Cayuga Tennis Courts

Snowy Scene Tennis Courts ~ Skateboard Park

Photos:  Taken Feb. 28 Banks of The Grand, Cayuga.

"Nothing in this life, after health and virtue, is more estimable than knowledge, nor is there anything so easily attained, or so cheaply purchased, ~ the labor, only sitting still, and the expense but time, which, if we do not spend, we cannot save."

~ Laurence Sterne (1713 - 1738) Anglo-Irish novelist, clergyman.

 

Twenty Days 'til Spring

"The love of knowledge in a young mind is almost a warrant against the infirm excitement of passions and vices."
~ Henry Ward Beecher (1813 - 1837)  American clergyman.

"However beautifully decorated, a house without flowers does not have the welcoming, vibrant feel which a vase of colourful flowers can bring.  Huge displays of expensive flowers need only be for special occasions.  A few blooms from the garden or a bunch of seasonal flowers from the florist cost so little in terms of money and effort but make so much difference to the aspect of a room."

~ The Ladies' Flower Garden, Wendy Hobson, Whitecap Books Ltd., 1994.

LINCOLN

     "After finishing Blackstone [Blackstone's Commentaries on Law], he set out across the prairies for Springfield, twenty miles away, to borrow other law-books from an attorney he had met in the Black Hawk War.  On his way home he carried an open book in one hand, studying as he walked.  When he struck a knotty passage, he shuffled to a standstill, and concentrated on it until he had mastered the sense.
     He kept on studying, until he had conquered twenty or thirty pages, kept on until dusk fell and he could no longer see to read...The stars came out, he was hungry, he hastened his pace.
     He pored over his books now incessantly, having heart for little else.  By day he lay on his back, reading in the shade of an elm that grew beside the store, his bare feet angling up against the trunk of the tree.   By night he read in the cooper's shop, kindling a light from the waste material lying about.  Frequently he read aloud to himself, now and then closing the book and writing down the sense of what he had just read, revising, rephrasing it until it became clear enough for a child to comprehend."

~ Lincoln The Unknown, Dale Carnegie, 1937.

The Heritage Grand River ~

An Icy Landscape ~ York

LINCOLN

"One day a mover who was driving out to Iowa halted his covered wagon in front of the Lincoln & Berry store.  The roads were soft, his horses were tired, and the mover decided to lighten his load.  So he sold Lincoln a barrel of household plunder.  Lincoln didn't want the plunder, but he felt sorry for the horses;  he paid the mover fifty cents, and without examining the barrel rolled it into the back room of the store.
A fortnight later he emptied the contents of the barrel out on the floor, idly curious to see what he had bought.  There, at the bottom of the rubbish, he found a complete edition of Blackstone's Commentaries on Law; and started to read...And the more he read, the more interested he became.  Never before had he been so absorbed in a book.  He read until he had devoured all four volumes.
Then he made a momentous decision:  he would be a lawyer."

~ Lincoln The Unknown, Dale Carnegie,Dale Carnegie & Associates, Inc.,1932.

Tomorrow:  Lincoln walks twenty miles studying as he goes.
(A. Lincoln b. Feb. 12, 1809 d. April 15, 1865)

Conway Park ~ Banks of The Grand

25 Days until Spring ~



Beowulf Written Originally on Vellum 



"There are several translations of Beowulf available, with various strengths.  The Seamus Heaney version, for example, is recent, very readable, and a fine poem in its own right.  Mike Walton's* is also recent and also very readable, but he has been even more careful than Heaney to stay close to the original.  Walton also manages to convey the *feel* of Anglo-Saxon poetry better than any other translator I've read.  His introduction and notes, too, are particularly clear, instructive, and a pleasure to read.  Mike Walton is not only a careful scholar; he's a born teacher."

*The Book of Beowulf, Michael Walton, 2007. Available at The Neat Little Bookshop.
~ Laurie Miller, author of The Avro Arrow, Lorimer, 2011

Image: Wikipedia



York Haldimand County

 Dreaming ~ 26 Days until Spring



Port Dover Haldimand County

 



Normandale Norfolk County



Mike Walton and Beowulf ~

A special thank-you to Mike for his presentation of the old Anglo-Saxon, epic poem Beowulf.  Mike's artifacts, visuals and discussion of a time unfamiliar to most of us, whiled away an afternoon until it was past bookshop closing time.

Mike, that was a presentation deserving of an audience of two hundred.  (We didn't entertain quite that many.)  Those of us in attendance felt priviledged and enlightened.  Thank you.
~ lbw 

Note:  Mike's first edition, book of beowulf, is available at The Neat Little Bookshop.

