From  "LIFE'S TOO SHORT TO FOLD FITTED SHEETS" *

 "Tricks to Create the life you want without all the hard labor ~ and without compromising your style!"

• Facial tissues with lotion make awesome dust cloths.
• White vinegar will clean almost anything in a pinch.  Mix it with water, and keep it in a spray bottle under your sink.
• Replace all of your abrasive, powdered cleaners with baking soda.  Works great on sinks, tile and grout.
• Most deodorizers contain harmful chemicals.  Freshen up a room by putting a few drops of essential oil on a burning light bulb.
• Aluminum foil will remove dirty buildup on the face of your iron.  Simply lay out a piece of foil, and iron it.  Sharpen your scissors by cutting through six to eight layers of saved scraps of foil; your scissors will be like new.
• Shop with intent, not impulse. It is so easy to get carried away.  Things end up gathering dust and getting in the way.  Less stuff = a happier life.
• The media bombards us with images...
• "Life is really simple but we insist on making it complicated." ~ Confucius

* Lisa Quinn, Chronicle Books, 2010

The Avro Arrow

The story of the great Canadian Cold War Combat Jet in Pictures and Documents by Lawrence Miller.

Lawrence's 2011 book, THE AVRO ARROW A PICTURE HISTORY / DRAMATIC IMAGES sold out -- it is out of print.

On order now -- and with our fingers crossed, -- Lawrence's 2014 book, The Avro Arrow.  We hope to make it available at The Neat Little Bookshop. Soft cover $19.95 no tax

~ Canadian Publisher, James Lorimer & Company Ltd.

 

25 1/2  x 20 cm, 111 pages

Update:  Available now in The Neat L'l Bookshop $19.95

In the early 1900s, children were given CHATTERBOX books.  "The acknowledged king of all Juvenile Books published in the English language.  The publishers wish again to emphasize the fact that 'Chatterbox' is not made up of 'rehashed' or old material, but that the stories and illustrations are especially written for the volume, and the aim is to get the best regardless of cost."

Contents include:  "The Bathing Machine,"  "The Muff," "A Christmas Night Adventure," "Grandpapa," "Great-Aunt Anthea's Money" and "The Sweet-Pea Hedge."

~ CHATTERBOX for 1920 Founded by J. Erskine Clarke, M.A.  The Page Company Boston, U.S.A.

Thought for Today ~

"When you've grown up, my dears, and are as old as I,
you'll often ponder on the years that roll so swiftly by, my dears,
that roll so swiftly by.
And of the many lands you have journeyed through,
you'll oft recall the best of all, the land your childhood knew,
Toy land!  Toyland!  Little girl and boy land!
While you dwell within it, you are ever happy then. 
Childhood's toyland,
mystic, merry toyland!
Once you pass its borders, you can ne'er return again.
You can ne'er return again."

~ TOYLAND, words by Glen MacDonough*.  Music by Victor Herbert.
*American lyricist, writer (1870 - 1924)

Smile for Today ~

"Engineering for boys of all ages..."

Christmas Morning has Changed since those days ~ The box says, "Made in England.  You can build HUNDREDS of fine models with this outfit."  George may not have one hundred but we know that he has more than one. Thank you for bringing this fine working model into the bookshop.  Click on the photo and look at those gears!

During the Holiday Season more than ever, our thoughts turn gratefully to those who have made our little bookshop possible.

And in this spirit we say sincerely, Thank You.

 

 

"It's six pink peppermints to Christmas, and there's lots and lots of things for us to do!

You and I will bake a pumpkin pie and pick a purple tie for Uncle Lou.
It's five pink peppermints to Christmas, and there's lots and lots of things for us to do!
Make the cookies, Fill the punch bowl.  Light the candles.
Sing Christmas carols 'round the tree. ..
String the popcorn, Trim the pine tree, Hang the stocking, Hide the presents...."
It's six pink peppermints to Christmas.

