"The main things which seem to me important on their own account, and not merely as means to other things, are knowledge, art, instinctive happiness, and relations of friendship or affection."

Bertrand Russell, (1872 - 1970) British philosopher, Nobel Prize Winner English Literature.

(One of our favourite quotations.)

GALLERY

WILLIAM BIDDLE
Great news ~ Coming to Cayuga!

ORIGINALS ~ LTD. ED. PRINTS. DECOR PRINTS ~ FRAMING

Commissions PORTRAIT & OTHER

Classes Available in Dunnville.

Welcome Pam and William Biddle. (Next door to the Post Office on Cayuga Street)

A ~ Z Fiction

Oops ~ Just found five boxes that belong in the middle of the alphabet. . .

Marilyn, thank you.

This is a lot more work than we thought. We are striving for the second week of September ~ after Labour Day. Watch for our usual BALLOONS IN THE WINDOW !!! This achievement will be a new celebration. We want to thank our family and friends for all of their labour and support.

Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist and author, Anna Quindlen writes about books:

"It is not simply that we need information, but that we want to savor it, carry it with us, feel the heft of it under our arm. We like the thing itself.
It is not possible that the book is over. Too many people love it so."

~ Passion for Books, Edited by Harold Rabinowitz & Rob Kaplan. Three Rivers Press, 1999.

Highway 3 Just Over the Bridge ~ and coming this way!

Just Over The Bridge ~ Traffic Down to One Lane

Photos taken August 25 (For larger image, please click 3X on photo) ~ Lorna

For the best in Canadian literary fiction 2011 ~

Go to the Scotiabank Giller Prize website. Eligible titles for this year's prize are posted. It is a fascinating posting. Help choose a book for the Longlist which will be announced on September 6.

For a history of the prize founded in 1994 click on "About/The Prize"

http://www.scotiabankgillerprize.ca/

Today ~ Some Semblance of Order with a little help from our friends.

Nicole from Dragonfly Books, Caledonia, put together the classics! Thank you, Nicole.

Is it my imagination or does the bookshop look worse today than yesterday?

When is the Bookshop Opening?

The most asked question! Although the new bookshop will be wonderful, an unplanned move, family events and the sheer complexity of moving inventory and fixtures to a different facility has at times seemed overwhelming. We could not completely give up our summer activities.

Someone helping with the new shelving suggested that our goal of September 1st may be optimistic. Of course that is only a week away and if the bookshop is complete, I will be amazed myself! We will be open when we open. Meanwhile, thank you to those who have stayed in touch by dropping by or emailing. We miss you. We look forward to seeing you.

View From Our Window

Looking west we are now neighbours to The Haldimand Press.


The Haldimand Press (Some will remember it asThe Haldimand Advocate) ~ Hwy 3 Just before you go over the bridge.
We have so much more to tell you about one of the oldest weekly newspapers in Haldimand County.

Smile For Today:

"A psychiatrist is a fellow who asks you a lot of expensive questions your wife asks for nothing."

~ Joey Adams (1911 - 1999) American author, comedian.

DESIDERATA hangs in the bookshop. It is usually said to have been copied from an inscription "found in Old Saint Paul's Church, Baltimore; dated 1692." It was actually written by an Indiana poet named Max Ehrmann and registered with the Copyright Office of the Library of Congress early in 1927. Copyright was renewed after the author's death by his widow, and is still protected by the United States Copyright Law.

Source: DESIDERATA, Brooke House, Inc. 1972

DESIDERATA

Go placidly amid the noise & the haste,
& remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth
quietly & clearly; and listen to others, even the dull & ignorant; they too have their story.
Avoid loud & aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others, you may
become vain & bitter; for always there will be greater & lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career,
however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of trickery.
But let not this blind you to what virtue
there is; many persons strive for high ideals; and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity & disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass.
Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue & loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees & the stars; you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be.
And whatever your
labors & aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.
With all its sham, drudgery & broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

~ Max Ehrmann (1872 - 1945) American writer, poet & attorney.

