GRAVENHURST - AND FINALLY SPRING
This is the first winter that I almost abandoned writing to the advancement of our family antique business. From the accoutant's vantage point it was a success but from the obsessive bibliophile, it was like tearing out a kidney without even an aspirin to dull the pain.
I say almost because I still had several committment pieces and a few impromtu writing projects that demanded time spent.... but overall it wasn't my most prolific winter. We have been re-ogranizing our homestead here at Birch Hollow, and that has involved the sorting of about 30,000 old books. I've been selling a lot of titles off from our private stock because frankly we have no room left at the inn....should I one day come upon a really good bulk book buy.....I'd like to know I could shoe-horn them in! Actually, if my wife ever sees another box of books in the back of the van, I may have to beg you folks to take me in......for awhile....and if you wouldn't mind, a couple of boxes of reading material.
After being buried in books most days and getting frustrated routinely about what titles to keep, sell or recycle, I haven't had much interest in penning thoughts......you wouldn't want to read my thoughts on the folly of having too many authors and too few trees. Like my old book buddy, David Brown of Hamilton, who managed to jam 100,000 books (at the time of his death) into his tiny bungalow, I have some of the same obsessive traits, and I find it almost impossible to part with books that really should be discarded. I always imagine a time when I might need the books, and that always takes precedent over the responsible approach.....or until your spouse packs her bags and leaves them as reminder at the door. Dave Brown's wife left him at about the 30,000 mark, and when the books started to infiltrate the kitchen area of the homestead. In fairness she did give him the option...."Me or the books." Like I say, Dave died having amassed a collection of 100,000 books.
I'm a pretty needy fellow so I have taken my wife's repeated advisories seriously and I am genuinely concerned about the clutter of the collector. So this winter I've spent three solid months working in my archives area here at Birch Hollow, and both getting rid of and sorting thousands of books; and it's true I have donated many, many other books to schools and charitable organizations who can benefit from their eventual sale. I knew you'd wonder about that! I have occasionally purchased back books I donated both by accident and by intention, when they come up a the local Salvation Army Thrift Shop. I definitely don't tell my partner about this transgression.
I'm feeling quite bad about not writing more for this blog site over the winter months, which by tradition of many years past, has always been my most aggressive period of production. It hasn't been the case of indifference but rather sheer exhaustion. I've achieved exhaustion honestly, and I've held the pennings of many of the world's greatest authors in my hands this winter....and I am both humbled to be part of world literature, and annoyed at having to cull my collection because it accumulates dust bunnies. My wife has declared war on dust bunnies. Hey, it's what marriage is all about. The give and take right? How come it feels so crappy to be reducing by the thousands, a collection that has taken me a lifetime to build? Dave Brown didn't have to participate in his stock liquidation. I won't say it was fortunate he was deceased, not to have witnessed the forced evacuation of his archives but I can tell you that he would have never, never capitulated to any demand to reduce or else?
I like being married.
I will be adding to this blog more frequently now, seeing as a bulk of the reduction has already taken place, and my soul is gradually regaining its elasticity and resolve to fight-on yet another day.....one book acquisition at a time.
This is the first winter that I almost abandoned writing to the advancement of our family antique business. From the accoutant's vantage point it was a success but from the obsessive bibliophile, it was like tearing out a kidney without even an aspirin to dull the pain.
I say almost because I still had several committment pieces and a few impromtu writing projects that demanded time spent.... but overall it wasn't my most prolific winter. We have been re-ogranizing our homestead here at Birch Hollow, and that has involved the sorting of about 30,000 old books. I've been selling a lot of titles off from our private stock because frankly we have no room left at the inn....should I one day come upon a really good bulk book buy.....I'd like to know I could shoe-horn them in! Actually, if my wife ever sees another box of books in the back of the van, I may have to beg you folks to take me in......for awhile....and if you wouldn't mind, a couple of boxes of reading material.
After being buried in books most days and getting frustrated routinely about what titles to keep, sell or recycle, I haven't had much interest in penning thoughts......you wouldn't want to read my thoughts on the folly of having too many authors and too few trees. Like my old book buddy, David Brown of Hamilton, who managed to jam 100,000 books (at the time of his death) into his tiny bungalow, I have some of the same obsessive traits, and I find it almost impossible to part with books that really should be discarded. I always imagine a time when I might need the books, and that always takes precedent over the responsible approach.....or until your spouse packs her bags and leaves them as reminder at the door. Dave Brown's wife left him at about the 30,000 mark, and when the books started to infiltrate the kitchen area of the homestead. In fairness she did give him the option...."Me or the books." Like I say, Dave died having amassed a collection of 100,000 books.
I'm a pretty needy fellow so I have taken my wife's repeated advisories seriously and I am genuinely concerned about the clutter of the collector. So this winter I've spent three solid months working in my archives area here at Birch Hollow, and both getting rid of and sorting thousands of books; and it's true I have donated many, many other books to schools and charitable organizations who can benefit from their eventual sale. I knew you'd wonder about that! I have occasionally purchased back books I donated both by accident and by intention, when they come up a the local Salvation Army Thrift Shop. I definitely don't tell my partner about this transgression.
I'm feeling quite bad about not writing more for this blog site over the winter months, which by tradition of many years past, has always been my most aggressive period of production. It hasn't been the case of indifference but rather sheer exhaustion. I've achieved exhaustion honestly, and I've held the pennings of many of the world's greatest authors in my hands this winter....and I am both humbled to be part of world literature, and annoyed at having to cull my collection because it accumulates dust bunnies. My wife has declared war on dust bunnies. Hey, it's what marriage is all about. The give and take right? How come it feels so crappy to be reducing by the thousands, a collection that has taken me a lifetime to build? Dave Brown didn't have to participate in his stock liquidation. I won't say it was fortunate he was deceased, not to have witnessed the forced evacuation of his archives but I can tell you that he would have never, never capitulated to any demand to reduce or else?
I like being married.
I will be adding to this blog more frequently now, seeing as a bulk of the reduction has already taken place, and my soul is gradually regaining its elasticity and resolve to fight-on yet another day.....one book acquisition at a time.
