Chapter 173 While the Cat’s Away . . .

. . . the mice will play.

While I was away reading books and relaxing with longtime friends last weekend, Tom and Huck were off having a weekend away of their own.

Were they catching up on sleep and quietly reading, too? Don’t count on it.

Here are some photos of Tom and Huck and what they did on a camping trip with Thoughtful Husband while I was away — archery!

Sorry the photos are so small. I’m having trouble uploading images today and I can’t figure out why.

I am so happy that they do these things when I am not around. Had I been there I would have been neurotically repeating myself (”Why can’t you guys just read a book about archery? I think there’s archery in Robin Hood.” Or, “Be careful. It looks like fun until someone loses an eye.”) and getting no reaction other than smirks and deliberate faux-aiming of arrows at someone’s eye.

Thoughtful Husband realizes my over-protective tendencies and makes sure to fit in such activities when I am not here to sound like the overcautious mother I am.

Chapter 162 The Wedding

I mentioned before that my youngest brother got married over the weekend. I’m including a photo of the bride and groom, of course, but if you scroll down you’ll see another photo. It is a very rare shot indeed.

Below are Tom and Huck and their cousin Joe Harper. (Wikipedia: “Joseph — Joe — Harper is Tom Sawyer’s friend in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and joins Tom on some of his adventures. He becomes a pirate with Tom and Huck, when they ran away from home to Jacksons Island.”) There’s nothing unusual about a photo of Tom, Huck, and Joe, except in this particular photo. Take a good look and see if you can guess why it such a rare photo. Huck is on the left and Tom is on the right with cousin Joe in the middle.

In this photo, the three boys are scrubbed clean and are wearing tuxedos. Their hair is combed and teeth are brushed! Try as they might to stay barefoot in raggedy play clothes and covered in mud most days, this photo is how I, their mother, like to enivision Tom and Huck. It pains them to no end.

See you in the stacks!

Chapter 159 In the Words of a Famous Song, “Going to the Chapel and Gonna Get Married”

Did I mention my youngest brother is getting married this Saturday? Did I mention that Thoughtful Husband, Tom, Huck and I are all in the wedding party?

We have been consumed by pre-wedding activities like welcoming relatives, wrangling the boys into tuxedos, eating lunch with the other bridesmaids, and golfing with the other groomsmen.

Sorry to say that though I have a bookish post in mind for today, I have no time to write it. I shall have to take a bit of a blogging break until Monday! Then it’s back to the books. I promise.

Best wishes to my brother and his bride! I’m always thrilled to add another female to my nearly all-male family. And guess what? She likes Laura Ingalls Wilder, too! Do you suppose she’s just being polite when she says that? I have to wonder, because it is almost too much to hope for a sister-in-law who is nearly as much of a Laura Ingalls Wilder “nerd” (my brother’s word — I prefer the more dignified word “fan”) as I!

Coming Monday: Chrislands purchased by ABE and the Importance of Diversification

Chapter 154 A Spring Break — Wee Gardens

It’s been a cold spring, filled with gray skies and wind. We need a diversion, a bit of a spring break. So, in anticipation of better weather, Tom and Huck created something called a Wee Garden. Wee Gardens are grown in containers. First, the gardener chooses several small plants (succulents, in our case, because they don’t die if you forget to water them regularly). The gardener plants the plants as he sees fit in his small container.

Next, the gardener chooses from a variety of miniature items to make his garden a miniature world. We got most of our items from Tom and Huck’s aunt and purchased a few other items at the craft store.

Huck’s Wee Garden

Tom’s Wee Garden

What can one expect to find in a Wee Garden?

Birds in a nest

Tractors, butterflies, and wishing wells

A wee gardener and a truck filled with plants and soil

Gardening tools, of course

A garden gnome

And since we couldn’t find any pink flamingos, we went with green garden frogs.

Here’s hoping for some sun in the near future! If you have any wee ones at home yourself (or even if you don’t), this is a highly enjoyable way to spend an afternoon. Have a good weekend!

See you in the stacks!

Chapter 147 Only in San Francisco

I took Tom and Huck up to The City today, as they have this week off from school. I asked them what they wanted to do. They elected to go to a local tourist trap, Pier 39, a place I have not been in years.

It is, perhaps, not a well-known fact that those of us who have lived in the Bay Area since birth only rarely visit places like Alcatraz, Pier 39, Fisherman’s Wharf, and the Golden Gate Bridge. We do those things only when out-of-state friends are visiting, and then we say silly things like, “I’ve always wanted to ride the cable cars, but for some reason — even though I’ve lived here for over 30 years — I’ve never done it! I’m glad you’re visiting so I had the chance to try it.”

