Thursday, August 16, 2012

A Book In Hand? (Another Indie Book Store Closes...)

Yet another independent bookstore is closing.  I received the astonishing news today.  The Bookery Nook in North Denver closes August 31.

In a Facebook announcement, the book shop owners sited the increasing demands for e-books as the natural cause of death.  And yet they did everything right.  They diversified.  They connected with the community.  They advertised. They had stellar author books signings.  They sold all the best books in a comfy environment,  plus e-books, added Etsy goods, and even ice cream when business stalled.

I admire, and admonish technology, all in the very same breath.  Love my cell phone, schmancy computer,  my wheels, my flatscreen TV.  Yet, still I wonder, where will we go for the simple charms when technology, one by one, removes the tactile things?  The ascetic things.  The things we can hear, touch, smell...  The tick-tick-tick of a projector as a film chugs through.  The flipping pages of a book, causing a soft lilt of air to breeze across the face; "...now where was I... ah yes, page 73."

Where will we go?

Musty, crusty, crisply new.  I love holding books, touching books, smelling books,...reading books.

Here's to renaissance... Here's to long life.
Books.





Thursday, August 09, 2012

A Fairy House Tour!






Ever been on a fairy house tour?   With "way-way up there" tiny tree houses-- in which the fairies MUST use ladders?

With hobbit holes as tall as a bump on the ground?


With hingeless wooden doors?


Ever been?


Well... on August 4th the proprietors of Pixie Hill gave visitors, one and all, a fleeting glimpse of elvish abodes and fairy double-plexes during their (hopefully) annual Open House in Ontario.  


From photos on their blog, I even spotted teeny tablecloths hanging from a teeny clothesline!  And miniature lanterns... and a treasure cave.  Oh yes.

The fairy folk, the bashful lot that they are, assured the owner/artist  Nichola "Knickertwist" Battilana, also known as "the maker," that they wouldn't mind a tour at all.  

But of course, the fairies themselves insisted on keeping a low profile.  

Hmmm... however, I did notice the wee little sign below... 

Wednesday, August 01, 2012

Good Morning!!


Clouds...in sterling coats; some sporting furs of platinum and other famous metals, luxuriate in an otherwise forgotten dawn. 
Cottonwoods out my window shape-shift from shadow black, to a lovely melancholy grey, to ruby pink, hinting there’s been some action on the horizon.