Stone Boy With Book Buried in Snow ~ Canadian Winter Today Without Sunshine.

Short List for the Charles Taylor Prize for literary non-fiction is:

On the Farm/ Stevie Cameron
Mordecai: The Life & Times/ Charles Foran
Defiant Spirits/ Ross King
The Geography of Arrival/ George Sipos
The Love Queen of Malabar/ Merrily Weisbord

Winner to be announced on Monday, February 14.

http://www.thecharlestaylorprize.ca/

"If you cannot read all your books, at any rate handle, or as it were, fondle them ~ peer into them, let them fall open where they will, read from the first sentence that arrests the eye; set them back on the shelves with your own hands, arrange them on your own plan so that if you do not know what is in them, you at least know where they are. Let them be your friends; let them at any rate be your acquaintances."

~ Winston Churchill, (1874 - 1965) British Statesman, served as Prime Minister

Herb Martindale's Neat Little Bookshop

Today we came across a newspaper clipping from February 5, 2002 in which Neil Dring, Associate Publisher of the Grand River Sachem, honoured Herb Martindale in an article titled, "At home with Herb Martindale."
Herb opened the first NEAT LITTLE BOOKSHOP in Cayuga, directly across the street from today's bookshop. [We have yet to establish the exact year] Neil captures perfectly Herb's writings, of which he had many, including a long-running column in the Sachem.

"A typical 'Herb' would start out serious with obscure literary and geographical references and then degenerate into a farce. Part of the fun of reading one of Herb's columns was to correctly identify when he had crossed the line."

Neil, the best part of your February 2002 column, of course, is the recognition of The Grand River Sachem's birthday. If I do the math correctly, on February 6th the paper will be one hundred and fifty-five years old. "One of the five oldest weeklies in Ontario" Happy Birthday Grand River Sachem!

Majesty, Magic & The Miracle

"The majesty, magic and the miracle. . ."

~ Anderson Cooper, American journalist

Who could not slow down and enjoy the natural world? These are not caged deer. They run free in the tranquil setting of a forest and have learned to trust their human friends who help them survive during the winter. Twelve of them came to play and feed today just before dusk.

For larger image, dbl. click on photo.

Thought for Today:

Anderson Cooper, news anchor/host of CNN's AC360 Keeping Them Honest, quotes his father as saying, ". . .In the blessings of this world, chief of which is the Mystery, Magic, Majesty and Miracle that is life."

"The Mystery, Magic, Majesty and Miracle that is life!"

Anderson is the son of Gloria Vanderbilt. He lost his father when he was ten years old. Anderson Cooper is the author of Dispatches From the Edge, A Memoir of War, Disaster, and Survival. Harper, 2006.

Wiarton Willie

An early spring! That is the prediction.

Willie apparently did not see his shadow today.

The Life & Legend of Wiarton Willie is a delightful tale of the little groundhog who emerges from his burrow to supposedly predict the weather. The author, David A. Haley, is a retired educator who grew up on a farm in West Flamborough, "on the edge of Beverley Swamp," Ontario.

Published by Comet Enterprises, R. R. #2 Milton, Ontario, L9T 2X6 (1999)

Note: CBC News Canada has an excellent on-line story about today's Groundhog Day in Wiarton, Ontario.