social distancing

Day Thirty-Two

April 14, 2020 at 9:57 am by Claudia

Well, the winds came yesterday but, thankfully, they were much weaker than predicted. It rained a great deal and the rivers are high, but goodness, we are so grateful we were spared. I know that up in the higher elevations, the winds were much stronger. At the end of the day, the sun broke through and it was truly beautiful – apparently there was a rainbow, but we missed it as we were inside.

Glad that’s over!

A strange new world we’re living in and there’s not a day that goes by that doesn’t consist of some long conversation about it. The unreality of it. The trying to come to grips with it. Getting tired of disinfecting. Did we wash our hands long enough? Did we remember to use the hand sanitizer? The ripples created by this pandemic that impact everyone and everything.

We’re no different than anybody else.

This came in the mail on Saturday. It’s from an Etsy seller who lives in Ithaca, NY.

We’re starting a new collection here at the cottage. And this time, it’s one that both Don and I are excited about. We’re collecting vintage Penguin paperbacks – these are called tri bands. The tri bands came in different colors depending on the subject matter. I have three now: Twenty-Five by Beverley Nichols (an autobiography,) Pygmalion, and soon – Wuthering Heights, Gilbert and Sullivan, and Eminent Victorians by Lytton Strachey. We’re not so concerned with getting every one of them as some collectors are, but we do want to collect P. G. Wodehouse (Don’s favorite,) Agatha Christie, and other subjects and authors we love. I follow several people on IG who deal in these books, either in their bookshops or from their personal collections. Most of them are in England, of course. We’ll collect slowly. It’s fortunate that they are very reasonably priced, except for the rarest, of course. Don is very excited and knows exactly where he wants to place the collection somewhere off in the future.

I love to collect, but collecting with my husband is even better. And the fact is, my McCoy collection is big and I don’t need any more pieces. My Roseville collection is big and I don’t need any more pieces. My egg cup collection will be added to only if I really love a piece or if it’s something I find in my travels (and they’re tiny, so collecting more of them doesn’t involve any real space problem.)

Books, however? We can’t stop buying them. And we love the history of Penguins. If you’re interested in learning more, google the history of Penguin Books. It’s fascinating.

Okay. Maybe I’ll actually get outside today!

Happy Tuesday.

Day Thirty-One

April 13, 2020 at 9:59 am by Claudia

A very rainy day with high wind warnings. This weather event has hit a lot of people, some with snow, others with deadly tornadoes, and some – like us – with heavy rain and high winds. I hope you’re all safe. Heaven knows we don’t need this on top of everything else.

I’ll be glad when it’s over.

We had a quiet day yesterday. For us, there was really no difference in our Easter from last year to this year. We’re used to being far away from our families. It’s been that way for decades. We most likely would have spent some time with Rick and Doug. We miss them and we miss Sam, too. But otherwise, it’s usually just us.

Don managed to get a walk in this morning during a break in the rain.

Let’s see, what else? I’m still reading The Lost Pianos of Siberia. I got two packages in the mail on Saturday – one that I haven’t opened yet, from a bookseller on Etsy, and one from John Sandoe Books in London. You might remember how thrilled I was when I ordered a book from them last year. I was determined to order something from them during this crisis, as I’m trying to place orders with the independent bookshops that I know and love. The more we support them the better, especially now.

Unlike last time, however, I couldn’t bring the entire box inside and take pictures of the unveiling. I left the outer box on the porch and opened the books inside.

These are books that haven’t been published here in the States – although the Jarman may have been.

Modern Nature by Derek Jarman. I just read the book he wrote about his garden, so I’m eager to read this.

A Bite of the Apple by Lennie Goodings. All about her time working for Virago Press. I love books about books and publishing, and I have read many Virago editions over the years. Sounds fascinating to me.

Square Haunting by Francesca Wade. All about five writers who lived in London’s Mecklenburgh Square during the war; modernist poet H.D., detective novelist Dorothy L. Sayers, classicist Jane Harrison, economic historian Eileen Power, and author and publisher Virginia Woolf.

Looking forward to all three of these, which I learned about on IG. It really is a treasure trove of information about books, reading, and publishing, especially those books that are published across the pond.

We watched Annie Hall.

And that’s it for today. Wish us well. We’d rather not have our power go out as we have food in the freezer that we can’t immediately replace, nor do we have the funds to replace them.

Happy Monday.

claudiahillsparks

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