In all my enthusiasm (?) about the election results yesterday, I forgot to mention Bonfire Night, which was Wednesday night. I was concerned Olga would react negatively to lots of neighborhood fireworks. But as it turned out, the only fireworks we heard were distant pops, not even visible from our garden. So it all wound up being rather anticlimactic. Certainly nothing like the displays we used to see in Notting Hill.
I finished that Whistler biography yesterday. Woo hoo! Elohim! It was interesting and cleared up a lot of misconceptions I had about that artist. I'm glad to be done with it mainly for practical reasons -- it was a big ol' book and not the easiest thing to carry around.
Speaking of books, I found one the other day while straightening the library shelves that still had a checkout card in a pocket inside the back cover, stamped with checkout dates going back to 1968! Do you remember when library books used to have cards in the back, and the librarians would stamp and hold the card while you read the book? Before computers, that's how they kept track of who had what. Anyway, I hadn't seen a card in years, and I was impressed that this one had survived all this time. Assuming the kid who checked out that book in 1968 was 12 at the time -- and he was probably older, given that it was the James Fenimore Cooper novel "The Pioneers" and probably not the easiest reading -- he would be about 58 now.
We do "weed" the collection from time to time, as I've written, but the librarians tend to keep the classics. That's why old books like that one occasionally survive.
(Photo: Shepherd's Bush Market, Oct. 25)
Oh man. I loved those library cards. And I still miss the card catalog.
ReplyDeleteI'm so old.
Good morning.
The one in pink looks pissed off
ReplyDeleteWhen I was packing things up for my move, I found a pocket in one of my grandfathers books for the library check-out card but, no card. It's interesting to think about how old the kid who read the book in 68 is today.
ReplyDeleteYou are right about the myth about the world on the back of a turtle. I did not know that until you mentioned it so I did some research and sure enough, it is both a Chinese and Native American myth. You have a keen sense of observation!
That photo is downright creepy.
ReplyDeleteYes, I do remember those library cards and how they told you whether a book was popular or not; then we moved on to computer technology and the librarian still checking out our books and NOW we do all the checking out and returning ourselves.
ReplyDeleteWorking for the library, not that I mind; better than working for the multinational supermarket chains.....
Ms Soup
I LOVED library cards! They had this particular smell... I very briefly worked in a library & got to stamp the cards - very exciting :)
ReplyDelete