The Cayuga Santa Claus Parade is Saturday, December 4, 11 am. Following is an extract from Robertson Davies' The Diary of Samuel Marchbanks: *

"Passed the day very agreeably laughing, patting myself on the back and drinking toasts to myself. The reason for my satisfaction was that I was comfortably at home, and not in Toronto watching the Santa Claus Parade. As I grow older, and the Christmas Frenzy begins earlier and earlier, my relish for Christmas dwindles.

The spirit of love and friendship which would fill us all at Christmas is very dear to me, but it has to struggle against gifts which I don't want, vulgarized Christmas carols, hysterical appeals from the Post Office for mercy, ill-considered entertainments from which the real spirit of Christmas is painfully absent, and a commercial bombardment which sets my nerves jingling. Santa Claus, now utterly divorced from the St. Nicholas of legend, is a crazed old slob, hounding me to buy things I don't like, and give them to people who don't like them either. So on this balmy Indian Summer day, I worked in my garden, made firm but not excessive demands upon my cellar, and laughed and sang the hours away, precisely as though Santa, the patron of the Chamber of Commerce, were not making triumphal entry into the Ontario Babylon."

* Pseudonym for the distinguished "[man] men of letters," Robertson Davies, Canadian novelist, journalist, critic (1913 - 1995) Born in Orangeville, Ontario.

Photo: by Lorna

Tomorrow: Davies' thoughts on Christmas cards.

Don't forget the Book Fair today ~ and tomorrow ~ November 27 & 28, in Port Dover at the Lighthouse Festival Theatre. Bob Blakeley and Cheryl MacDonald will be among the thirty authors signing books. 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Also, Sunday noon - 4:00. See you there.

Photo: Bob and Cheryl in The Neat Little Bookshop.

Smile for Today:

" I can't understand why I flunked American History. When I was a kid there was so little of it."

~ George Burns (1896 - 1996) American comedian, actor, writer.

Book Fair Lighthouse Festival Theatre ~ Port Dover

Book Fair at the Lighthouse Festival Theatre
Port Dover, Ontario
Norfolk Arts Co's Authors

This weekend: Nov. 27 - 28. Sat -- 10:00 - 5:00; Sun-- 12:00 - 4:00.

About thirty authors will be available to share their stories and to display the best Christmas gifts ever ~ BOOKS.

Local histories, novels, fiction, non-fiction. Engage an author in conversation. Discover the world of writing. See you there.

Christie Blatchford's HELPLESS.

Available at The Neat Little Bookshop while quantities last.

Without the Loss of a Syllable or Letter

"We see then how far the monuments of wit and learning are more durable than the monuments of power, or of the hands. For have not the verses of Homer continued twenty-five hundred years, or more, without the loss of a syllable or letter; during which time infinite palaces, time, temples, castles, cities have been decayed and demolished?~ Francis Bacon (1561 - 1626) English statesman, author, scientist.
"Books are the legacies that a great genius leaves to mankind, which are delivered down from generation to generation, as presents to the posterity of those who are yet unborn."
~ Joseph Addison (1672 - 1719) English essayist, poet.

"When others fail him, the wise man looks to the sure companionship of books." ~ Andrew Lang (1844 - 1912) Scottish writer ~ famous for the "coloured" fairy books.

Quotations from Lines to Live By, Edited by Clinton T. Howell, Thomas Nelson Publishers 1972.

"Everyone who knows how to read has it in their power to magnify themselves, to multiply the ways in which they exist, to make their life full, significant and interesting." ~ Aldous Huxley

(Huxley d. Nov. 22, 1963, at the age of 69. English Writer (Brave New World)