Tomorrow:  Comments and praise for The Book of Beowulf.

Beowulf ~

"When I began this project [translation of Beowulf ] with a leave from Mohawk College, I ran into several acquaintances who, when I began to explain what I was doing, responded, "Oh, Beowulf? ~ I just love Beowulf!"  Most of these people were not particularly scholarly or studious, and their knowledge of the poem would have come from one of the many translations presently available....  Nevertheless the poem had reached them profoundly in some way.  I believe that for many readers the poem is very moving.  It seems to me that when we speak of the meaning of the poem we actually refer to the relationship that its various readers develop with it.

"The values expressed in Beowulf are still respected in our culture, though now as then, probably, they are honoured more in the breach than the observance.  They include stoic bravery in the face of death, loyalty especially to one's kin, friends and dryhten, caring about personal reputation, generosity, a willingness to act, not just talk,and the litany of virtues attributed to Beowulf at the end of the poem."

~ Michael Walton, The book of beowulf, 2007.

Reminder:  Mike will be in The Neat L'l Bookshop today at 1:00 p.m. to discuss his translation of Beowulf.  It's informal.  Everyone welcome.

Update:  A new order of Dirty Business has arrived.  To reserve your copy please call or e-mail The Neat L'l Bookshop as below.



Destined for Cheapside Haldimand County



Dirty Business  Taking Orders ~

Coming this week another order of the book about Ontario's "Rush to Wind Power." Available at The Neat L'l Bookshop. 





  $12.99  Call or e-mail lwalker@shaw.ca for your copy or copies. 905-772-5997 or 905-577-5635.

Photos: Taken February 19, 2013 in Dunnville, Haldimand County ~ lbw

Please click on photo for larger image.

Winter in Haldimand Country

It was a beautiful family day...

Photos:  1. Mount Olivet, 2. Lake Erie

"Beowulf spoke again, uttered some boast-words
for the last time:

          "I dared many a fight in my youth;     again as an old
protector of the people,     I'll seek out conflict,
and earn some glory,     if this mankiller
will come out to me       from his earth-hall."

     Then he addressed     every man,
the bold helmet-wearers,   his close comrades,
for the last time:

          'I wouldn't be taking
a sword to the dragon,     if I knew
how else I might     with that monster
get a fighting grip,     as with Grendel before,
but here I'm expecting    hot battle-flames,
bad breath and venom;    therefore I carry
a shield and mail-shirt.     And I won't go back
one foot from the worm,   but at the mound
we two will fare    as Fate decrees,
every man's Master.' "

~ Excerpt from The book of beowulf, Michael Walton, 2007.

Note:  Mike Walton will be in The Neat L'l Bookshop on Thursday, February 21 at 1:00 p.m.  It's informal.  All are welcome.  Circle your calendar. "Coffee pot's always on..."

Grendel

In his effort to understand and work with the Anglo-Saxon poem, Beowulf, Michael Walton spent years reading and familiarizing himself with the ancient language and grammar.  Old English is different than modern.

His The Book of Beowulf reflects those long hours of study.  It is arguably one of the best translations of Beowulf.  We know that this epic poem came from as early as 1000 A.D. ~ passed down orally until finally preserved in a manuscript.

We will have the rare opportunity to learn from Mike Walton the process which brought us this modern version.  The author will be in The Neat Little Bookshop on Thursday, February 21 at 1:00 p.m. 
It's informal.  All are welcome.  "Coffee pot's always on..."

Retired from teaching, Mike lives on an old farm outside of Cayuga, Ontario.

*The Book of Beowulf, Michael Walton, 2007, Printed in Aylmer, Ontario, by Aylmer Express.  Bound at Bookshelf Bindery, Ridgetown, Ontario.
Image of Grendel: McMaster Humanities

On Reading & Writing ~

"I never write metropolis for seven cents because I can get the same price for city.  I never write policeman because I can get the same money for cop."
~ Mark Twain

"People want to know why I do this, why I write such gross stuff.  I like to tell them I have the heart of a small boy ~ and I keep it in a jar on my desk."
~ Stephen King

"I'm a publisher because it's a cover for my indulgence.  I love to read all day.  But I come from nice Puritan stock, and I grew up believing that you have to work all day, so I made reading my work."
~ Ann Getty

"I read books like mad, but I am careful not to let anything I read influence me."
~ Michael Caine

