One of those days

The used book section of the Sugar House DI is amazing. But wait a week or two for the books to be replenished, because we bought everything.

While we were there, a lady in a pink cowboy hat threw into the garbage half of the writings of every great western thinker since Socrates, because one book in the beautiful series had a little water damage. She said she was afraid that black mold had spread to the other books. I told her that black mold is black, and visible, and cannot be conjured into existence by someone in a pink hat who is scared of books [paraphrased]. She stopped at Milton.

I thought that this is what it must have felt like to watch the first monkey fly into space—look at that primate, with the collective effort and intelligence of all ages combined under her fingertips—who gave her access to that?

When we got home today I had to decide if I should drink out of the blender or a baby bottle. We have a hard time justifying doing dishes on the weekend. Perhaps an outside observer would consider my habits too, to be a bit primitive.

teaching our kids to watch out

While buying pretty board books and egg-cup pin cushions and other local goodies today, a good friend and I talked about how all families are crazy in their own ways, and that we should just try the best we can to pass on what we know without inflicting too much psychological damage on our children. She sent me here for a bloggy example of a mother trying to pass on important advice to her daughter.

I don't have a daughter yet (and, no, internet—this is not an announcement that I will anytime soon), but I can imagine the stress involved in showing your kids how to watch out for things/people/places that will hurt them. Which is part of the reason I like the board book we found:













Seahorses, fish, shells, and boats: all standard characters in an ocean. But urchins are often overlooked—even though they're ubiquitous in the part of the ocean that a baby might become acquainted with.

This page reminds me of the time my husband and I went swimming in a little ocean cove, without realizing that the tide was going out of shallow water. So many urchins had set up camp in that cove that we couldn't just stand up and walk out of the water without cutting up our feet. So we had to make little swimmy breaks for shore when a wave came in. We were so very, dangerously close to those urchins.

When I DO have kids, I want them to know about urchins from the time they chew on their books. You know, so they can watch out.

Throw your yard away

I always think about this, but didn't know that other people do too:

"Tree roots draw minerals from deep in the soil in order to grow leaves and branches. If you throw away leaves instead of recycling them, you are literally making your soil poorer and poorer every year." From Organic Gardening's Cheryl Long, as quoted in Great Garden Formulas.
I thought that mowing your lawn and throwing away the clippings was the ultimate in waste. We cover our yards with these things that are able to convert solar energy better than any technology we've come up with yet, and we just throw that solar energy away. What a dumb thing to do.

I think I'm going to get a goat.

Thanks R&M B. for lending me this book.

speaking of nerds...

We moved last week, but still haven't totally unpacked. When faced with the prospect of arranging and organizing our dishes, clothes, and other belongings, I immediately went with the most important task—organizing the books.

When Christopher got home from work last Friday, he noticed that all the dishes were still piled on the table, and we still couldn't reach our bed without stepping over massive piles of stuff. But if he wanted to know where all the poetry books were stashed, I could point him in the right direction.

He definitely helped make the books a priority. Look what he did before we ever even moved in the couch or table:
















Nerds. Both of us. But if you need any book recommendations, we can point you to the right shelf.

we'll pay you 50 cents

Christopher and I frequent libraries the way some people might frequent bars. It's a sort of addiction.

We don't check anything out—we want books for keeps. And we can keep the books we buy. Every library has its own system: some have rotating shelves with a steady, but limited supply of books, while others sell entire roomfuls of discarded books every quarter. We keep the dates of the big sales on our calendar.

On our most recent library excursion, we stumbled on this find. Yes—two pristine copies of Billy Collins poetry for only 50 cents.

















While I feel bad that Billy probably didn't profit monetarily from the transaction, I'm still delighted that we supported our local library that way before someone else beat us to it.

Do we have room in our little apartment for more books? No. Do we care? Absolutely not. And if you're considering getting rid of any books you own, we're happy to take those off your hands, too, for fifty cents apiece.

The Revolution

I'm reading Ron Paul's "The Revolution." It is an incredible book. The man looks a little crazy on TV, but he has some great ideas.

I'm definitely voting Obama, but I think every American should read The Revolution.