Our out-of-state guests usually stare incredulously, and say equally silly things, like, “If I lived here, I’d ride the charming cable cars every day.” (Well, no, you wouldn’t, because you wouldn’t want to wait in the one-hour-plus lines of tourists to get your ten minute ride.) Mostly, those of us who have lived here all our lives go to The City to dine in style. The landmarks are beautiful, but they are second to the excellent restaurants. The food is so good that the excellent weather and the spectacular views are mere gravy.

Today my provincial view changed.

Today was the ultimate tourist-in-San-Francisco day.

Today was — dare I say it — fun.

We started at Aquarium of the Bay at Pier 39, a small aquarium with two 300-foot-long glass tunnels out into Bay waters so we could see the native fish up close. It was amazing to be surrounded by water on all sides. Later, we even got to touch a bat ray, a leopard shark, and a star fish. Not a bad start to a day I had worried would be spent wandering through shops with “Escaped Alcatraz Inmate” t-shirts for sale.

After our aquarium tour, I decided to take Huck and Tom on a guided Bay cruise — Alcatraz, Angel Island, Sausalito, and the Golden Gate Bridge. Since they have only seen The City from within, I wanted them to see it from the water, with the panoramic City skyline as a backdrop. I wanted them to see the San Francisco that visitors see when they first arrive, the city that my Nana and the late newspaper columnist Herb Caen used to refer to as, “The City that Knows How”.

This was a good plan. Except that it was about 20 degrees cooler out on the water, and windy. And then there was the typical fog, which obscured the usually bright towers of the Golden Gate Bridge. It is another little known fact that if it is 70 and sunny on the Peninsula, where I live, it will be 55 and windy in The City. Dress accordlingly. We had fun, but we were freezing, and so happy when we passed Alcatraz because it meant we were almost back at the pier, where we could warm up.

After our cruise, we stopped for lunch and had hot clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl, something we almost never make at home. Tom and Huck loved it. I confess I did as well.

We strolled the tacky shops of Pier 39, buying Ghirardelli chocolate (even though we can get it at the grocery store at home) and flattening souvenir pennies. We briefly considered heading down the wharf to the Ripley’s Believe it or Not Museum and the Wax Museum, but decided against it.

Before we left, we stopped to watch a street performer. He surprised all three of us by selecting Tom to be his assistant. He did the following:

1) Ate fire and let Tom hold the torch.

2) Hammered a four inch steel nail up his nose and then pulled it out of his nose with pliers and tosssed it over his shoulder into a wine glass Tom was holding.

3) Walked barefoot on eight feet of broken glass while carrying Tom on his back. (Tom, at almost ten years old, is over five feet tall and weighs 90 pounds.)

Now, this is more like the quirky San Francisco we Bay Area natives know and love.

Tom and Huck loved today.

They were in heaven.

They saw the mythic San Francisco skyline — the Trans-America Pyramid, Coit Tower, the Presidio, the Golden Gate Bridge — through a shroud of equally mythic fog from a boat bobbing in the Bay.

They touched sharks.

They watched a man eat fire, hammer metal into his skull, and walk barefoot on broken glass while one of them got to assist in these endeavors.

Only in San Francisco.

P.S. I forgot to take my camera with me today, so the snapshots will have to remain in my memory. And I think they will for a good long time. Who can forget a man pulling a four-inch nail out of his nose with a pair of pliers?

Chapter 144 Owning a Book Store

I was all set to sit down and write a nice, bookish post this afternoon. Then Huck came in from playing outside, complaining of a terrible headache. He also has a runny nose and a slight cough. Not normally one to be felled by the common cold, Huck wrapped up in a blanket and asked me to sit with him. He promptly fell asleep cradled on my lap (most unusual behavior for my active 7 year old). Now it’s 8:40 p.m. (California time) and he feels hot to me, perhaps with a fever. So, forgive me, but the bookish post will have to wait until tomorrow, when (I hope) things are better. Tomorrow is the first day of Easter vacation, so it figures that a nasty cold would make its appearance just when we were all set to have a few days of family fun.

In the meantime, I’ve been enjoying and learning from two recent posts over at Scott Brown’s always interesting Fine Books and Collections Blog. In addition to putting out a great magazine about books, Scott has recently become the owner of a bookstore, himself!

Click the links below if you’re looking for a thought provoking read.

So, You Want to Own a Bookstore

So, You Want to Own a Bookstore, Part II

See you in the stacks!

