KEEP A POEM IN YOUR POCKET

Keep a poem in your pocket
and a picture in your head
and you'll never feel lonely
at night when you're in bed.

The little poem will sing to you
the little picture bring to you
a dozen dreams to dance to you
at night when you're in bed.

So ~
Keep a picture in your pocket
and a poem in your head
and you'll never feel lonely
at night when you're in bed.

~ Beatrice Schenk de Regniers, American Children's Books Author (1914 - 2000)

A Lifetime Love of Language and Verse

Caroline Kennedy, daughter of Jackie and President John Kennedy, has compiled a delightful collection of poems drawing from the poems her family cherished. In A Family of Poems, My Favorite Poetry For Children, Caroline comments, "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."

"We all like to fool around, and playing with sounds and language is one of the first ways we explore our world. Silly poems are easy to collect and memorize ~ they remind us that things that seem funny can be serious underneath ~ and enjoying them encourages us to try reading different kinds of poems. Soon enough we realize that there is no poem we can't tackle, no idea we can't understand."

A Family of Poems, Caroline Kennedy (1957 - ), Hyperion Books For Children, 2005.

Ben goes shopping. (For larger image, dbl. click on photo.)
The Reading Mother

~

I had a Mother who read to me

Sagas of pirates who scoured the sea,

Cutlasses clenched in their yellowed teeth,

"Blackbirds" stowed in the hold beneath.

~

I had a Mother who read me lays

Of ancient and gallant and golden days;

Stories of Marmion and Ivanhoe,

Which every boy has a right to know.

~

I had a Mother who read me tales

Of Gelert the hound of the hills of Wales,

True to his trust till his tragic death,

Faithfulness blent with his final breath.

~

I had a Mother who read me the things

That wholesome life to the boy heart brings ~

Stories that stir with an upward touch,

Oh, that each Mother of boys were such!

~

You may have tangible wealth untold:

Chests of jewels and coffers of gold,

Richer than I, you can never be ~

For I had a Mother who read to me.

~ Strickland Gillilan, American poet (1869 - 1954)

Sachem Article - The Neat Little Bookshop

http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sachem.ca%2Fopinions%2Farticle%2F229522&sa=D&usg=AFQjCNHYbKvH-L2Ym6j3zJYlnY6mjoEi0A

Thank you Jill Morison for the excellent article in The Sachem about The Neat Little Bookshop. We are looking forward to having Jill share with us some of her own personal stories. She is well known in journalistic circles and concedes that the opportunity to write good-news stories is exciting.

"Lorna Walker has a neat little bookshop" appeared in the February 15th issue of The Sachem, a weekly based in Caledonia, Ontario. Also available online.

Possibly A "Herbism?"

We'll have a sweet little cafe
In a neat little square,
We'll find our fortune and our happiness there.
We shall thrive on the vain and resplendent
And contrive to remain independent.
We'll have a meek reputation
And a chic clientele.
King's will fall under our spell.
We'll be so zealous
That the world will be jealous.

Bitter Sweet, 1929, Noel Coward, English playwright, author (1899 - 1973)

Have we identifed Herb's inspiration for the name "The Neat Little Bookshop?" In a column in the Grand River Sachem, 2002, Neil Dring establishes that Herb Martindale's Neat Little Bookshop got its name from a Noel Coward play. [Refer "Books Good Books" Feb. 4 blog-post.]

Those who knew Herb will recognize a "Herbism." Herb always leaves us smiling!

++---Our thoughts and prayers are with Birdsall Melick's family, neighbours and friends tonight---++

Our dear friend, Kim Jeffrey, has offered on short notice to OPEN the bookshop tomorrow morning. Kim is opening her own pottery and gift shop in the spring just around the corner. We welcome Kim and appreciate her help.

IMPORTANT NOTE:

We will be attending a family funeral. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience. We will be available as usual for Story Hour in the afternoon.

The Charles Taylor Prize 2011

And the winner is:

Mordecai: The Life & Times by Charles Foran, Alfred A. Kopf Canada. The 10th Charles Taylor prize was announced on Monday, February 14 at an event in Toronto, Ontario. The winner was presented with a cheque for $25,000 and a specially commissioned crystal award.