View From Our Window
We are not quite ready to show the inside ~ not 'til we get a few more books on the shelves. However if you have ever sat at the Round Table, you will recognize that the view has vastly improved! The table is now positioned beside a window.








View From the Bookshop Window

Smile for Today:
Culture

"The only normal people are the ones you don't know very well."
~ Joe Ancis

"There is a difference between a philosophy and a bumper sticker."
~ Charles M. Schulz

"Human beings are perhaps never more frightening than when they are convinced beyond doubt that they are right."
~ Laurens van der Post

"The truly civilized man is always skeptical and tolerant. . . His culture is based on 'I am not too sure.' "
~ H. L. Mencken

"Upper classes are a nation's past; the middle class is its future."
~ Ayn Rand

"No race can prosper till it learns that there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem."
~ Booker T. Washington

Source: Treasure of Wit & Wisdom, Reader's Digest, 2006.

Thought for Today:
"Solitude can be delicious, comforting, enriching, healing, enlightening, and peaceful. It is so desired... many make plans for months ahead just to have a few days alone. It can be a precious gift, an act of compassion we give ourselves. Solitude can be the glue that holds us together in an otherwise hectic, non-stop, often chaotic world. It can be our life preserver when we feel we are sinking into an ocean of overwhelming responsibilities and volumes of things to do."
~Ruth Fishel, Precious Solitude, 1999, Adams Media Corp.

Photos: James N. Allen Park, Lake Erie, Haldimand

For larger image, please click 3X on photo.

Thought for Today:
"Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could simply be in the moment, without feeling that something is either right or wrong, without judgments or prejudices? Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could simply accept whatever is going on in the moment and feel the peace that comes from such acceptance? Instead of beating ourselves up or praising ourselves by telling ourselves that something is good or bad, right or wrong, pleasant of unpleasant, we simply could say, 'Oh. This is what it is,' and continue to go on with what we are doing."
~ Ruth Fishel, Precious Solitude, 1999. Adams Media Corp.
Photo: Bank of the Grand River, Chiefswood

Thought for Today ~

"There are moments in your life when you must act, even though you cannot carry your best friends with you. The "Still small voice" within you must always be the final arbiter when there is a conflict of duty."

~ Mahatma Gandhi (1869 - 1948) Ideological leader of India.
Treasury of Wit & Wisdom, Reader's Digest 2006.

P. T. Barnum's Greatest Creation

Local author, John Passfield, was born in St. Thomas, Ontario. The story of Jumbo naturally intrigued John as it does every little child.

His book, JUMBO, P.T. Barnum's Greatest Creation, written in novel form ~ historically based ~ tells the story of how this great elephant came all the way from England to appear in the circus in St. Thomas and there met an untimely death. Available at The Neat Little Bookshop. $20 tax incl.

Photo: Statue of Jumbo, St. Thomas, Ontario (Click 3X for larger image.)

Old-Fashioned Peach Social

Victorian Concert and Peach Social ~

Cottonwood Mansion will host a peach social on Sunday, August 28 at 2:00 p.m. This is a step-back-in-time with friends of Cottonwood in period costume. The Cottonwood Brass Quintet performing on antique and modern musical instruments. "Some 'new' old instruments" this year!

If you enjoy music and a relaxing summer afternoon outdoors, the volunteers welcome everyone to visit the mansion. Bring your lawn chairs. 740 Haldimand Road #53, Selkirk. Adults $10, 12 & under $5, pre-schoolers free. Self-guided tours of the mansion will be available.

For more information, call 905-776-2538. http://www.cottonwoodmansion.ca/

Photo: Lorna

Thought for Today:

"It is our choices . . . that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."

~ J. K. Rowling (b. 1965) British author best known for her Harry Potter series.

Future home of The Neat Little Bookshop29 Talbot Rd. at the intersection (stoplight) of Cayuga Street.

Familiar Bookshop colours ~ Painting almost complete

Stage 2 ~ Position the shelving

Many of you have come by already ~ please feel welcome.

