In Little Women*, Jo, Beth, Meg and Amy decide to give up their cream and muffins on Christmas morning in order to surprise the needy widow with a gift.
* Louisa May Alcott, American novelist (1832 - 1888)

"Resolve this holiday you'll try to perform some small act of saintliness. It could be as simple as a check to your favourite charity , or donating a few hours to read to the children at the library. But it could also be something that doesn't require someone else's official organization. . . dropping off a fresh batch of holiday cookies at the police station or firehouse. When doing your biannual closet-edit, bring the fashion rejects to the Salvation Army."
~ Swell Holiday, Cynthia Rowley & Ilene Rosenzweig, Atria Books.

"The best portions of a good man's life,
his little, nameless, unremembered acts,
of kindness and love."
~ William Wordsworth, English poet (1770 - 1850)

A Simple Homemade Gift ~
A tiny, delightful voice this morning reminded me of Christmas' past, "I'm going to make you something for Christmas, Grandma."
Early Christmas celebrations comprised a single, simple homemade gift for each member of the family, a special meal and traditionally some songs around the piano. It was a time when folks luxuriated in each others company around a natural tree decked in modest ornaments. As we prosper, the customs of Christmas consists more and more of many sophisticated events. The perfect gifts, extravagant decorations, expensive evenings with more people than we can possibly enjoy.

The excitement in a little girl's voice awakened something in my memory today. Perhaps we need to re-evaluate the traditional Christmas that we cherish.

"Books are the plane, and the train, and the road."

"...Perhaps it is true that at base we readers are dissatisfied people, yearning to be elsewhere, to live vicariously through words in a way we cannot live directly through life. Perhaps we are the world's great nomads, if only in our minds. I travel today in the way I once dreamed of traveling as a child. And the irony is that I don't care for it very much. I am the sort of person who prefers to stay at home, surrounded by family, friends, familiarity,books. This is what I like about traveling: the time on airplanes spent reading, solitary, happy. It turns out that when my younger self thought of taking wing, she wanted only to let her spirit soar. Books are the plane, and the train, and the road. They are the destination, and the journey. They are home."

Anna Quindlen, How Reading Changed My Life, p. 165 A Passion for Books

Waiting for Christmas. Get a good book for Christmas.
"The gift that keeps on giving." When all the gifts are opened, the family meal is over and the house is quiet,

"There is nothing like curling up with a book!" Gizmo, the bookshop dog.

A PASSION for BOOKS

"Without books, God is silent, justice dormant, natural science at a stand, philosophy lame, letters dumb, and all things involved in darkness."

~ Thomas V. Bartholin, Danish physician, mathematician (1616 - 1680)

Three Rivers Press, 1999

A Fountain, A Bottle, A Donkey's Ears, and Some Books ~ by Robert Frost

Excerpts:
"We trod uncomfortably on crunching glass
Through a house stripped of everything
Except, it seemed, the poetess's poems.
Books, I should say! ~ if books are what is needed.
A whole edition in a packing case
That, overflowing like a horn of plenty,
Or like the poetess's heart of love,
Had spilled them near the window, toward the light,
where driven rain had wet and swollen them.
Enough to stock a village library ~

"... Books were not thrown irreverently about.
They simply lay where someone now and then,
Having tried one, had dropped it at his feet
And left it lying where it fell rejected.
Here were all those the poetess's life
Had been too short to sell or give away."

~ The Poetry of Robert Frost, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1969
Edited by Edward Connery Lathem

Neil Paul has hooked us on Frost. Thank you for coming by Neil. One of our favourites above but don't stop with the excerpts, you must read the entire poem.
Please Note: We like to think that our little blog is like a visit to the bookshop. Stay a while, pick up a book, engage in conversation with another reader or a local author. Take a walk around the village.