Chapter 142 How I Know My Husband is Crazy (About Me)

Thoughtful Husband and I both have big birthdays this year, ones that end in a “0″. We wanted to do something to mark the occasion. Throw a party? We could, but that could get expensive. We both grew up in the Bay Area, along with many of our friends, and we both have good sized families, so there would be a lot of people to invite. A party would be fun, but would only last for one night.

I thought about taking a special trip with Thoughtful Husband and Tom and Huck, one that would make a great family memory. I tried to think of something that might be especially enjoyable to Thoughtful Husband yet still kid friendly. I secretly planned to take him to a hotel in Oregon where a friend of ours stayed with his family. They had a great time and highly recommended that we take our family there.

What’s the big deal about a hotel in Oregon, you’re probably wondering?

Well, this hotel is made entirely of tree houses.

That’s right. Tree houses.

I can just see the pure joy on Tom and Huck’s faces when they learn that, much as their namesakes Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn might have, they will spend a night in a tree house fort. Thoughtful Husband, being basically a grown up boy himself, has wanted to travel here since his friend told us about it a few years ago.

I hesitated in mentioning my idea to Thoughtful Husband. What if he really just wanted to bask in the sun and relax in a hammock in some tropical clime like Hawaii? Fun, but too expensive in our case. Would playing treehouse fort with me and the kids be exciting enough for a __0th birthday gift/celebration?

One day, Thoughtful Husband, said, “What do you want to do for our __0th birthdays?”

“I don’t know,” I said, secretly hoping he’d come up with something amazing.

“I know you’d probably like to go somewhere fabulous, like London, or Paris, or Rome,” he said, frowning.

“Yes, but I don’t think that’s realistic right now.” (I’ll admit it I would like to go any of these places, but like Hawaii, it’s just not a possibility at this time, and I know it.)

“Well,” said Thoughtful Husband, “I’ve been trying to think of something meaningful and fun, even if it’s not exotic. And I thought of something, but I didn’t want to mention it because I worried that you wouldn’t think it was good enough.”

“Guess what?” I interrupted. “I thought of something we could do, too, but I wasn’t sure it was good enough for you either.”

“What is it?”

I told him all about the tree house. He thought it sounded like a great family trip. “I can’t believe you are agreeing to camp in a treehouse,” he said. (He knows I like pioneer women, but I don’t actually want to live like one. I’m afraid of snakes, bugs, and too much dirt.)

Next, he told me his plan.

“I know you collect books by and about pioneer women, and I know how much you like Laura Ingalls Wilder. I thought we could rent an RV, drive across the country and see a few of her old homesites. I figure if you visit places like Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, and South Dakota, it will help your knowledge of Western Americana in particular. You never know, you might find some good books along the way! We can drive home through Oregon and stay at the tree house hotel. There is a Laura Ingalls Wilder homesite in DeSmet, South Dakota and another just over the Minnesota state line in Walnut Grove.”

Stunned silence. Thoughtful Husband is not a bookish sort. I cannot believe he has taken into consideration my love of books and Laura Ingalls Wilder in planning our family vacation. Wow! I love this man. How many husbands would indulge their wife’s amassing of books in the dining room, the bedroom, the hallway? And then still want to take her on a book-related vacation? Oh, yeah! He’s a keeper.

“I didn’t want to tell you at first because I was afraid you wouldn’t want to drive in an RV and I thought you might want to go somewhere more glamorous than South Dakota.”

“When I aspire to be a bookseller specializing in the history of the west and the people who settled there in the past 200 years, where else could possibly be more glamorous than South Dakota? I love this idea! Thank you, thank you for thinking of it!”

I’m going to be a pioneer woman this summer. I’ll be headed East instead of West, but since I’ve spent my whole life in the West, going East will open a whole new world to me!

I’ve gotten varied responses from friends and family here in the cosmopolitan Bay Area. The general consensus is, “Two weeks in an RV with kids and dog driving through flyover country? You guys are crazy!”

I realize this isn’t everyone’s idea of fun. But it’s not everone else’s __0th birthday. It’s ours.

Yes, we’re crazy. About each other.

Tomorrow: One bookseller’s advice to those new in the book business

Chapter 140 What We Did Over the Weekend

What did we do this weekend? Not a lick of book work. Oh, okay. On Friday I visited my friend Mr. Z. for lunch and book talk. But that’s far too enjoyable to be considered work.

Huck played in his first Little League basesball game. He wants me to tell you that he got two hits and struck out once.