The remaining nominees were presented with a leather-bound copy of their shortlisted book and an honorarium of $2,000.

http://www.thecharlestaylorprize.ca/

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of every day's
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints ~ I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life! ~ and if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

~Elizabeth Barrett Browning, English poet; wife of Robert Browning (1806 - 1861)
Sonnets from the Portuguese (1850) no. 43 The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, Oxford University Press, 2001.

Thought for Today: A Love Story

Katharine Hepburn and Tracy Spencer made nine movies together. Two weeks after making their last movie, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, Spencer died suddenly.

"They were motion picture nobility, but they never went out together to restaurants, movie premieres, or big parties. They maintained separate residences and the press honored their privacy." *
Spencer was married.

During the twenty-seven years they shared their lives together, unmarried, the press respected their privacy. Unimaginable today. "It was a unique feeling that I had for S.T.
I would have done anything for him. My feelings -- how can you describe them? -- the door between us was always open. There were no reservations of any kind. . . It is called LOVE." **

* The Private World of Katharine Hepburn by John Bryson with a forward by KH. Little Brown & Company 1990. ** ME Stories of My Life, KH. 1991. Knopf.

Moments in Nature
A Photographic Exhibit ~ The Neat Little Bookshop

"Beauty is all around us if we take the time to look..." Scott C. Walker

On the Subject of Love:

"We use this expression very carelessly. 'I love you.' What does this mean? It seems to me I discovered what 'I love you' really means. It means I put you and your interests and your comfort ahead of my own interests and my own comfort because I love you.

"LOVE has nothing to do with what you are expecting to get -- only with what you are expecting to give -- which is everything. What you receive in return varies. But it really has no connection with what you give. You give because you love and you cannot help giving. If you are very lucky, you may be loved back. That is delicious but it does not necessarily happen.

"It really implies total devotion. And total is all-encompassing -- the good of you, the bad of you."

~Katharine Hepburn, American actress (1907 - 2003) ME Stories of My Life, 1991, Alfred Knopf.

At the original Hepburn home at 133 Hawthorn Street in Harford, Connecticut, six words inscribed on the fireplace:

"Listen to the Song of Life."

Common Sense ~ Integrity ~ Good Taste

In The Private World of KATHARINE HEPBURN, the actress stated, "I have written about things everyone experiences: success, failure, sickness, moving out of a house you love, and smashing up a car. But I'm not going to write anything about my deep personal life. I don't understand why people care about things like that."

Hepburn sailed, swam, golfed, played tennis, bicycled, walked, worked out with a private trainer ~ did her own gardening (refused to hire a gardener) and stood on her head each day for four minutes.

The New York Times described Hepburn's "characteristic feisty reverence for common sense, integrity and good taste."
Books:
At age 77, in 1987, Hepburn wrote her first memoir titled, The Making of 'The African Queen' or How I Went To Africa With Bogart, Bacall and Huston and Almost Lost My Mind.

The Private World of Katharine Hepburn written and photographed by John Bryson, Foreward by KH, Little, Brown and Company, 1990.

ME, Stories of My Life, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1991.

Quoting a worthwhile author, poet or sharing a photograph is one of our bookshop pleasures.

Last night we attended a live stage production ~ which we do sometimes ~ and came home feeling drained. We witnessed spousal fighting, shouting, swearing, menial conversations in mundane domestic settings ~ all on stage. It was depressing.

One cannot help but feel that we could have been at home beside the fire reading a good book. Ah , yes, and the wind and snow was blowing. The roads were slippery; parking was a challenge and the lineup long.

Oh, the pleasures of a good book.
~ lw

Christina Rossetti"s Who Has Seen The Wind

Who has seen the wind?
Neither I nor you:
But when the leaves hang trembling,
The wind is passing through.

Who has seen the wind?
Neither you nor I:
But when the trees bow down their heads,
The wind is passing by.