Robert Frost was awarded several Pulitzer Prizes for literature during his lifetime. Please join us at 1:00 p.m. today at The Neat Little Bookshop when local author and poet, Neil Paul, will be reading Robert Frost's poetry.
Neil Paul and Mrs. Huitema with a Copy of Neil's Book of Poetry

Country Calling ~

Quotations by Robert Frost ~

"Most of the change we think we see in life
Is due to truths being in and out of favour."
~ The Black Cottage, 1914

"Home is the place where, when you have to go there,
They have to take you in."
~ The Death of the Hired Man, 1914

"The land was ours before we were the land's.
She was our land more than a hundred years
Before we were her people."
~ The Gift Outright, 1942

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I
I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference"
~ The Road Not Taken, 1916

"The figure a poem makes. It begins in delight and
ends in wisdom. The figure is the same as for love."
~ Collected Poems, 1939 'The Figure a Poem Makes'

"No Tears in the writer, no tears in the reader.
No surprise for the writer, no surprise for the reader."
~ Collected Poems, 1939, 'The Figure a Poem Makes

"Like a piece of ice on a hot stove the poem must ride on its own melting. A poem may be worked over once it is in being, but may not be worried into being."

"I'd as soon write free verse as play tennis with the net down."
~ Interviews with Robert Frost, 1966 ~ Edward Lathem
Source: The Oxford Dictionary of QUOTATIONS OXFORD, University Press, 2001

Note: Please join us when Neil Paul reads Robert Frost, Thursday, November 24 at 1:00 p.m.

Friends of The Bookshop ~ Another "24-Carat Character." Pam Thomas works at Cypres, Caledonia, Ontario.

Emma Visits The Bookshop ~

Emma Chooses a Book

We are happy that you enjoyed your visit to the bookshop.

Looking For A Sunset Bird In Winter ~

The west was getting out of gold,
The breath of air had died of cold,
When shoeing home across the white,
I thought I saw a bird alight.

In summer when I passed the place,
I had to stop and lift my face;
A bird with an angelic gift
Was singing in it sweet and swift.

No bird was singing in it now.
A single leaf was on a bough,
And that was all there was to see
In going twice around the tree.

From my advantage on a hill
I judged that such a crystal chill
Was only adding frost to snow
As gilt to gold that wouldn't show.

A brush had left a crooked stroke
Of what was either cloud or smoke
From north to south across the blue;
A piercing little star was through.

~ Robert Frost, The Poetry of Robert Frost, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1964
(Reminder: Neil Paul will be at The Neat Little Bookshop on Thursday, Nov. 24, reading Robert Frost. Please join us!)

Smile For Today ~

Feathered Friend




Staying warm. . .

Wednesday Story Hour ~
When Benjamin Franklin was asked "What condition of man most deserves pity?"he replied, "A lonesome man on a rainy day who does not know how to read." *






Story Hour every Wednesday after school is when we share stories about our day and introduce friends and pets, as well as read a story.Story Hour Yvonne was missed on Wednesday. Hurry back, Yvonne and Maddie. Everyone welcome. Children under three must be accompanied by an adult. 3:30 pm - 5:00.
Thank you Alyhsia, our co-op student, for your participation.

Photos: 1/ Lily with her new friend, Sammy 2/ Eric helping with tea and cookies
* THE LITTLE, BROWN BOOK OF Anecdotes, Clifton Fadiman, 1985

A Salute to those Individuals Making a Difference in our Community ~
Volunteers ~ the "HEART" of Haldimand County Haldimand Councillors & Staff, The Honourable Diane Finley, MP, Toby Barrett, MPP, Mayor Ken Hewitt 11th Annual Recognition Night ~

Norma Mowat, 2001 Volunteer of the Year, reading the Volunteer Poem at last night's Recognition Night

Neil Paul reading "Robert Frost" 1:00 pm, Thursday, November 24th ~ A Week From Today
Please join us~ Neil's Poetry Readings are always inspirational and leave the listener thinking. Coffee & Tea. Graphics by The Sachem, Caledonia, Ontario

Thought for Today:

"Aldous Huxley's fame rested largely upon his novels, such as Brave New World, in which he examined humanity's choice between a fully human life and the mechanized servitude of the anthill. In his sixties he admitted, 'It is a bit embarrassing to have been concerned with the human problem all one's life and find at the end that one has no more to offer by way of advice than 'Try to be a little kinder.'"