"I would sooner read a timetable or a catalogue than nothing at all."
~ W. Somerset Maugham

"I read a book twice as fast as anybody else.  First I read the beginning, and then I read the ending, and then I start in the middle and read toward whichever end I like best."
~ Gracie Allen

~ True Confessions,  Edited by Jon Winokur, Penguin, 1992

Smile for Today ~

"If I had learned to type, I never would have made brigadier general."
~ Brigadier General, Elizabeth P. Hoisington, U.S. Army

"I always wanted to be a writer, but I became an actor because we were very poor and I had an uncle in show business who was making $200 a week, and I wasn't making anything..."
~ Groucho Marx

"If my books had been any worse I would not have been invited to Hollywood, and if they had been any better I would not have come."
~ Raymond Chandler

"My main reason for adopting literature as a profession was that, as the author is never seen by his clients, he need not dress respectably."
~ George Bernard Shaw

~True Confessions, Edited by Jon Winokur, Penguin Books, 1992

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words ~

"We've dug ourselves out!"

Photos:  Looking at Cayuga Street

Postcard Circa 1922

(Postcard collection ~ J. E. Walker)

More than a thousand years ago, Anglo-Saxon,"Old English,"was the main language of Britain.

Not Shakespeare's language (that's Modern English), not Chaucer's (that's Middle English);  Old English.  Almost impossible for most of us to read now, its literature must have been rich and sophisticated. But only a few pieces have survived--and one is the thoughtful, stirring, brawling, book-length poem, Beowulf.

Mike Walton will discuss

Beowulf and his translation at

The Neat Little Bookshop

29 Talbot Street West, Cayuga

Thursday, February 21, at 1 p.m.

It's informal.  All welcome.

Text & Poster design by Lawrence Miller.  Thank you, Laurie.

Special Guest

Michael Walton

Thursday, Feb. 21

1:00 p.m.

The book of beowulf
Anglo-saxon epic in modern English

It's Informal ~ Everyone Welcome

Coffee Tea Refreshments

Thoreau's Walden ~

"When I first paddled boat on Walden,
it was completely surrounded by thick and lofty pine and oak woods, and in some of its coves grape vines had run over the trees next the water and formed bowers under which a boat could pass.  The hills which form its shores are so steep, and the woods on them were then so high, that, as you looked down from the west end, it had the appearance of an amphitheatre for some kind of sylvan spectacle.  I have spent many an hour, when I was younger, floating over its surface as the zephyr willed, having paddled my boat to the middle, and lying on my back across the seats, in a summer forenoon, dreaming awake, until I was aroused by the boat touching the sand, and I arose to see what shore my fates had impelled me to; days when idleness was the most attractive and productive industry.

"Many a forenoon have I stolen away, preferring to spend thus the most valued part of the day; for I was rich, if not in money, in sunny hours and summer days, and spent them lavishly; nor do I regret that I did not waste more of them in the workshop or the teacher's desk."

~ A Fully Annotated Edition Walden, edted by J.S. Cramer,  Yale University, 2004.

(Photo is of our own heritage river ~ the Grand. lbw)

"To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment."
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, American essayist, poet (1803 - 1882)

"Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind."

~ R. W. Emerson

Emerson's essay, "Nature," identified four aspects of man's use of nature:  Commodity, Beauty, Language and Discipline ~ an influence on Henry Thoreau's writings, including Walden.

Excerpt from La Popessa * ~

"In the rapidly changing world of the 1960s, Pascalina saw her Church torn between excessive change and excessive resistance to change.  A time of social upheaval and public question was at hand, and violent convulsions were occurring throughout Catholicism.
"As she had warned long before, the Holy See was already in deep trouble.  Those after Pius, the hierarchy that attempted to bring the Church into the modern world, had destroyed most of the old Catholic culture.  In the clerical revolt against authoritarianism, tens of thousands of clergy and nuns throughout the world were defecting.  The seminaries were half empty, and one fourth of all priests requested Rome's permission to get married.  Catholics by the millions were staying away from the Church.  Only 50 percent of those who ordinarily went to Sunday Mass continued to attend.  Surveys slowed that nearly 90 percent of Catholic married couples were using Church-banned forms of contraception.
"The Holy See's treasure suffered as severely.  Donations to the Church were cut in half, and only 50 percent of those who once gave regularly to the Church continued to give.  The papacy was stunned by the extent of Catholic mutiny at the grass roots.
Eight out of every ten Catholics were disregarding Church laws governing birth control, divorce, and sex outside marriage."

p. 307 * The Controversial Biography of Sister Pascalina, the Most Powerful Woman in Vatican History, Paul I. Murphy, 1983.  Warner Books, Inc.

