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?