Thought for Today ~
by Emily Dickinson
Nature is what we see,
The Hill, the Afternoon ~
Squirrel, Eclipse, the Bumblebee,
Nay ~ Nature is Heaven.
Nature is what we hear,
The Bobolink, the Sea ~
Thunder, the Cricket ~
Nay, ~ Nature is Harmony.
Nature is what we know
But have no art to say,
So impotent our wisdom is
To Her simplicity.
~ Emily Dickinson, Selected Poems (American poet, d. May 15, 1886, age of 56.) Gramercy Books, Random House, 1993.
Monday, January 7, 2013
Sunday, January 6, 2013
Six Honest Servingmen
by Rudyard Kipling*
I keep six honest servingmen;
(They taught me all I knew)
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who
I send them over land and sea,
I send them east and west;
But after they have worked for me,
I give them all a rest,
I let them rest from nine till five,
For I am busy then,
As well as breakfast, lunch, and tea,
For they are hungry men:
But different folk have different views:
I know a person small ~
She keeps ten million servingmen,
Who get no rest at all
She sends 'em abroad on her own affairs,
From the second she opens her eyes ~
One million Hows, two million Wheres
And seven million Whys!
~ The World Treasury of Children's Literature III, Little Brown, 1985.
* Rudyard Kipling (Dec. 30 - Jan. 18, 1936) English author, poet.
by Rudyard Kipling*
I keep six honest servingmen;
(They taught me all I knew)
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who
I send them over land and sea,
I send them east and west;
But after they have worked for me,
I give them all a rest,
I let them rest from nine till five,
For I am busy then,
As well as breakfast, lunch, and tea,
For they are hungry men:
But different folk have different views:
I know a person small ~
She keeps ten million servingmen,
Who get no rest at all
She sends 'em abroad on her own affairs,
From the second she opens her eyes ~
One million Hows, two million Wheres
And seven million Whys!
~ The World Treasury of Children's Literature III, Little Brown, 1985.
* Rudyard Kipling (Dec. 30 - Jan. 18, 1936) English author, poet.
Saturday, January 5, 2013
Each and every book is carefully checked and cleaned ~ whether it needs it or not. Most books are like-new. Local authors are new. Books that don't meet our standards are donated to various charities where they continue to live useful lives.*
Categories include contemporary fiction, fantasy, science fiction, literary fiction, mysteries, true crime, westerns, romance, history, military, biographies, cultural, classics, Canadiana, travel, hobbies, art, nature, inspirational, health, science and a separate corner for teens and children.
With the exception of Clearance Books, books purchased in The Neat Little Bookshop can be returned for a small exchange credit. Please note: we do not accept great volumes of unknown books at the door. A list of local charities is available at the desk.
Wishing everyone a wonderful New Year of good health, prosperity and happy hours surrounded by family and friends.
* Any musty, smoky or dirty books accidentally in our world are promptly recycled. None go to landfills.
Friday, January 4, 2013
Smile for Today ~
"The measure of success is not whether you have a tough problem to deal with, but whether it is the same problem you had last year."
~ John Foster Dulles (1888 - 1859) U.S. Secretary of State, '53 -59.
"You will get all you want in life if you help enough other people get what they want."
~ Zig Ziglar (Nov. 6 - Nov. 28, 2012) U.S. author, motivational speaker.
"Congratulate yourselves if you have done something strange and extravagant and broken the monotony of a decorous age."
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 1882) American essayist, poet.
"The only time you don't fail is the last time you try anything ~ and it works."
~ William Strong
~ Treasury of Wit & Wisdom, Reader's Digest, 2006.
"The measure of success is not whether you have a tough problem to deal with, but whether it is the same problem you had last year."
~ John Foster Dulles (1888 - 1859) U.S. Secretary of State, '53 -59.
"You will get all you want in life if you help enough other people get what they want."
~ Zig Ziglar (Nov. 6 - Nov. 28, 2012) U.S. author, motivational speaker.
"Congratulate yourselves if you have done something strange and extravagant and broken the monotony of a decorous age."
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 1882) American essayist, poet.
"The only time you don't fail is the last time you try anything ~ and it works."