Picture-Books In Winter
by Robert Louis Stevenson

Summer fading, winter comes ~
Frosty mornings, tingling thumbs,
Window robins, winter rooks,
And the picture story-books.

Water now is turned to stone
Nurse and I can walk upon;
Still we find the flowing brooks
In the picture story-books.

All the pretty things put by,
Wait upon the children's eye,
Sheep and shepherds, trees and crooks,
In the picture story-books.

We may see how all things are,
Seas and cities, near and far,
And the flying fairies' looks,
In the picture story-books.

How am I to sing your praise,
Happy chimney-corner days,
Sitting safe in nursery nooks,
Reading picture story-books?

~ A Child's Garden of Verses
Robert Louis Stevenson, The Platt and Munk Co., Inc., 1929

Winter-Time
by Robert Louis Stevenson

Late lies the wintry sun a-bed,
A frosty, fiery sleepy-head;
Blinks but an hour or two; and then,
A blood-red orange, sets again.

Before the stars have left the skies,
At morning in the dark I rise;

And shivering in my nakedness,

By the cold candle, bathe and dress.

Close by the jolly fire I sit

To warm my frozen bones a bit;

Or with a reindeer-sled, explore

The colder countries round the door.

When to go out, my nurse doth wrap

Me in my comforter and cap:

The cold wind burns my face, and blows

Its frosty pepper up my nose.

Black are my steps on silver sod,

Thick blows my frosty breath abroad;

And tree and house, and hill and lake,

Are frosted like a wedding-cake.

~Scottish novelist, poet. (1850 - 1894)

A Child's Garden of Verses, Robert Louis Stevenson, The Platt and Munk Co, Inc., 1929

Closed Early Today ~
View on the Walk Home

Sorry for any inconvenience ~ lbw

"It was such a lovely day I thought it a pity to get up."

~ W. Somerset Maugham

"You have to allow a certain amount of time in which you are doing nothing in order to have things occur to you, to let your mind think."

~ Mortimer J. Adler

"Happiness is as a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but which if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you."

~ Nathaniel Hawthorne

"Good friends, good books and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life."
~Mark Twain

"Time you enjoy wasting was not wasted."

~ John Lennon

Just Dogs ~

"Animals are such agreeable friends ~
they ask no questions, they pass no criticisms."
~ George Eliot

"The dog was created especially for children.
He is the god of frolic."
~ Henry Ward Beecher


"The good Lord in his ultimate wisdom gave us three things to make life bearable, hope, jokes and dogs,but the greatest of these was dogs."
~ Robyn Davidson

"I think we are drawn to dogs because they are the uninhibited creatures we might be if we weren't certain we knew better."
~ George Bird Evans

"To be without a dog is worse than being without a song."
~ Henry Beetle Hough
(Caption on a photograph of the British Beatles lounging with two dogs ~ one a very large long-haired breed; the other a small, perky-eared creature.)

"Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole."
~ Thomas McGuane

"Dogs' eyes speak a special language that comes directly from their souls."~Anonymous
(For larger image, click on photo)

"Histories are more full of examples of the fidelity of dogs than of friends."  ~ Alexander Pope

Source:  1000 DOGS, Raymond Merritt & Miles Barth, Taschen, 2002.

Cats & Dogs ~

"Authors like cats because they are such quiet, lovable, wise creatures, and cats like authors for the same reasons."
~ Robertson Davies

"Our perfect companions never have fewer than four feet."
~ Colette

"A boy can learn a lot from a dog; obedience, loyalty, and the importance of turning around three times before lying down."
~ Robert Benchley

"Cats are smarter than dogs.  You can't get eight cats to pull a sled through snow."
~ Jeff Valdez

"Dogs laugh, but they laugh with their tails."
~ Max Eastman

"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of."
~ Ogden Nash

"Did you ever walk into a room and forget why you walked in?  I think that's how dogs spend their lives."
~ Sue Murphy

~ 4,000 of the funniest, cleverest, most insightful things ever said,  Reader's Digest, 2006.

The book of beowulf

Anglo-Saxon Epic in Modern English ~

Michael Walton's 2007 book is arguably the "best translation" of the old English poem "Beowulf."

The Neat Little Bookshop is pleased to announce that we are planning an afternoon with the author.

A beautifully bound hardcover ~  Read in modern English the epic poem translated from a European vernacular language.