~ Lines from "The Christmas Candy Calendar" by Robert Maxwell
THE CHRISTMAS TREE From a Painting by Albert Chevalier Tayler

Today Only his Nose Shows

The Neat L'l Bookshop has postponed the Third Thursday Reading.  "Ol' Dylan has been dead long enough that he isn't going anywhere -- he will still be around whenever we get back to him." ~ Laurie Miller

We look forward to rescheduling the Dylan Thomas reading.  Thank you, Laurie.

[Photo of Boy With Book taken before the big storm.  Today, only his nose shows.]




This is *before* the big storm

Smile for Today ~

"Once you've accumulated sufficient knowledge to get by, you're too old to remember it!"

~Unknown

"I don't want a flu jab.  I like getting flu.  It gives me something else to complain about."

~ David Letterman

"I was born in 1962.  True.  And the room next to me was 1963."

~ Joan Rivers

~Quotations from: Old Geezer Wit, Richard Benson, Summersdale Publishers Ltd., 2006.

 



Gizmo

Faye Farrance, volunteer and friend of the bookshop, is recovering well in West Haldimand Hospital, Hagersville.  Her wee dog, Gizmo, is missing her and wondering where her mother is.

 

Faye thanks everyone for their good wishes, kindnesses and support.  We are not sure when Faye will be getting home ~ Get well quickly, Faye.

 

Update:  Faye returned home in time for Christmas.  She welcomes visits, email, phone calls and can be contacted on Facebook:  Faye O'Handley Farrance.  Speedy recovery Faye.

 

 



"Poetry should surprise by a fine excess, and not by singularity; it should strike the reader as a wording of his own highest thoughts, and appear almost a remembrance.  Its touches of beauty should never be half-way, thereby making the reader breathless, instead of content.  The rise, the progress, the setting of imagery should, like the sun, come natural to him"

~ John Keats (1795 - 1821) Letter to John Taylor, Feb. 27. 1818

"If poetry comes not as naturally as leaves to a tree it had better not come at all."

~ Letter to To Benjamin Bailey, March 13, 1818


Source:  THE OXFORD DICTIONARY OF QUOTATIONS

[There are those who would disagree with Keats pronouncement!]

"When the artist is alive in any person, whatever his kind of work may be, he becomes an inventive, searching, daring, self-expressive creature.  He becomes interesting to other people.  He disturbs, upsets, enlightens, and opens ways for a better understanding.  Where those who are not artists are trying to close the book, he opens it and shows there are still more pages possible."
~ Robert Henri, The Art Spirit,

~ Betty Edwards, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, The Putnam Publishing Group, 1989

Thought for Today ~

"To be shaken out of the ruts of ordinary perception, to be shown for a few timeless hours the outer and the inner world, not as they appear to an animal obsessed with words and notions, but as they are apprehended, directly and unconditionally, by Mind at Large ~ this is an experience of inestimable value to everyone."

~ Aldous Huxley, The Doors of Perception

White Horse Tavern ~ Greenwich Village / Where Thomas Drank Heavily Dying a Few Days Later 

Reading Dylan Thomas ~

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20 at 1:00 p.m. ~ "Third Thursday" in The Neat Little Bookshop

Laurie Miller will be reading and discussing the Welsh poet and writer, Dylan Thomas.  Everyone welcome. "Coffee Pot's Always On..."

Personally, we cannot think of a better introduction to Dylan Thomas than the brutally honest interview with Caitlin Thomas, widow of Dylan.  Find on YouTube: Dylan Thomas

"Kane on Friday ~ Leftover Wife"

The interview by Vincent Kane was originally broadcast in 1977 on BBC.