~ William Strong
~ Treasury of Wit & Wisdom, Reader's Digest, 2006.
Thursday, January 3, 2013
Word Watching ~
~ *The Canadian Oxford Dictionary.
~ Using Herbs In The Home, Anthony Gardiner, 1996. Promotional Reprint Co., Ltd., London England for Chapters in Canada. Apologies to the lavender-field photographer, photo saved long ago, origin unknown.
 |
| Lavender Field |
"Tussie Mussie" or Nosegay n. a small bunch of flowers, a posy.* ("Tussie Mussie" isn't in my Canadian Oxford Dictionary.) The traditional nosegay was so called because it was carried close to the nose to disguise foul smells from the city drains and crowded places. A drop or two on a tissue can have the same effect.
It has been suggested that herbs were used to sweeten the straw in baby Jesus' manger.
It is during the Canadian winter that some of us begin dreaming of our herb garden. Nothing compares with live herbs within sight of the kitchen window ~ unless it is indoors in the kitchen. (Not the fresh kind in see-through cartons purchased in the organic section, I mean pots on the windowsill. lbw)
Whatever the form, a few common herbs ~ rosemary (my favorite), lavender another ~ in the kitchen close to the nose can brighten a day.
~ *The Canadian Oxford Dictionary.
~ Using Herbs In The Home, Anthony Gardiner, 1996. Promotional Reprint Co., Ltd., London England for Chapters in Canada. Apologies to the lavender-field photographer, photo saved long ago, origin unknown.
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Thoughts on the Future ~
Science Fiction writer, Ray Bradbury, gave us his thoughts on the future:
"...inventions [i.e. machines, cars] which induce you to behave immorally are indeed with us and are beginning to cause a hell of a lot of trouble in the cultures of the world. The very countries that made fun of us are now going through the traffic jams and the smog and the murder on the highways...
I've written an article on the steps we have to take to change, rebuild and rethink a lot of things. We're on our way there. A lot of big corporations are interested in this, and we're going to have corporate responsibility on many levels. We're going to build a lot of small towns again, ones which work in new terms. They'll be humanistic, technological small towns of the future which will have all kinds of travel in it, ways of getting around without using cars. It will have so many textures that we need, or think we need, as educated hedonists of the future. There are two or three now being built, and when they work there will be hundreds, and then we'll get people out of the big cities. The big cities will be partially blown up and replotted into gardens, and they'll be made to work again."
~ Interview with Lawrence Grobel, Endangered Species, Da Capo Press, 2001.
(Ray Bradbury never drove a car and his fear of flying kept him from being a world traveller. He often lectured high school and college students on how to make a better future. He spoke to futurists on how not to forget the past and present. He consulted with architects and city planners on how to turn cities into parks and rebuild communities more feasible for living.) Ray Bradbury (1920 - 2012) American Sci-fi, fantasy, horror writer.
Science Fiction writer, Ray Bradbury, gave us his thoughts on the future:
"...inventions [i.e. machines, cars] which induce you to behave immorally are indeed with us and are beginning to cause a hell of a lot of trouble in the cultures of the world. The very countries that made fun of us are now going through the traffic jams and the smog and the murder on the highways...
I've written an article on the steps we have to take to change, rebuild and rethink a lot of things. We're on our way there. A lot of big corporations are interested in this, and we're going to have corporate responsibility on many levels. We're going to build a lot of small towns again, ones which work in new terms. They'll be humanistic, technological small towns of the future which will have all kinds of travel in it, ways of getting around without using cars. It will have so many textures that we need, or think we need, as educated hedonists of the future. There are two or three now being built, and when they work there will be hundreds, and then we'll get people out of the big cities. The big cities will be partially blown up and replotted into gardens, and they'll be made to work again."
~ Interview with Lawrence Grobel, Endangered Species, Da Capo Press, 2001.
(Ray Bradbury never drove a car and his fear of flying kept him from being a world traveller. He often lectured high school and college students on how to make a better future. He spoke to futurists on how not to forget the past and present. He consulted with architects and city planners on how to turn cities into parks and rebuild communities more feasible for living.) Ray Bradbury (1920 - 2012) American Sci-fi, fantasy, horror writer.
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