~ Aldous Huxley (1894 - 1963) English writer
Source: THE LITTLE, BROWN BOOK OF Anecdotes, Clifton Fadiman, 1985

"Above all, do not lose your desire to walk. I know of no thought so burdensome that one cannot walk away from it."
~ Kierkegaard (1813 - 1855) Danish Christian Philosopher

Photo: Grand Valley Trail in November, York, Ontario

"24 Carat Characters" * ~

There is a good chance that while visiting The Neat Little Bookshop, folks will run into interesting people, "24 carat characters" ~ a phrase coined by a local author* who frequents the shop.

One of the interesting people with whom you may have already brushed shoulders is Shane Carmichael, owner of The Parrothead Cafe ~ the newly renovated restaurant on Lake Erie ~ Haldimand, Lakeshore and Kohler Roads. No, it is not open yet, to answer the most-asked question; however, Shane is winding down a job this week in Louisana, U.S.A., that has delayed the launching of his lakeside dream.

We look forward to seeing you at The Parrothead Cafe, Shane.

*Author, Lawrence Miller,The Avro Arrow A Picture History, Lorimer, 2011

Lascelles Abercrombie, British poet and critic, in response to a serious challenge to a duel by Ezra Pound, suggested to his opponent that they " bombard each other with unsold copies of our own books."
Pound, having far more "weapons" than his opponent, immediately withdrew the challenge.

~ The LITTLE, BROWN BOOK OF Anecdotes, Clifton Radiman, Little, Brown and Company, 1985
(Note: Choice of weapons in a duel lies with the party challenged.)

On the Subject of Whether An Author's Personal Life Should be a Factor When Critiquing a Book ~

"Even if there are no themes in the work that resonate with the life, great writers are not machines that produce, out of nothingness, a series of words that happen to be more perfect than other people's words; they are flawed mortals, often imprudent and uncivil, who are so large (that's what greatness is: size) that every part of them deserves to be understood."

Anne Radiman disagrees that when critiquing a book, to "slide into biographical details [is] to admit a lack of critical perception."

She suggests that "if you know that Melville was a terrible husband, you may be able to make more sense of the sealed-off, sea-bound world of Moby-Dick, where everybody was male, even the whale."

~ Anne Radiman, At Large and At Small, Confessions of a Literary Hedonist, Penguin Books, 2007

Fields of Freedom Kohler, Haldimand County

The Story of The Poem "In Flanders Fields" and the Red Poppies that We Wear.

Throughout History, the scarlet corn poppy has been a symbol of life. But after the publication of "In Flanders Fields" in 1915, it became a universal symbol of remembrance.

Linda Granfield's The Story of the Poem by John McCrae, illustrated by Janet Wilson, Lester Publishing, 1999.

Veteran Harold Schaus was sixteen years old when the war broke out. He had six weeks of basic training at Camp Borden, Ontario, and was eventually shipped across the Atlantic on the Queen Mary in December 1942, docking in Glasgow, Scotland. More training, more courses ~ the only good thing during this period was meeting the lady who would become his wife, Edna. She was seventeen. He was nineteen.

In July, 1944 Harold's advanced party in the Argylls landed in France approximately five weeks after D-Day. His description of front-line battles, charging up hills where the Germans were well dug in, German counterattacks and the inevitable human losses leave the reader solemnly grateful. "I had a friend who went there after the war and they toured the battlefield. He said he couldn't believe they would send us up that hill without softening it up for days. It was impossible to think we'd try it."

The Argylls' attack on Hill 195 where the German advance was stopped, was later "taught at the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario, as how to plan a night attack."
Schaus' detailed description of the realities of war and the hardships these soldiers endured are shocking and riveting. "Lest We Forget," wear a red poppy proudly, attend the Remembrance Day Service at the cenotaph tomorrow and remember to say "Thank you, Mr. Schaus for your service." Harold and Edna reside in Haldimand County.

~ Soldiers' Stories, Kirk Du Guid, First Choice Books, 2009

Veteran Lothar D. Lewis came into The Neat Little Bookshop the day we opened and expressed his love of reading. He offered to staff the store to keep it open an additional day of the week. "Lew" is gone now, died alone at his residence in Cayuga at the age of sixty-four in 2009. Lew, as everyone knew him, purchased many of only one type of book: Non-fiction ~ Vietnam war. No historical fiction for Lew.
Frankly, we did not know quite what to think about this immaculately dressed man -- walked poker-straight, smoked and drank too much, took a lot of pain-killers. It was not until Du Guid's book came out that everything fell into place. It all made sense.

