A Winter For Reading

Looks like we may have turned the corner on another winter. Christmas, New Years, Valentine's Day, Leap Day, the friggin time change, the Ides of March and St. Patrick's Day have all come and gone.

My cousin Harold who sojourns in Mexico for part of the year calls my Blog "Put The Kettle On" and I like it. It conjures up images of the old wood stove putting off it's comforting heat, usually in waves, depending on how often a stick was thrown in. It was the work horse of the kitchen and indeed, in some cases, the whole house.

Even these days, I often catch myself filling my bright red kettle first thing in the morning. If I'm not cooking or baking, then I'm soap making, and I need lots of hot water! I usually have a single coffee in the a.m. with my breakfast, so no

need of the kettle. Except I keep threatening on buying and using a French press, and I'd need good hot water for that.

But today's Blog is brought to you by the letter "C" as in "C" is for cookie, a nice Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip this time, one of our favorites. And if I'm allowing myself one (or two...) then I'll take the time to brew a proper cup of tea. My guilty pleasure.

And as I said earlier, Winter 2024 will soon be in the rear view mirror, and now I'm fearful that I may run out of winter before I read all my books!

Earlier in the year I decided to start going to the Souris Library to choose and order books by authors I enjoy. And I also had it in my mind to read or re-read books by L.M. Montgomery. I'd read a number of them while a child, but for some reason I wanted to spend part of this winter getting reacquainted.

And it was relatively easy to get reacquainted!! There was a nice little selection of her books that I hadn't read, so the challenge is on!

But to back up a little bit; my fingers can't type as fast as my brain goes.

Years ago, dropping in to the library was something I did on a regular basis with our kids when they were the right ages. Jaime Lee, being the oldest even remembers her Souris Library number......S-11. Great memory. That was back in the day when books were loaned out with your card stamped and tucked in the pocket at the back of the book. You were responsible for that book as long as you had it, and the Librarian had the match for your card, stamped and tucked in a little drawer.

Nowadays, not surprising, we are issued a shiny new card to access our account and all the wonderful things going on in Libraries all across the Island. Pretty cool. Not just for readers anymore, no!

You can borrow snow shoes.

You can borrow Co2 detectors.

You can access the gigantic photocopier for your convenience, and I have used that myself in the past to enlarge old maps for framing.

And yes, you can borrow books and magazines too.

This is my shiny new Library card, with my 14 digit personal account number on the back. Pretty snazzy. And the librarian invites you to choose your own.

But just to walk up those old stone Souris Town Hall steps, then up the creaky wooden stairs to the Library, just the smell brings me back. I could close my eyes and think it was 1985. The smell is unmistakable and remains the same after all these years. When I get to the second floor and slip in the library door, I want to veer to the left. That's where all the children's books were, long rows of them, overlooking the street down below. In summer the air was still and had that combination of warmth and dust and dry musty paper. Our kids loved it. They lost their shyness there and poured over the books to see how many they could "have" this time. What a simple pleasure. And you know, the kids' books are still there in the same section.

I knew the Librarian looked familiar, and bingo! Her grandfather Desmond was our neighbor for about ten years, so we chatted about him for a few minutes. That's the thing about living on an Island, right? We make connections.

She was able to help me out greatly! There was a couple of cookbooks I was interested in, so she ordered them for me. I chose a novel that looked very good, only to discover that I had my own copy at home! And it was good.

But back to Lucy Maud and her famous books.

The book on the right is turning out to be an excellent novel set during World War 2, but whoever said you can only read one book at a time? I typically have at least two magazines and a book (or two) on the go at the same time.

Now, the book on the left, The Blue Castle, I was unfamiliar with this title, so I borrowed it. It really isn't my style, but I'm stubborn and I want to finish it, then choose another one. There's some winter left yet!!

I've read eight of these already, but I have a long way to go. And speaking of a long way to go, I so remember when and where I read her novels, "The Story Girl" and "The Golden Road." Such classics.

I was spending that summer out at my uncle Art's farm, and cousin Harold and I were avid, thirsty readers. We soaked up everything we could get our hands on. We were kept busy enough on the farm of course, as I shared in an earlier Blog, but hey, there was always a nook somewhere in the house to hide a couple of skinny little kids with a biscuit between them and a good book. The sun porch comes to mind......And I don't know whose books they were, but I can still see the image that formed in my mind when I read the words from Peg Bowen, the old crone in The Story Girl, "I can't wait to shake the dust of Avonlea off my feet!" in an indignant tone. She had entered the back of the local church barefoot on a warm summer day, and didn't feel too welcomed, as I suppose witches weren't that common on Prince Edward Island at that time, and certainly not at the back of the Church. Funny what sticks with you.

Lucy Maud would be 150 years old this year, if she was still with us. Her words and her name have certainly travelled farther than her feet. She's a household name in many homes and classrooms and her trademark is protected, as it should be.

The odd time I'll watch a bit of "Anne" With An "E" on CBC before lunch, although this particular child actress is not my cup of tea. Was there ever an actress more suited to the role of Anne Shirley than Megan Follows? Now, she was Anne personified!! I watched that show many times, and I still choke up when Matthew dies in her arms.

So I'll finish The Blue Castle and spend a few minutes soaking up the ambience in the little Souris Library choosing a couple more. It's still only March, and I'm sitting at my computer in my cozy little office, listening to the wind from the North howling as I finish up my Blog. I'm not sure when I'll post it.

Come along with me for a read, and let me know what you're enjoying right now.

I think Momma fostered a love of reading in me, for which I'm so grateful; it's a great pastime and you always learn something. Momma's taste in books and magazines was a little salty, to say the least. She loved a good "bodice ripper" which of course described the pictures on the covers of most Harlequin Romances. A Fabio with long hair and a damsel in his arms with only half a top on. Yep, just juicy enough!

And don't get me started on her love affair with True Detective, True Romance, those types of magazines. She read them all. And as I grew older, my taste in books was changing, from Black Beauty, Robinson Crusoe and Heidi to something a little more mature. It wasn't long before Momma would start grading her Harlequins to some that she thought "fit" for me to read. I devoured them! They'd be pretty mild by today's standards!

Momma was always good enough to keep me in Movie magazines such as these. I had so many posters plastered on my walls as a teenager, you'd be shocked. Every girl my age was dying for the next one and the next one. David Cassidy, The Osmonds, The Jackson Five, we loved them all. Again, pretty mild by today's standards. A device is all they need to swoon over Bieber...........

So as this winter passes and we look forward to spring, I'd still like to drag it out a little more to finish up what I've started.

Because as Scarlett O'Hara said in "Gone With The Wind," one of my favorite books, "Tomorrow is another day...."