We celebrated St. Patrick’s Day on Sunday night, one day early. It’s just easier to boil corned beef for four hours when I’m home all day, and on Sunday I was home most of the day.

You’ve read about my Italian in-laws’ fabulous holiday feasts. They’ve set the bar very high, cooking home made raviolis with gravy (that’s tomato sauce, to us non-Italians) that simmers for a few days, and offering as many as four different desserts. My mother-in-law came for dinner Sunday night, and we had corned beef and cabbage, which she thinks is very Irish and very good. St. Patrick’s Day is my people’s time to shine, culinarily speaking. Being of partial Irish descent, I boil all the flavor out of a fatty piece of beef for four hours, throw in one of the world’s most flavorless vegetables — cabbage — along with carrots and — what else? — potatoes, and then proclaim it delectable.

I think my Irish ancestors would be horrified, as authentic Irish cuisine is pretty tasty, but a Paddy’s Day corned beef brisket is the soup du jour of us Irish Americans. I like cooking, but it just isn’t one of my better skills. My mother-in-law smiles politely and eats it anyway, because she’s really just here on St. Patrick’s Day for the bread.

Though I’m not a chef, one thing I can do fairly well is bake. So, today Huck and I baked Irish soda bread from scratch. Spread on some real butter and have a nice cup of tea. It’s delicious!

Lastly, Thoughtful Husband and I spent most of Saturday and Sunday sanding and prepping the playroom (which is going to become Tom and Huck’s bedroom) for painting. We got a bit of it painted Sunday, but there’s still a good deal more to do:

Yep. Those are stripes. Navy blue. I know it looks strange now, but it’s going to look great when I add two more colors (uh-huh) and it’s done (at least that’s what I keep telling myself).

See you in the stacks!

Tomorrow: Summertime plans — yes, they are book related.

Chapter 138 No Rest for the Wicked

See that lonely basketball hoop in the photo above? It’s the sign that basketball season has ended. Tom’s team had its final game last weekend. No more two-evening-a-week practices and no more weekend games. A calmer schedule. I think of it as a sports break for me, even though Tom and Huck would much rather play sports all the time. I like these breaks; it means I have more time to read.

However . . .

This week, Huck started playing baseball. It’s his first year in Little League. Practices. Games. A busier schedule.

No sports breaks for this mom. But lots of fun. Look at that green, green grass. Baseball is a definite sign that spring has arrived, or is at least on its way. Will my son think I don’t care about him if I read an Emily Dickinson bibliography in the bleachers?

See you in the stacks!

Chapter 135 Of Contests, Idyll Musings, and Book Fairs

Monday came too soon! With the time change (spring forward — lose one hour) and the minor (yeah, right) house project we’ve taken on, I didn’t do anything book related all weekend. Thoughtful Husband tackled cleaning out the garage (something that hasn’t been done in months) and I played around with paint colors and possible furniture layout for Tom and Huck’s playroom and bedroom. Additionally, I went to Tom’s final basketball game, to a party for my brother’s fiancee, and to a birthday celebration with a close friend. It was an enjoyable weekend all the way around, if busy.

Those of you new to bookselling might be able to use the book that is offered as a prize in this contest. Sponsored by the indefatigable Joyce Godsey of the Bibliophile Bullpen, the contest offers you a chance to put into words why you want to be a bookseller or any other bookselling topic. Go for it! The prize has great information and a nicely illustrated dustjacket.

There’s a new bookseller and a new bookselling blog to read. Click here to read about Idyll Musing’s start in the business.

And, lastly, in answer to a question from a reader who wants to know how to get information regarding selling books at book fairs, here’s my two cents:

1) Attend a fair — at which you’d like to exhibit — as a buyer at least once, if possible. Make sure it seems like a worthwhile investment of your time and money. Not all fairs are right for all kinds of sellers.

2) Get to know other booksellers. Introduce yourself when you go to book fairs. I’ve been able to save some of the cost of doing a book fair (and have more fun, too) by sharing a booth space with another bookseller. If you’re just getting started and you have a small amount of stock, sharing is a good idea. Sharing also means you have someone to stand in the booth when you need a break and vice versa. Sharing means it’s much more exciting than being all alone as the new bookseller at the fair.

3) When you go to a fair ask around about the fair’s organizer. They usually have a website with all of the pertinent information about signing up, booth fees, etc. Costs vary depending on the fair, its size, and duration.

4) Invest ahead of time in book stands, portable book cases, a good calculator, business cards, etc. It helps to be able to spread out the costs of these things rather than pay for them all at once.

Happy Monday! See you in the stacks!