I just found this post (unpublished), so I shall combine it with Tessa’s picture challenge at Magpie Tales as the second part of the post. It has simply been so long since I have blogged that I had forgotten how to actually enter a post! I hope that this finds my friends in the blogosphere well. I do believe that I have finally settled in and actually “feel” this to be home for a change.
I am excited about a project for which I have volunteered. I hope to be doing a writing project with a group of veterans should our Central Library be able to pull together a group. This is meant to take place during January and February. I was also to be a part of a new Haiku Group, but I have found that my commitments are def (as Brian would say) too many. As a result – no haiku group.
When I was a child, I read Mummy’s books. Her book plate stated: “Books Are Like Friends”. And they, (books) have been that way for me for a lifetime. We grew up with a library. It was the most beautiful room in the house. It was filled with leather bound books from the 1800s. They had been my great, great grandfather’s books. I never met him. The books were meant for me one day. Unfortunately, my mother chose not to heat or air condition this room, in Vermont of all places. The books were a complete loss – except for a very few.
David and I bought our first house in 1983 because it had a library. Well that is overstating it a bit. It had significant shelving in one room that became the library. I do not have that here, as we are only 3 rooms, albeit more square footage than our first home. I do have bookshelves enough to place one half of my library into. Leaving the other half of my “friends” behind was difficult. Choosing who to take along was very hard indeed. Quite! Anyway, my books are all in the shelves hodgepodge. Now that I am finally feeling at home I look forward to organizing them. Below please find two haibun. The second is for Magpie Tales.
Haibun
Books have for so long been such very good friends to me.
Leaving one half of them behind during our move was
gut wrenching, like leaving family or old friends. I do
so hope that they feel at home with their new owners.
I have forgotten
yes forgotten my friends
left to dustiness
For Magpie Tales # 247:
Thank you Tess for Maurice de Vlaminck’s Snowstorm. Unfortunately I cannot seem to upload it – ah well.
Haibun
I grew up with snow. A lot of snow, in Vermont. In 1965 when I was 19
I moved to NYC. The biggest snow storm of my life took place. My family
sent me photos of snow above the roof line as they tunneled out.
This is November of 2014 and there are places today
that have had this kind of snowfall.
thick strokes of snow
brackish sky dwindling lights
in the outer world
noh where 
Books are indeed our friends! Lovely post- welcome back to blogging!
Nice combo post! Good to see you again…
I like your line: “thick strokes of snow.”
Oh, it would really be hard to leave one’s books behind, especially the ones that had become special friends over the years! When I moved, I took some books to “Second Hand Books” but the ones I really cherished moved with me. And as for the snow in Vermont (or many places on the east coast), I can see this will be a long winter!
Winter without snow is like Thanksgiving without turkey. I’ve lived in the northeast for all of my years with a few exceptions; i.e.. tours in southeast Asia and such. Winter is my introspective time of year. I like listening to you.
Bob, thank you for your service sir!
So nice to see you posting and to read that you are finally starting to feel more settled. I need to downsize my books too which is not going to be a happy process. I spent so long developing my collection and it is a good one. I doubt I can down size “enough”, and will always have over-full shelves and toppling stacks. The class in the new year sounds very thrilling. You will hear some wonderful and heart-wrenching stories there, I have little doubt.
snow above the roof line…wow… we never had that much snow over here… in fact, it’s getting less and less…makes me sad a bit… and oh i can imagine how tough it was to chose which books to take and which to give away… many of the books i read were borrowed from the local library – so the good thing is – i know where to find them in case i wanna visit… smiles
i grew up with books and snow as well..i still love a good book…i read like 300 pages last night…ha….and it snowed yesterday so i am in the best of both worlds…we only got half and inch though, so no sledding…drat….def my commitments are…a few…lol…but i am learning to live life among them…and prioritizing…smiles.
Nice read!
You guys have moved? Shocking as life goes on. We do enjoy our cohousing community in Tucson. The weather isn’t bad either!
Hi Ken. Just saw this. I know crazy to move at nearly 70 years of age. But we did. And of course David is not nearly 70. Glad you are happy in your co-housing community. Does this mean you share everything?