Monday, January 25, 2016


My Collier Laddie

Whare live ye, my bonie lass?
   And tell me what they ca' ye;
My name, she says, is mistress Jean,
   And I follow the Collier laddie.
            My name, she says, etc.

See you not yon hills and dales
   The sun shines on sae brawlie;
They a' are mine, and they shall be thine,
   Gin ye'll leave your Collier laddie.
            They a' are mine, etc.

Ye shall gang in gay attire,
   Weel buskit up sae gaudy;
And ane to wait on every hand,
   Gin ye'll leave your Collier laddie.
             And ane to wait, etc.

Tho' ye had a' the sun shines on,
   And the earth conceals sae lowly,
I wad turn my back on you and it a',
And embrace my Collier laddie.
              I wad turn my back, etc.

I can win my five pennies in a day,
   An' spend it at night fu' brawlie;
And make my bed in the collier's neuk,
   And lie down wi' my Collier laddie.
             And make my bed, etc.

Loove for love is the bargain for me,
   Tho' the wee cot-house should haud me;
And the warld before me to win my bread,
   And fair fa' my Collier laddie!
             And the warld before me, etc.

The Poetical Works of Robert Burns With Numerous Illustrations. Collins' Clear-Type Press, London & Glasgow.



Tuesday, January 19, 2016


Villagers all, this frosty tide,
Let your doors swing open wide,
Though wind may follow, and snow beside,
Yet draw us in by your fire to bide;
     Joy shall be yours in the morning!

Here we stand in the cold and the sleet,
Blowing fingers and stamping feet,
Come from far away you to greet ~
You by the fire and we in the street ~
      Bidding you joy in the morning!

~ The field-mice at Mole End "singing one of the old-time carols that their fore-fathers composed in fields that were fallow and held by frost..." THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS, Kenneth Grahame, Methuen & Co. Ltd. London. 1908.

[Photo:  The Grand River, Cayuga. January 19, 2016. lbw]



THURSDAY, JANUARY 21 at 1:00 p.m.
 
KIRK DU GUID & ROBERT OTTERMAN
 
Author Kirk Du Guid interviewed two dozen Haldimand Veterans and published "in their own words",
 
Soldiers' Stories
 
Join us in the bookshop ~ Coffee & tea always on...