Lew got to read his chapter in Soldiers' Stories before he died because author Kirk Du Guid provided each soldier with a copy of their story prior to publication.
Lew served in the U.S. Marine Corp in Vietnam. His story is told with humour, heart-breaking honesty and with lurid detail. Rest in peace, our friend Lothar D. Lewis. Thank you for your life -- your service -- and thank you Kirk for telling it.

Soldiers' Stories, Kirk Du Guid, 2009 First Choice Books. Available at The Neat Little Bookshop

A Poppy Is to Remember ~Heather Patterson & Ron Lightburn

North Winds Press, 2004, A Division of Scholastic Canada Ltd.

"War and Remembrance" A Special exhibit commemorating Haldimand's military history from the War of 1812 through WWII.

Join Haldimand County Museum & Archives for a week of talks on Haldimand's military past.

Mon., November 7 ~ War of 1812, 1 pm
Tues., November 8 ~ Fenian Raids, 1 pm
Wed., November 9 ~ 114th Battalion, 7 pm
Thur., November 10 ~ WWII, 1 pm

Haldimand County Museum is located in the park beside the County Court House on Munsee St. (Hwy #54) For more information please contact the museum at 905-772-5880.

"Lest We Forget" ~

Veteran R. Clark MacDonald was born and raised in Cayuga, Ontario. He left his job as butcher at Harold Reece's grocery store to join the Royal Canadian Air Force in April, 1941 as a radar technician. He was shipped to numerous locations by various means of transportation, enduring conditions and risks that many of us would consider extremely uncomfortable. In India he was shocked to witness the poverty; in Ceylon he was isolated from any news from home.
"I was then posted back to Bombay to a place called Juha Beach and assigned to a Combined Operations Unit. This consisted of army, naval and air force personnel. There was intensive training with various small arms including submachine guns, anti tank rifles, mortars and anti tank grenades."

In central India, he removed radar equipment and FFI equipment from Liberator bombers in temperatures reaching 150 degrees Fahrenheit inside the planes ~ 120 Fahrenheit at night.
MacDonald welcomed VE Day*, May 8 1945, while in England on a two week leave. Back in Cayuga in July 1945, after four and a half years in the RCAF, he married Ruby Hedley and traveled Haldimand County lecturing and moderating discussions with the National Film Board and the Federation of Agriculture.
Clark MacDonald's brother-in-law, Lloyd Hedley, a Spitfire pilot, was shot down and killed over Verden, Germany, on an air reconnaissance mission on April 26, 1945. He is buried in Soltau, Germany.
* Victory in Europe Day
~ Soldiers' Stories, 2009 Local Author, Kirk Du Guid

The Winner of Saturday's Draw is ~ Barbara Nelson. Thank you Barbara and everyone who visited The Neat Little Bookshop booth at the Trade Show. Thank you to the Cayuga and District Chamber of Commerce for organizing another successful event.

A copy of Kirk Du Guid's Soldiers' Stories will be going out to Barbara

Soldiers' Stories ~

For the next few days we will be posting exerpts from Soldiers' Stories* by Kirk Du Guid. Du Guid interviewed over twenty-five veterans in our area. He dedicated his book to "Those Who Served in Times of War and Peace."

A veteran himself, Du Guid states, "There is something I do each Remembrance Week. When I meet veterans, I walk up to them and shake their hand and thank them for their service. The reality is that, just by putting that uniform on, someday during their service they might have been asked to make the ultimate sacrifice. 'Lest we forget, lest we forget!' "
*Soldiers' Stories, 2009. Kirk Du Guid. Printed & Bound by First Choice Books
Available at The Neat Little Bookshop

