Books, books and more books!

Do you have any collections?

I used to have several collections of a variety of different things. Butterflies that I caught, identified, examined and mounted as a kid; stamps in a large book; antiques, even an old operational Victrola; and generally all things old, and… books.

My collections became a thing of the past when I moved a lot in my younger years and needed to travel light. However after 32 years at my little house in a small farming village, I did accumulate a lot of craft supplies and my favourite things of all time, my books.

I have had a collection of books that range from poetry to fiction, to real murder mysteries, all my life and now is no exception. When downsizing from a 3-bedroom house to one room, it took a great deal of purging and I did get rid of some books BUT I was steadfast about keeping the most treasured of them which includes, but is not limited to, “Fresh Fields” an English young students’ Poetry collection that contains several poems that I used to recite when I was young ( 8 ) and can still remember; many books from my Farley Mowat stage when I was, and still am, consumed with the desire to free whales and save wolves from instinction; My Charles Dickens and Jane Austen collections, because everyone should enjoy the classics; to my collection of Bible translations, including my grandmother’s from when she was just a young girl and had it awarded to her for verses “well remembered”. These books and at least 150 others survived and were transported 400 kilometres to my son’s house. My bedroom has been carefully furnished to be able to display them, along with my craft supplies, so that I can share them with my grandchildren during our daily “Gran Pan” time.

In my humble opinion, there is nothing more comforting than a quiet afternoon with a good book and having a small library at my fingertips is very comforting to me.