29 Talbot Rd (at the stoplight) corner of Cayuga Street.

Smile for Today:

Humorist, Robert Benchley, tells a story about his friend Ernie (Ernest Hemingway):

'He took my first edition of A Farewell to Arms and filled in each blank in the text where Scribner's had blushed and put a dash instead of the original word. I think that he supplied the original word in every case. In fact, I am sure of it."

On the fly-leaf of this he wrote:

To R. (G). B from E. ( --- ), H.
Corrected edition. Filled-in blanks.
Very valuable. Sell quick.
~Essay 1934

Smile for Today:

"There is much satisfaction in work well done but there can be no happiness equal to the joy of finding a heart that understands."

~ Victor Robinson

HARVEST TIME by Pauline Johnson

Pillowed and hushed on the silent plain,
Wrapped in her mantle of golden grain,

Wearied of pleasuring weeks away,
Summer is lying asleep to-day, ~

Where winds come sweet from the wild-rose briers
And the smoke of the far-off prairie fires;

Yellow her hair as the goldenrod,
And brown her cheeks as the prairie sod;

Purple her eyes as the mists that dream
At the edge of some laggard sun-drowned stream;

But over their depths the lashes sweep,
For Summer is lying to-day asleep.

The north wind kisses her rosy mouth,
His rival frowns in the far-off south,

And comes caressing her sunburnt cheek,
And Summer awakes for one short week,~

Awakes and gathers her wealth of grain,
Then sleeps and dreams for a year again.

~ Flint and Feather The Complete Poems of E. Pauline Johnson
Native Mohawk Indian (1861 - 1913) Hodder and Stoughton Ltd., 1912.

The Fish Quill Poetry Boat will set out today from Elora for a ten-day canoeing/camping trip on the Grand River. Comprised of eight poets from Toronto and Quebec, the group will hold poetry readings each evening at 7:00 p.m. Stops in Kitchener, Cambridge, Paris and Brantford.
Honouring the 150th anniversary of Pauline Johnson's birth, the flotilla will end the journey at Chiefswood, the home of the famous Canadian poet.
~ Pauline Johnson (1861 - 1913) Canadian writer and performer

Photo: Wikipedia

Thought for Today ~

With the upheaval of moving the bookshop the last two weeks, an essay titled "Unpacking My Library" naturally caught my eye. Add a few paint rags ~ and the following by Walter Benjamin describes the bookshop.

"I am unpacking my library. Yes, I am. The books are not yet on the shelves, not yet touched by the mild boredom of order. I cannot march up and down their ranks to pass them in review before a friendly audience. You need not fear any of that. Instead, I must ask you to join me in the disorder of crates that have been wrenched open, the air saturated with the dust of wood, the floor covered with torn paper, to join me among piles of volumes that are seeing daylight again after two years of darkness, so that you may be ready to share with me a bit of the mood ~ it is certainly not an elegiac mood but, rather, one of anticipation ~ which these books arouse in a genuine collector."

A Passion for Books edited by Harold Rabinowitz & Rob Kaplan,
Three Rivers Press, 1999

Sign on The New Neat Little Bookshop

Thought for Today:

"I have friends, whose society is extremely agreeable to me; they are of all ages, and of every country. They have distinguished themselves both in the cabinet and in the field, and obtained high honors for their knowledge of the sciences. It is easy to gain access to them; for they are always at my service, and I admit them to my company, and dismiss them from it, whenever I please. They are never troublesome, but immediately answer every question I ask them. Some relate to me the events of past ages, while others reveal to me the secrets of nature. Some, by their vivacity, drive away my cares and exhilarate my spirits, while others give fortitude to my mind, and teach me the important lesson how to restrain my desires, and to depend wholly on myself. They open to me, in short, the various avenues of all the arts and sciences, and upon their information I safely rely, in all emergencies. In return for all these services, they only ask me to accommodate them with a convenient chamber in some corner of my humble habitation, where they may repose in peace: for these friends are more delighted by the tranquillity of retirement, than by the tumults of society."

~ Petrarch (1304 - 1374) Italian scholar