Veteran Arthur Simmons was born in 1920 in Collingwood, Ontario. It was in June of 1940 that Art began basic infantry training at Camp Borden, Ontario. After completing a sniper's course, he was made range artificer with the Grey & Simcoes. The regiment was selected to parade through communities stimulating recruiting in the regiment.
When the regiment was switched from infantry to armour, it was renamed the 21st Armoured Regiment. Art was in the 4th Division; his brother, Howard, in the 1st. in an infantry regiment ~ the 48th Highlanders from Toronto. Art embarked for Great Britain in June, 1943 after working as Lance Corporal on tanks. For the duration of the war, he served throughout France, Belgium, Holland and Germany working on all kinds of tanks, getting them back into action ~ making the rank of Sergeant. Brother Howard was shot and killed when his platoon was attacking up a hill in Sicily.
After the war, Art returned to his past time of repairing watches and clocks. He now resides in Cayuga, Ontario and often visits The Neat Little Bookshop. We shake your hand, Art, and as Kirk would say, "Thank you for your service."

Thought for Today ~

"Our deeds determine us, as much as we determine our deeds."
~ George Eliot
George Eliot is the pen name for Mary Anne Evans, English author (Silas Marner & The Mill on The Floss)
b. Nov.22, 1819, d. Dec. 22 1880

Note: Mary Anne used a man's pen name to ensure that her work be taken seriously during Victorian times.

Photo: Wikipedia

Random Acts of Kindness ~

Today is Random Act of Kindness Day. It is not an official holiday, simply a holiday evolving out of a modern world that sometimes seems to offer little kindness.

A tiny book by the editors of Conari Press offers some 150 pages of things that we can do for no reason at all, other than an act of kindness.

"Is not one of the great gifts of any act of kindness that it 'brings us back,' that it makes us feel that we have somehow returned to a place, to a feeling, that is somehow permanent, deeply rooted, and unchanging. . . Kindness is at the heart of our belief that people are basically good."

Perhaps today, one small act of kindness can make a difference in someones' day!

~ Random Acts of Kindness, Conari Press, 1999.

Smile for Today ~

'When I was a child my mother said to me, 'If you become a soldier you'll be a general. If you become a monk you'll become the pope.' Instead I became a painter and wound up as Picasso."

~ Picasso

(Oct. 25, 1881 - April 8, 1973) Spanish artist, sculptor, co-founder of the Cubist Movement

Our Weekly Newspaper ~

We have to take a minute here to recognize The Sachem & Gazette. As soon as we were settled in our new location, reporter, Natalie Clewley, arrived on cue to do a story on The Neat Little Bookshop.
It is unsolicited participation and support like this that small businesses appreciate. The staff at this weekly newspaper is always visible at community events. The ad rep, Jimmie Ann Cutler, drops in periodically not to hard-sell but to show us photos of her granddaughter.

Thank you to Associate Publisher & General Manager, Neil Dring, for his incredibly viable newspaper in a time when newspapers are struggling to find their place in a digital world.

You can pick up a hard copy or you can access The Sachem on-line http://www.sachem.ca/ Click on "Read All News" and scroll down to read Natalie's article about The Neat Little Bookshop.

The Canadian Celiac Association provides resources for folks looking for gluten-free foods. Contact: http://www.celiac.ca/ or infor@celiac.caChef Rhonda Barr, owner of Ya'd Never Know Bakery in Dundas, Ontario, demonstrates making gluten-free wraps. Assisting Rhonda is Women's Institute member, Lynda Brooker of York.

The Women's Institutes of Haldimand hosted an evening in the Community Room of the new Cayuga Arena.
http://www.yadneverknow.com/ Visit Rhonda's website for information including gluten-free recipes.

The CBC turns 75 today. Featuring clips from their archives, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation is airing old black-and-white news clips and stories. One of their first children's shows, Maggie Muggins, came from Canadian author Mary Grannan's books.

SHOWCASE & TRADESHOW
Cayuga and District Chamber of Commerce

Sat., November 5, 2011
9 am - 3 pm

Cayuga Kinsmen Hall
Open to the Public\Free Admission

Parking off Regional Rd. # 17

Business Displays, Food Samples,\Sales Items, Hourly Giveaways & much more. Our own Faye Farrance will be there at The Neat Little Bookshop table ~ stop by and say "Hello."
http://www.cayugachamber.ca/

"Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors and the most patient of teachers."

~ Charles W. Eliot (1834 - 1926) American Academic

Smile for Today ~

"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read."

~ Found on a T-shirt. Attributed to Groucho Marx