~Christina Rossetti (1830 - 1894) British Poet
Caroline Kennedy included Who Has Seen the Wind
in her 2005 book, A Family of Poems/ My Favorite Poetry For Children. Hyperion.

Ronald Reagan

Thought for Today:

"Surround yourself with the best people you can find, delegate authority, and don't interfere."

~ Ronald Reagan (February 6, 1911 - June 5, 2004) 40th President of the United States, 1981 - 1989.

Stone Boy With Book Buried in Snow ~ Canadian Winter Today Without Sunshine.

Short List for the Charles Taylor Prize for literary non-fiction is:

On the Farm/ Stevie Cameron
Mordecai: The Life & Times/ Charles Foran
Defiant Spirits/ Ross King
The Geography of Arrival/ George Sipos
The Love Queen of Malabar/ Merrily Weisbord

Winner to be announced on Monday, February 14.

http://www.thecharlestaylorprize.ca/

"If you cannot read all your books, at any rate handle, or as it were, fondle them ~ peer into them, let them fall open where they will, read from the first sentence that arrests the eye; set them back on the shelves with your own hands, arrange them on your own plan so that if you do not know what is in them, you at least know where they are. Let them be your friends; let them at any rate be your acquaintances."

~ Winston Churchill, (1874 - 1965) British Statesman, served as Prime Minister

Herb Martindale's Neat Little Bookshop

Today we came across a newspaper clipping from February 5, 2002 in which Neil Dring, Associate Publisher of the Grand River Sachem, honoured Herb Martindale in an article titled, "At home with Herb Martindale."
Herb opened the first NEAT LITTLE BOOKSHOP in Cayuga, directly across the street from today's bookshop. [We have yet to establish the exact year] Neil captures perfectly Herb's writings, of which he had many, including a long-running column in the Sachem.

"A typical 'Herb' would start out serious with obscure literary and geographical references and then degenerate into a farce. Part of the fun of reading one of Herb's columns was to correctly identify when he had crossed the line."

Neil, the best part of your February 2002 column, of course, is the recognition of The Grand River Sachem's birthday. If I do the math correctly, on February 6th the paper will be one hundred and fifty-five years old. "One of the five oldest weeklies in Ontario" Happy Birthday Grand River Sachem!

Majesty, Magic & The Miracle

"The majesty, magic and the miracle. . ."

~ Anderson Cooper, American journalist

Who could not slow down and enjoy the natural world? These are not caged deer. They run free in the tranquil setting of a forest and have learned to trust their human friends who help them survive during the winter. Twelve of them came to play and feed today just before dusk.

For larger image, dbl. click on photo.

Thought for Today:

Anderson Cooper, news anchor/host of CNN's AC360 Keeping Them Honest, quotes his father as saying, ". . .In the blessings of this world, chief of which is the Mystery, Magic, Majesty and Miracle that is life."

"The Mystery, Magic, Majesty and Miracle that is life!"

Anderson is the son of Gloria Vanderbilt. He lost his father when he was ten years old. Anderson Cooper is the author of Dispatches From the Edge, A Memoir of War, Disaster, and Survival. Harper, 2006.

Wiarton Willie

An early spring! That is the prediction.

Willie apparently did not see his shadow today.

The Life & Legend of Wiarton Willie is a delightful tale of the little groundhog who emerges from his burrow to supposedly predict the weather. The author, David A. Haley, is a retired educator who grew up on a farm in West Flamborough, "on the edge of Beverley Swamp," Ontario.

Published by Comet Enterprises, R. R. #2 Milton, Ontario, L9T 2X6 (1999)

Note: CBC News Canada has an excellent on-line story about today's Groundhog Day in Wiarton, Ontario.

Moments In Nature

The Neat Little Bookshop is pleased to feature an all-new photo exhibit, Moments In Nature. Studying nature through the lens of his camera, Scott Walker, brings the viewer into the outdoors, closer to a world that we seldom take the time to appreciate.

"We are constantly surrounded by beauty, if we just take the time to look," ~ S. Walker.

Scott lives in Haldimand County.

Above: A Mother's Tears

SUN TO EARTH PHOTOGRAPHY

[Dbl. click on photo for larger image.]