Lest We Forget

 



"No Road To Glory"

"The mad 4th.; the fighting 4th~ -- Ypes, St. Julienne, Regina Trench, Vimy, Hill 70 -- Where now?  Hell, if you like, bring on your Huns!
"A halt was called at Marie Qu'Appelle,  where a week or ten days was spent in further training and polishing up for the coming show;  bayonet and bombing practice, formation in attack, establishing communications, entrenching and marching.  It was now generally known that the corps was to participate in the big offensive on Passchendaele Ridge, and that the Canadians were to have a shot at the position which had proved a stumbling block since early in July."

by Major A. R. Thompson, late 4th
Battalion, C.E.F.

 

"No Road To Glory" by A.R. Thompson

     "Although many tons of wire were used...,and hundreds of miles of entanglements constructed, little was heard about the men who, night after night, toiled away at a job which, though dangerous enough, was not in the least spectular, and did not lead along the paths of glory.  Like many another useful branches of the Service, wiring parties were not concerned with matters of attack; their activities were confined to the construction and repair of barb-wire entanglements.
[...]
     "During the Summer of 1917, the 1st Brigade boasted a wiring party, consisting of two officers and forty men who were detailed for discipline and rations to the 1st Field Company, Canadian Engineers.  Their duty was to look after the entanglements on the Brigade front under the supervision of the Engineer Officer Commanding.
     "The standard obstruction was the South African double apron fence.  Iron stakes with corkscrew points were screwed into the ground by inserting the handle of an entrenching tool through a loop at the top end of the stake, and turning, as one would, a fence auger. [The author includes a detailed description of the entanglement.]
     "On fronts badly pitted with shell holes, or on ground where it was not practical to erect the standard type, frame works were woven in the trenches, or in craters, and rolled into position at intervals where they were secured by short stakes and connected up by a number of loose strands of wire which were fastened from one frame to the other.  This method was often used when working in close to an enemy position, as it was possible to do most of the work by crawling around on the belly, and so avoid, to some extent, the hazard of noise and the movement of ducking for flares.  If a flare broke before a man got down, his only chance was to stand stock-still and pray to be mistaken for a blasted tree stump.
     "At Hill 70, the Brigade wiring-party wired up a gap on the left flank of the 2nd Battalion which had been left in the air by a neighbouring unit.  It was a diagonal stretch of about 100 yards, and at the nearest point not more than fifty yards from the German front line trench.  This chore was finished without a casualty, but had to be done all over again next night.  Heinie had knocked everything to pieces;  wiring was like that -- at times it was damned annoying."

~ Excerpt from "No Road To Glory" by Major A.R. Thompson, son of Colonel Andrew T. Thompson.  Major Thompson served overseas with the famous 4th Battalion, C.E.F. and was for a time brigade wiring officer of the First Brigade.

[Note:  In order to read the excerpts chronologically, begin with Tuesday, November 4 post.]

www.studiobabette.ca

www.ruthvenpark.ca

"No Road To Glory" by A. R. Thompson

"Four hundred yards..."

     "Shells droned overhead, searching out dumps and batteries in the back areas; scout machines flew back and forth over the front.  The day wore on uneventfully, almost monotonously.  A machine gun spat intermittently; a sniper's bullet sang.  The air was filled with a medley of those humming, buzzing sounds like a chorus of insects in July.  The men in 'D' Company amused themselves in various ways.  Cards and Crown and Anchor boards had been pulled from pockets and packs, and several games were always in progress.  Others smoked and chatted about the things they missed and yearned for;  some slept, stretched full length in the sun.

     "With the coming of night, the Company bestirred itself, for under cover of darkness the bulk of the work was done.  The Deb., as Jones had been nick-named, was detailed with his platoon to act as a ration party and take supplies from the transport wagons, which came up to this reserve trench, to the front line company.  They moved over land as far as the support line where they dropped into a communication trench.  Here the going was slow, as it was still sticky from a recent rain.  Presently they reached the front line where all was as quiet as the grave.  Conversation with a 'A' Company officer disclosed the Hun as very quiet so far, and rather suspected of being up to something.
     ' How far from the German Lines?' asked Jones, staring into the darkness across that stretch of waste called No-Man's Land.
     ' About four hundred yards.  It's quite a respectable distance, and gives a chap a chance to breathe out loud.  If you've delivered your goods though, you'd better get away;  we're sending out a wiring party, and if Heinie gets wise he may send greetings."
     ' It was certain he had already got his nightly windup as flares were now popping all along the line.  The ration party was impatient to be off."

