Is this pic Spring enough for ya? No, it ain't from the garden, silly. Just some pretty flowers I got as gifts not too long ago.
Speaking of the garden, though, Oy, I have a lot of work ahead of me this season...prepare yourself for plenty of garden kvetching very soon...
Now this is my kinda New Year Baby!
Here's hoping 2007 brings you dreams fulfilled, happiness and health, and of course, lots and lots of books!
Yes. Finally. A digital camera. It's a Canon Powershot (can't remember the number). I'm still learning, so my first batch will be a tad rough around the edges. I don't yet know how to link my Flickr photo page on to my Typepad account (anyone who knows, please tell me!), so just click here to see some of my Christmas photos of the house!
Hope everyone had a lovely Christmas!
A while back I wrote some posts about my passion for collecting bookish images. Well, that passion has not withered, in fact, it has grown even stronger, not unlike a seething fire burning out of control. Every card store I enter, I must search very carefully for any and all bookish pictures, which if chosen, will eventually be framed and hung in my treasured (and now getting a tad crowded) library.
In the theme of bookish images, I am especially fond of black and white photos, like the one you see above. It's a keeper, and will eventually find it's way into my library of bookish treasures.
Woof!
I would remiss if I did not mention the fact that my inspiration for this subject was the effervescent, the energetic, the always entertaining Cipriano of Bookpuddle fame. It was his series of posts Walls which got me thinking about the artwork that hangs on my own walls.
About a year ago I came across this lovely little book of postcards entitled For the Love of Libraries: Photograph s and Anecdotes by Diane Asseo Griliches. It's quite an astounding little book of the most beautiful black and white photos of libraries I have ever seen. A n d I could tear out the postcards, and frame them! So th a t's just what I did. In this post, I'll discuss my first framed four images, along with their anecdotes and quotes.
The first image is from the Biblioteka Ivan Pastric, in Split, Croatia.
The Communists closed the seminary that housed this library but allowed the seminarians to keep the library in two small, windowless rooms.
We had that peculiar thrill which comes from going into a room redolent with the faint mustiness of old calf and feeling that almost any volume may turn out a treasure.
– Harold J. Laski
The second image is from the Widener Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massa chusetts.
... the studious silence of the library ... Tranquil brightness.
– James Joyce.
A poster of Berenice Abbott's photograph of James Joyce is inside an office door, illuminated by daylight from the office windows. The Widener houses the Harvard College Library and is the largest university library in the world.
The third image is also from the Widener Library.
They kiss in cubicles; for all we know they breed down there in the twelfth centur y.
– Larry Rubin
And the final image is from Kobe University Library, Kobe, Japan.
An af ternoon nap, while not exactly condoned, is at least tolerated in the spirit of humanitarian laissez-faire.
The university library survived the devastating earthquake in Kobe, although thirty-nine students lost their lives.
More salacious literary delights!
Mr. Edward Champion, proprietor of the witty and wonderful blog Return of the Reluctant, has got a great idea. He has created the first Annual Naughty Reading Photo Contest. Says Mr. Champion:
What we would like our readers to do is send us your visual approximation of what naughty reading is. Naughty readers do not have to be exclusively female ... So have at it, naughty book lovers, academics and librarians alike! Show the world right now that reading is sexy and salacious!
Yeah, baby!! Ed is my kinda guy. 'Cuz if there's one thing I know for sure, it's that reading is sexy! So why not give it a whirl? Deadline is August 31; check out that link for all the contest details, and get naughty!
Oh, and if you wanna see that entire pic above, which yes, is my entry, go here. I'm sure a lot of you can get way naughtier than me!
I live in the west end of Toronto, in an area affectionately known as "The Valley". Apparently in the early half of the 20th century the area used to be farmland ownded mainly by two dutch fellows, Gooch and Van Stassen; their names live on as well-worn streets in this hideaway. In the 50's it was further developed into a suburb with modest-looking semi-detached homes. But it's not your typical suburb. There is a lot of wildlife in this area, and plenty of trees. I can look out my front window and see a beautiful blue spruce in all its glory on my neighbour's front lawn. Yes, we have the standard raccoons and squirrels, but I've also seen fox, ducks, geese, snakes, cormorants and even a beaver swimming in the Humber River, which is just a ten minute's walk from where I live. Every season delights me with its beauty; but my favourites are without a doubt, fall and winter. After a heavy snowfall, I will look out our bay window and see the clean blanket of white, with brown and green struggling to climb out, and I am reminded of a section of my favourite Thomas Hardy poem, "Snow in the Suburbs":
Every branch big with it
Bent every twig with it
Every fork like a white web-foot
Every street and pavement mute
Some flakes have lost their way, and grope back upward when
Meeting those meandering down they turn
and descend again
My husband and I have lived here for 10 years. When I first discovered this place (just exploring on a walk during a work lunch break) I could not believe my eyes. How could such a heavenly place exist in the middle of this gritty city? I like to call it my "mini Brigadoon". I desperately wanted to live here, and as luck would have it, a duplex went up for rent very soon after that, and we snatched it up. If freelance work continues to go well over the next year, we may be able to afford a house here. I really hope so. I cannot leave this place; I'm far too rooted down. I know many of the neighbours; the old-timers who have lived here for over 40 years; they have plenty of tales and gossip to tell, and I'm always eager to listen. There's young families too, with kids and cats and dogs and plenty of noise in the park that's right behind us.
Yes, I know it's a suburb, and it's conservative and slow-paced, but I feel some strange connection here; I cannot imagine living anywhere else. Besides, if I want some excitement, it's a hop skip and a jump away to the downtown, or I can just walk to the Bloor West Village and check out the books in Book City.
I thought I would share some of the photos we have taken of The Valley over the years; I guess this is my love letter of sorts to this magical place I call home.
