"The bards of ancient Wales were either master poets patronized at the Welsh courts or minstrels wandering from village to inn, telling their tales for bread and shelter.  The court bards had to undergo a rigorous training in metre and metaphor and Christian allegory;  a restricted official vocabulary, carefully vetted for heresy or indulgence, limited the abundance of the Welsh language. . .Bards competed fiercely for the Chairs of Poetry at the various courts and for the patronage of the Welsh kings; but they were more courtiers than poets, more interested in a safe position than in the dangerous search after poetic truth.  At one period, the court bards accepted a metrical code of writing, which restricted them in practice to writing eulogies of the princes and elegies for their deaths.  The riches of the full Welsh language and its treasure of myths and romances were abandoned to the minstrels or travelling bards."

Last year, 2014, Wales celebrated one of their most famous bards, Dylan Thomas.  His writing and travels, the great Welsh tradition of reading and writing poetry will be the topic in the NEAT LITTLE BOOKSHOP on Third Thursday, January 15 at 1:00 p.m. We are pleased to have Laurie Miller, author of Avro Arrow, who will read and discuss Dylan Thomas.

 

Join us on Thursday, January 15 AT 1:00 p.m.

~ DYLAN THOMAS POET OF HIS PEOPLE Andrew Sinclair, Michael Joseph Ltd, 1975.

Smile For Today ~

     "Jake has carefully categorized our guests.  Ordinary people, friends he sees frequently, get the bear when they show up at the door, the ragged, chewed-up teddy bear.
     New people? They get the pink Easter Bunny, right after he shakes the stuffing out of it and slams it on the floor a few times.
     But special people? People who might be bearing dog treats?  They get the "Bear in the Bag."  This is a mint-condition, black-and-white Panda bear Jake got for Christmas.  Since he's mangled most of his other toys, I forbid him to take this one out of its bright red gift bag.  The ribbon still holds the paper handles together at the top, so he can't actually get his teeth on the bear, just the bag.  So the "Bear In the Bag" has become the highest honor bestowed on guests, once.  No treat, and you can count on getting that stupid bunny the next time."

~The Dog Rules (Damn Near Everything!)  William J. Thomas

[When no one else can make you laugh, try reading William Thomas.  Available in The Neat L'l Bookshop. ~ lbw]

www.williamthomas.ca

Come by ~ Join us on Third Thursdays

Third Thursday Lineup for 2015 ~

We have a great lineup for the first quarter:

January 15   Laurie Miller ~ Dylan Thomas, Welsh Poet

February 19 Cindy Presant ~ Daily Life on paper, journals, sketchbooks & Cookbooks.

March 19     Vicky Peart ~ Calligraphy - The St. John's Bible Project - the first handwritten bible in the "New World". 

April 16       Topic: Family Letters.  Bring a few letters from your family treasury to read.

Everyone Welcome ~ Coffee pot's always on . . .

From Emily Dickinson ~

The mushroom is the elf of plants,
     At evening it is not ;
At morning in a truffled hut
It stops upon a spot

As if it tarried always ;
And yet its whole career
Is shorter than a snake's delay,
And fleeter than a tare.

'T is vegetation's juggler,
The germ of alibi ;
Doth like a bubble antedate,
And like a bubble hie.

I feel as if the grass were pleased
To have it intermit ;
The surreptitious scion
Of summer's circumspect.

Had nature any outcast face,
Could she a son contemn,
Had nature an Iscariot,
That mushroom, -- it is him.

~ Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson, Chatham River Press. 1983.

For all those men who received ties for Christmas ~

"Albert Schweitzer's standard attire was a white pith helmet, white shirt and pants and black tie.  He had worn one hat for forty years, the tie for twenty.  Told that some men owned dozens of neckties, he remarked, 'For one neck?'"

The phrase 'reverence for life' aptly sums up Schweitzer's philosophy.  He was interrupted during a dinner by a group requesting that he explain his ethics.  He talked patiently for twenty minutes.  When one of the visitors wanted him to give a specific example of 'reverence for life,' Schweitzer said, 'Reverence for life means my answering your kind inquiries; it also means your reverence for my dinner hour.'

Schweitzer's doctrine of 'reverence for life' was to be literally obeyed.  It accounted for his vegetarianism, as well as for his attitude toward all animals.  The American TV star Jack Paar once visited him at his hospital in Lambarene.  A dog appeared, chasing a chicken.  In French Dr. Schweitzer shouted, 'No!  No!  Remember we have won the Nobel Peace Prize!'

~ Albert Schweitzer (1875 - 1965.  Alsatian-born medical missionary, musician. Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1952 for his work in Africa.

Source:THE LITTLE, BROWN BOOK OF Anecdotes, Clifton Fadiman General Editor.

"A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself."
~ Josh Billings, Writer, humourist [Pen name for Henry Wheeler Shaw] 1818 - 1885.

"If a dog jumps in your lap, it is because he is fond of you; but if a cat does the same thing, it is because your lap is warmer." 
~ Alfred North Whitehead, Composer (1887 - 1974)

"A boy can learn a lot from a dog:  obedience, loyalty, and the importance of turning around three times before lying down."
~ Robert Benchley (1889 - 1945) writer Vanity Fair, New Yorker.

"The dog is the god of frolic."
~ Henry Ward Beecher, Clergyman (1813 - 1887)

Wishing you a Happy, Healthy New Year ~

 During the holiday season more than ever, our thoughts turn gratefully to those who have made our progress possible.  And in this spirit we say, simply but sincerely

Thank You for your support and Best Wishes for the Holiday Season.

"Live each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influences of each."

~ Henry David Thoreau

"A house is not a home unless it contains food and fire for the mind as well as the body."
~ Margaret Fuller (1810 - 1850) Women's rights advocate, journalist.