First day of December is more than a flip of the calendar for The Neat Little Bookshop;  it is the day that Google Blogspot feature, "Continue to Checkout," becomes functional.

After weeks of no illustrations or photographs, we are now able to present the front cover of Breathing Water by Marina Martin.  The cover graphics and art-work throughout Marina's November release are by her daughter.

The Neat L'l Bookshop is pleased to present an afternoon with the poet on Saturday, December 8, 1:00 - 3:00 p.m.  Circle your calendar.  Light refreshments ~ "The coffee pot's always on..."

Published Poet Marina Martin

Many know Marina Martin from her work as a physiotherapist in Haldimand County.  Marina has previously had her poetry published; however, this is her first book.  We wish her continued literary success.

From "Four Sonnets" by Edna St. Vincent Millay

IV
I shall forget you presently, my dear,
So make the most of this, your little day,
Your little month, your little half a year,
Ere I forget, or die, or move away,

Edna St. Vincent Millay Wikipedia

And we are done forever; by and by

I shall forget you, as I said, but now,

If you entreat me with your loveliest lie

I will protest you with my favorite vow.

I would indeed that love were longer-lived,

And vows were not so brittle as they are,

But so it is, and nature has contrived

To struggle on without a break thus far, ~
Whether or not we find what we are seeking
Is idle, biologically speaking.

~ Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892 - 1950) American Pulitzer Prize-winner for Poetry in 1923.

~ Poetry Foundation

Marina Martin November 2012

Marina Martin is surrounded by nature ~ she lives on a rural road in Haldimand County.  For over twenty years her writings and especially her poetry have reflected that world of flora and fauna.  That, combined with her profession as a physiotherapist working with people, Marina's work "inhabits the liminal space where the boundaries between ourselves and the natural world are permeable.*"

A new book of Marina's poems, BREATHING WATER, Meditations on the Plain and the Profound, is now available at The Neat Little Bookshop.  A wonderful little gift for someone special at Christmas time.

The Neat Little Bookshop is pleased to host an afternoon with Marina on Saturday, December 8 at 1:00 p.m.  Circle your calendar.

* Book Review by Marilyn Gear Pilling

"The dirtiest book of all is the expurgated book."

~ American writer, Walt Whitman.

"A bookstore is one of the only pieces of evidence we have that people are still thinking."

~ Jerry Seinfeld

"The first man to compare the cheeks of a young woman to a rose was obviously a poet; the first to repeat it was possibly an idiot."

~ Salvador Dali

"You're only given a little spark of madness.  You mustn't lose it." ~ Robin Williams

"If your ship doesn't come in, swim out to it!"  ~ Johnathan Winters

"Laughter is the closest distance between two people."  ~ Victor Borge

"Laughter gives us distance.  It allows us to step back from an event, deal with it and then move on."  ~ Bob Newhart



To our Followers:  There is hope.  For seven days the bookshop blog has been without illustrations or photographs.  Peggy in "Google Group" has volunteered some information.

There is "Blogger forum," ""Google Drive forum" and "Google Discuss forum."  We may have posted our woes in the wrong forum!  (Are we trying to purchase additional storage for the Picasa web album associated with our Blogger blog OR or we trying to purchase Google Drive space?  That is the question.)

Fact remains:  "Continue to Checkout" in our blog will not work.
Our blog is not only a quick visit to the bookshop but also our bulletin board for up-coming events.  Thank you Peggy.  ~ lbw

"There is scarcely any less bother in the running of a family than in that of an entire state.  And domestic business is no less importunate for being less important."


"A man should keep for himself a little back shop, all his own, quite unadulterated, in which he establishes his true freedom and chief place of seclusion and solitude."

~ Michel Montaigne, Essais (1580) French Moralist and essayist 1533 - 1592


The Oxford Dictionary of QUOTATIONS, Oxford University Press, 2001.

Dogs ~

"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."
~ Roblyn Davidson

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


Command:  he thee obeys most readily.
Strike him:   he leaves his game and comes to thee
With wagging tail, offering his service meek.
If so thou wilt, a Collar he will wear;
And when thou wish to take it off again,
Unto thy feet he crouchest down most fair,
As if thy will were all his good and gain.
~ J. Molle

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