Recently, I went camping with my son and his family. We all drove to Clinton Lake (about an hour away). My son towed his camper, his wife towed their boat, and I towed my 5th wheel. We had a caravan of sorts. During our trip, we spent a lot of time on the lake withContinue reading “Smoke(ing) across the water”
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Talismans and Gris-Gris
A few years ago, some friends and I visited New Orleans. A highlight was visiting St. Louis Cemetery No. 1, along with a Voodoo museum. With the help of a couple of books and pictures, I would like to tell a little of Marie Laveau-the Voodoo Queen of New Orleans. My first book is “NewContinue reading “Talismans and Gris-Gris”
“Come, Watson, come! The game is afoot.”*
I was just given an interesting book: “Profile By Gaslight” edited by Edgar W. Smith, published in 1944. The sub-title is “An Irregular Reader about the Private Life of Sherlock Holmes”. It was a gift from a dear friend of mine. She was looking through her books, and since she had a copy of theContinue reading ““Come, Watson, come! The game is afoot.”*”
Mow-tivational Books
Today I cut the grass on my lawn. It is one of the duties of home ownership. One might think that mowing one’s yard has nothing to the library. Ahhh, but it may. Let me continue. A few weeks past, my mower was causing some problems-stopping right after I had started it. I pulled outContinue reading “Mow-tivational Books”
This artist is a real tweet to see
I just received a book, a gift from a very close friend. It is a beautiful edition of “The Birds of America” by John James Audubon. This copy was printed in 2022 by Prestel Publishers. I am very thankful for this gift. In grade school, a schoolmate’s mother had a copy of this book, andContinue reading “This artist is a real tweet to see”
Literally a Literary Calendar
In 2024, I entered a post every day. This exercise was to make a yearlong calendar-to have a story about books from my library, for each and every day of the full year. Some days were holidays, special historical events, or perhaps celebrations; other days might be for the birth or death of someone.Continue reading “Literally a Literary Calendar”
“A Noiseless Flash”*
“At exactly fifteen minutes past eight in the morning, on August 6, 1945, Japanese time, at the moment when the atomic bomb flashed above Hiroshima, Miss Toshiko Sasaki, a clerk in the personnel department of the East Asia Tin Works, had just sat down at her place in the plant office and was turning herContinue reading ““A Noiseless Flash”*”
“Traveling…Libraries”
I recently visited some friends in Lake County, Illinois, and was offered to tour a local library, at the St Mary of the Lake Seminary in Mundelein. It is open to the public on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. How could I say no? We entered the complex on the west side, and took a spiralContinue reading ““Traveling…Libraries””
For a splash of excitement…
In my last post, I thanked my wife for letting me continue on adventures, even though I “shouldn’t be chasing waterfalls” – that is, doing dangerous things. I wanted to sneak in the reference of older songs…”Waterfalls”. Some might remember the group TLC releasing their song “Waterfalls” in 1995. It was #1 for seven weekContinue reading “For a splash of excitement…”
“The Natural State…with Loblolly pines, hot springs, waterfalls, but no diamonds”
My wife and I just celebrated our 45th anniversary. As in many of our anniversaries, I search for a book that has the number of years in the title, find an interesting quote or two, and mark it with a bookmark that also works with the years married. Usually at a dinner with friends orContinue reading ““The Natural State…with Loblolly pines, hot springs, waterfalls, but no diamonds””
Librarytomes 