 Watch for date and details to be posted soon. 









Black History Month ~

In 1926, Historian Carter Woodson and the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History announced the second week of February to be "Negro History Week."
The celebration of African-American history was a popular theme. Woodson hoped that someday black history would become fundamental to American history.

Martin Luther King said,"If you will protest courageously, and yet with dignity and Christian love, when the history books are written in future generations, the historians will have to pause and say, 'There lived a great people ~ a black people ~ who injected new meaning and dignity into the veins of civilization.' "

1982

1979

1978

Local artist, William Biddle's early career included creating romantic art for use on the covers of various Harlequin series.  Visit the artist's gallery, Hwy. 3 (Talbot St. W.), in Cayuga, Ontario, within a block of The Neat Little Bookshop.  Give your sweetheart a unique gift of art.

(Click on picture for larger image.  Note the artist's signature.)

 Wm. Biddle's Gallery "In-Beween" is located in-between Towpath on the Grand & The Gardner's Blacksmith Shop, Hwy. 3, Cayuga, ON. http://www.towpathonthegrand.com

Smile for Today ~

Ever sent out an invitation with a catchy phrase?  A guy in Wiarton, Ontario back in 1956 sent his friends a "Groundhog Day" invitation.  It was his novel way of having friends in to see his family home.

One of these invitations came to the attention of a Toronto Star reporter who naturally headed out to Wiarton for the story.  After partying all night in the Arlington Hotel with Mac McKenzie and his friends, the reporter suggested to Mac that in order to justify his expenses, this story needed some substance.

Never lacking for imagination, the creator of "Groundhog Day" eager to help the reporter, grabbed his wife's fur hat, dug a hole in the ground, buried the furry thing and pronounced a "prognostication (that no one remembers.)"

The photograph appeared in the February 3, 1956 edition of the Toronto Star.  The following year, 50 people arrived for the festival, including the CBC and Canadian Press.

Source:  Wikipedia 

"HAPPY GOUNDHOG DAY!"

Groundhog Day?

Some of us are waiting anxiously to see whether Wiarton Willie sees his shadow today.  If he comes out of his burrow this morning in sunlight we "know" that spring is just around the corner.  If he doesn't see his shadow, well, six more weeks of winter...(or is it the other way around?)

The reference book, 2107 CURIOUS WORD ORIGINS, SAYINGS & EXPRESSIONS tells us that we should properly call this largest member of the squirrel family a marmot, or even a woodchuck, for "there is definitely nothing hoggish about him. (Or her, as the case may be.)"  The word woodchuck may come from the Dutch aardvark, earth pig or hog, an animal of South Africa "which has similar burrowing propensities."
Earth pig, woodchuck or Marmot, we will be watching.  Actually, "Marmot Day" doesn't seem unreasonable; has a rather lyrical sound!

~ Charles Earle, Galahad Books, 1993.

Update:  Wiarton Willie DID NOT see his shadow today.  He is predicting six more weeks of winter?

The Author & Father

Author Doris Kienitz and her father Fred with more tales~

Untold Stories...East Germany and the Escape

An Evening at The Sunflower Cafe

Fisherville

Saturday, February 9th,
6 - 8 pm

Special Three-Course German Dinner

$19.99 per person

Reservations Required

Phone 905-776-1585 or email dkienitz3@hotmail.com

www.eastgermanyandtheescape.com

(Photo: At York Historical Society lbw)

Alice Munro ~Canadian Short-Story Writer

"My mother has told me that until she was twenty-three or so her writing was consciously imitative.  She wanted to write like VirginiaWoolf or Henry James, exploring the minute problems in people's lives, trying to get at some ineffable experience.  She wanted to capture some atmosphere about a place, some feeling that was important, to get at 'the exact texture of how things are.' "

Later in life Alice would say that all her writing was "in essence autobiographical."  Her writing was about "human life."
"She could not understand how writers choose a time and then write about that, or consciously choose symbols.  Her desire is to enter into the experience of other people, to gain access to realities other than her own, to pull away a curtain and reveal 'some dazzling mystery.'  The critic and writer Kent Thompson put his finger on her particular genius during a CBC Radio panel discussion when he said,

'She imagines reality accurately.'"

~ Sheila Munro, Lives of Mothers & Daughters, Growing Up with Alice Munro, McClelland & Stewart Ltd., 2001.  A. Munro was born in Wingham, Ontario on July 10, 1931.  Winner of the 2009 Man Booker International Prize, the Governor General's Award and perennial contender for the Nobel Prize.