There were several reasons ~ not least of all, we personally did not have a great interest in poetry.

In 2001 Caroline Kennedy, daughter of Jackie and John, published The Best-Loved Poems of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.  The book's popularity inspired Caroline to publish in 2005 A Family of Poems.

In the introduction to A Family of Poems she writes, "Some people think poetry is solitary or boring.  They worry that they won't be able to understand it.  But people who start reading poems when they are young don't have these fears.  As children, we enjoy exploring language and rhyme and creating word pictures of the world around us...
"In our family we were encouraged to write or choose a favorite poem for each holiday or birthday as a gift for my mother and grandparents instead of buying a card or present."

[Photo:  a favourite from my files lbw]

STOPPING BY WOODS ON A SNOWY EVENING
     by Robert Frost *

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

* American poet (1874 - 1963)