Tomorrow:  "Footslogger/ wiring-officer Jones and his "intimate association with barb wire."

[To the new Reader:  In order to follow Jones' story chronologically, you may want to begin with Tuesday, November 4th blog post.]

"No Road To Glory" by Major A.R. Thompson

    

 
"The 4th Battalion was at Neuville St. Vaast, dawdling until dusk when they would move off to take over their piece of the front.
      The newcomer was introduced to the Colonel and others of Headquarters staff, and was posted to "D" Company, No. 16 Platoon.  At the order to fall in, the Company Commander gave some brief instructions and the whole moved off at a slow, ambling gait in formation of Indian file.  Each platoon was headed by a guide, furnished from the out-coming battalion. Over the crest of the ridge past Farbus Wood they led.  The skeletons of trees - mere stumps and amputations - stood forth like ghostly sentinels, fantastic in the gathering gloom.

[That night, Jones had been tired and somewhat homesick.  He had fallen asleep thinking "a lot of things he couldn't tell to anyone, not even to the Colonel."]

By the side of the road a carrion horse lay where it fell.  The carcass, which was full blown out from putrid gases, stenched and stank most horribly.  Suddenly the column, trudging silently into the night, came under fire.  A rushing sound, that filled the air, screamed past and roared beyond, as shell after shell followed in quick succession.  Each one seemed closer than the last, and bursting rocked the grounds.  Jones rubbed his eyes and wondered - could they all be hit but he?  The whole platoon was stretched upon the ground.  The guide who, a moment before, had walked beside him, and all those following behind, were down.  By what miracle had he been saved?  Now, they were up again.  What did it all mean?
     'My God, Sir,' said a Non-Com, 'That last was a close one.  You'd better duck if we get another like that.'
     Then he understood.  'On the hands down,' which had always seemed a good deal of a bore before breakfast, had been particular training for the useful trick of ducking.
[...]
As the debutante subaltern became acquainted, his feeling of strangeness wore away.  Talk of Toronto, Hamilton, Brantford, and other familiar places in old Ontario brought the spirit of home to his unfamiliar surroundings.  He swapped yarns;  made friends with his Sergeants and Corporals, and took unto himself a batman, a red-haired, cheery-faced farm lad called Sowers."

Tomorrow: Four Hundred Yards From the German Lines.



"Drew" A. R. Thompson

[Map Source:  Neuville St. Vaast:  Wikipedia]

"No Road To Glory"

Le Havre

"At last Jones received orders to join his Battalion in the war zone.  He left the night-club life at the base without regret, and wondered if the front line trenches could be any hotter than Le Havre.

 

The first stage to rail-head was hardly a cheerful affair.  It was an all-night journey, and quarters were rather too cramped for anything but a hedgehog.  There were six occupants in the compartment, and four of these were morose and gloomy, as they were returning from leave.  A ration of bully beef and hard-tack had been issued before entraining, and the novelty, coupled with the idea of real campaigning, rather appealed to Jones.  When he gave voice to his enthusiasm, an Austrian, a particularly hard-boiled specimen of that rugged species, ruffled at having to leave London for 'Somewhere,' cussed the rookie for a 'damned young fool.' "

The Family Home in Haldimand that Thompson Left Behind to Go to War

[Tomorrow:  "On The Hands Down."]

[Written by Major A.R.Thompson for the Canadian Military Gazette.  Thompson's own experiences appeared as a series in the publication during the war years 1940s]

We would be amiss if we didn't mention the great books available for the person interested in local history.

Visit The Neat Little Bookshop for books by local authors ~ books about subjects close-to-home that family and friends might not "spring-for" themselves but undoubtedly would be happy to receive as a gift.  They may just share with you.

