of all the great surprises--today the sun is shining! what a welcome change...as long as you don't go outside where the whistling wind will near about slice your nose off. But from inside at my desk, the sun looks lovely and i am sure the birds are enjoying a little light to sing, chip & chirp by. this little fellow looks like he needs a muffler or at least some socks.
the weather has been as nasty as nasty can be but it has not kept vintage thrift shops from opening, so it should not keep us hearty hunters from hunting!
while junking with my enduring junque-mistress-compadre, Trish, we came upon a complete set of old encyclopedias...well, in all honesty, she came upon them. i had managed to walk right by them--head up -most likely trying to see out of my bi-focals--i missed them. there they were though...perfectly speckled red binding, their pages-that true color of age, full of great illustrations & engravings and she bought the entire set- how divinely junqalicious!
i admit i was envious... but more caught up in my internal self-admonishment for missing the treasure than in whining because she found them and i did not! when we got to her house and started loading in her treasures, she told me she had bought them for me...aaahhhh! isn't that just like a sister-in-junque?
but i, being the generous and sometimes gracious thing that i am--ha!, i insisted she take some for herself--that of course she had uses for them, stacked as pedestals, loaded onto a bookshelf for consistant color, etc. she finally agreed and took a few for herself.
well, now i think i have infected her with the old book bug...
she visited fancy that! on friday with her newest finds--old books garnered from one of her favorite vintage-thrift spots. one volume was particularly wonderful--it was a library book still holding on to its library card full of signatures and dates. my how handwriting has changed over the years--what causes that?
so now i know what is coming--we'll both be edging each other around in those vintage thrift corners where old books hide-hoping to be left alone-the books i mean, they want to be left alone, not us...we're here for the party.
old books are great pedestals, colorspots, shelf extenders...but wait---some are not old books--some are boxes disguised as books.
...ready to hold that growing collection of remote controls that we now have to have to operate the space-station technology television in our homes!
these wonderful boxes are also great to tidy-fy all those little necessities next to the bed--lotion, sleep balm, cuticle cream, reading glasses and of course tissue.
our fixation with birds and books makes the newest book-boxes at fancy that! the perfect fit for us. they are all about birds and eggs, and nests. and the color is divinely dim. they are perfect for so many locations in the home.
you must check them out--but remember, they look like just a stack of old books---the box thing is our little secret!
see you shopping!
i once heard someone romancing trains...reflecting on all those who had seen the train as it passed through earlier stops on it's way-i always believed i had seen it in a Hallmark Movie, but can't track it down. it stuck with me for a long time and i always looked at trains a bit differently after that. always wondered whose life had been touched by those rusty cars as they rattled along the tracks or merely who else had noticed them as i just had.
now my eye has turned to old books in much the same fashion. i am loving old, torn up hardbacks...so well loved. some written in, used as workbooks, given as gifts. a little bit of everyone between their pages. i have come across some with newspaper clippings tucked inside, prayers written in the back, and photos taped to the covers. little bits of people, really, here and there. people i haven't met but feel as if i might be meeting them as i explore their life through the books they read and obviously cherished.
some fine looking books are not so personal, just intriquing...maybe it's the color of the pages or the texture of the edges. perhaps its the soft scent or substantial weight of the volume. the colors of the covers along with any printing on the covers and spine all add up to draw me into their leaves.
though i seldom actually read these texts...i just love to look at them, hold them...maybe tie them with satin ribbons, in a neat stack, largest on the bottom, smallest and most fragile on the top. even under a glass cloche is an interesting destination for a book...as if it were a fresh tart or growing plant needing special attention.
i think i get a feeling of substance from these fine old specimens...almost a feeling of sacredness. a chance to share a bit of history...
pictured here is my start at a collection. originally i started gathering these to use in projects and store displays. but those ideas usually involve destroying the integrity of the book. i just can't make myself do it. these seem so perfect just like they are. i hate to even ruffle their pages for fear of them shattering.
but when you do ruffle those pages and something so intimate as a holy card from a funeral appears or a hand written recipe flutters to the ground, you know you are shaking hands with someone you haven't met, and never may, but certainly know on some level by the not-so-random occurence of a shared book.
can't quite get my head around it...2010! i for one am thrilled to be moving into a new year. it always holds such promise for me...a chance to begin again, to clean out the corners, to recommit to long lost disciplines and fresh new joys.
2010 seems like a good year to commit to the joys in my life...finding them, reacquainting myself with some and introducing myself to others...
things as simple as sunlight pouring through a window--appreciating the sunlight and not lingering over the dust and raindrops on the window.
pausing to love evening light through the trees and not dwell on the dead perennials underneath.
taking time to breathe in the majesty that surrounds us...
letting that peace and solitude fill my empty spots, smooth my ragged edges and soothe my always too quick mind.
here's to 2010...bring on the joy!
photo by my dear friend,
Dean Harmison
our fixation with birds and books makes the newest book-boxes at fancy that! the perfect fit for us. they are all about birds and eggs, and nests. and the color is divinely dim. they are perfect for so many locations in the home.