"No Road to Glory"

Harfleur, France

"Months of intensive, extensive and expensive training elapses before young Jones set foot upon the soil of France.  Stepping down the gangplank of the Channel packet which had crossed under cover of darkness from Folkestone, he felt that at last the great adventure had begun in earnest.  Harfleur, France had fanned the flames of fanciful reflection.  It conjured up visions of the English King, Henry, who, after he had captured the ancient port in 1415 marched on to the brilliant victory of Agincourt.  Now the old town was a British camp occupied by British troops, not as enemies and invaders, but as allies and comrades-in-arms.  Those little red patches of the 1st Division which he had recently acquired, seemed to be his golden spurs of knighthood.

"Three weeks were spent in idling at the base.  These days would have proved boring enough but for the excellence of the dinners at Tortoni's.  This restaurant was a famous rendezvous for the beginning of the ending of a spree in those days of wine, women and song, days of a last carousal before the plunge into the unknown -- the hazard with death.  It may seem strange that lads of conventional upbringing, about to enter into the valley of the shadow, should turn a deaf ear to the teachings of the Almighty and spend their last moments of security with the devil as a buddy.  However, most of the army were gamblers, playing their stakes, life against death, and pleasure against perdition.  Were God a Mrs. Grundy, then are the cenotaphs mere empty tombs indeed.

"At last Jones received orders to join his Battalion in the war zone."

~ NO ROAD TO GLORY, by Major A. R. Thompson, late 4th Battalion, C.E.F.

Tomorrow: The 4th Battalion.  [Graphics:  Wikipedia]

"No Road To Glory"

Major A. R.. Thompson "Drew"

"At a field dressing station Jones asked for rum, and someone passed him a cigarette tin full.  He gulped down the fiery liquid seeking oblivion but still he could find no ease.  Writhing, he tried to turn, and put his weight on Sowers' mangled leg.
'Lieutenant Jones here?' called a voice.
'He's inside,' answered an orderly.  'Be careful where you tread, they're all pretty bad and the place is crammed full.'
'Hello Jonsey old chap," said Church, 'your platoon ran right into that little strafe -- about eight bulls on the duck walk.  Just three of your men turned up.  They told a pretty bad story.  Jolly sent me back to find out what had happened.  What was your strength goin in?"
'Thirty-on.'
'Three arrived with whole skins; ten are lying out there dead, probably a few more drowned;  fifteen, counting you, are here; they just about wiped you out.'
'H--?' queried Jones.
'Dead, the first I saw as I come along.'
'Poor chap,' sobbed Jones, 'five minutes sooner we'd have been all clear.  We waited all to long for H--.  Tonight, which was it, chance or destiny?"

Written by Major A. R. Thompson (Drew). Major Thompson served overseas with the famous 4th Battalion, C.E.F. and was for a time brigade wiring officer of the First Brigade.  "No Road to Glory" appeared in serial form in the Canadian Military Gazette during the Second World War.

~ Canadian Military Gazette  NAVY -- ARMY-- AIR FORCE, Established 1885.

[In the days leading up to November 11, The Neat Little Bookshop will follow one soldier's story in the first World War.]

The Giller Prize ~ Six Top Books/ The Best in Canadian Fiction

The Betrayers by David Bezmozgis
Tell by Francis Itani
Us Conductors by Sean Michaels
The Girl Who Was Saturday Night by Heather O'Neill
All My Puny Sorrows by Miriam Toews
The Ever After of Ashuvin Rao by Padma Viswanathan

The Prize will be awarded downtown Toronto on Monday, November 10, 2014.  Aired on CBC T.V. at 9:00 p.m. Live-streamed on CBC Books.  The Scotiabank Prize was founded in 1994 by Jack Rabinovitch to honour his wife, literary editor, Doris Giller.  The winner will be awarded $100,000. The remaining finalists will take home $10,000.

www.scotiabankgillerprize.ca