Our family friend Rob Bard has written an amusing book titled My Dog Ate My Bird . When I told my son Mark about Rob’s book he said, “I remember that!”
Rob wrote then- On Saturday is the Amateur Division and these are the best. These pies are made by people like you and me. They are made with love and they are truly your “homemade” pies. I love judging that day. With over 900 pies entered, judges are divided up and we sample just a certain type of pie. There are 18 categories. I try to always select the cherry pie, my favorite. The most pies I have ever judged was 28 different cherry pies over 2 days.
Sunday is the Professional Division and these are just that. This category are those individuals that have “made a living” selling pies and the professional pastry chefs.
I have met some nice people along the way. Pie has a way of bringing people together.
Rob’s also been featured in theblog’s Gallery of Veterans. We met him when he was stationed at Ft. Knox Kentucky and our eldest sons were classmates in elementary school.
I went to the Carnegie Library Lawrenceville Branch today to return a book and get some knitting patterns printed. Everyone is always so helpful. They were gracious to give me this bright red bag to hold all my papers and books.
“ACLA provides and promotes the highest quality public library service possible for all residents of Allegheny County through collaboration, cooperation and coordination”
14 years ago this blog post somehow created a lot of response on Reddit. When you scroll down and read the poem I wrote you’ll see how I reacted to all the negative comments. .
What books would you put on your favorites bookshelf?
inspired me to put twenty volumes together on one shelf and photograph them. Anne of Green Gables was a Christmas 1925 gift to my mother from her mother and the Gene Stratton-Porter book was my mother’s. C.S. Lewis’ Silver Chair is a stand-in for The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. Most of these books belonged to my sister Mary and got passed down to me. Longfellow was a gift to my brother David and me from Cousin Paul in 1961. In sixth grade I had to memorize, “Under a spreading chestnut tree the village smithy stands….. The Beatrix Potter in French was from my sister (who signed it Marie) and presented it to me on my half birthday one January fourth. The Book of Common Prayer is my grandmothers and inside she’s written the recipients of afghans she knit. The Tiny Golden Book in The Naughty Little Guest by Dorothy Kunhardt. The Sunny Sulky Book opened two different directions with the good children and bad children stories. I loved Fairy Eat-It-All who came in the night with a spoon for a little boy whose eyes were bigger than his stomach, and he had to eat his way through a mound of food he had taken and not eaten. So here are my books from growing up, all on one shelf.
My Bookshelf
You tell me my old books smell like a Goodwill bin. Old dust and stick your nose in, breathe.
The weight of them on the house’s foundation. My hardwood floors sag. You say I’m impaired in technology. Society will evolve without me? All I need in my life is an e-reader not musty books.
I like the feel of them in my hand. Turn them over, slip off a dustjacket. See the author peer back at me. The opening of the first page. Or a slender bookmark to hold my place. I’m sad they’re closing the store.
My list of reasons to read from a page (or your preferred screen)–
There’s escape, entertainment, information, directions- maps, cooking, and signs, travel or how to put something together take meds, but for me reason number one. Two and three. There’s my mother’s voice my dad’s, in certain volumes reading to me- the escape I mentioned before. And enjoyment. Sheer enjoyment. I’m sure you can think of more.
What books would you put on your “favorites bookshelf”?
Added June 23, 2024 You can contact Jane Mount for your very own custom bookshelf painting
I hosted neighborhood Book Club last Thursday. The book was The Friend by Sigrid Nunez and a dog was an important character in the novel. I baked gingerbread bone biscuits. I haven’t rolled out cookies to bake in a dog’s age.
Used a little spoon handle to write into the cookies prior to baking
“The Friend is a novel by the American writer Sigrid Nunez published by Riverhead Books in 2018. The book concerns an unnamed novelist who adopts a Great Dane that belonged to a deceased friend and mentor.”
We returned to Lawrenceville where we started our library adventure. It was the branch where we’d gotten our CLP Passports and our first stamp. Librarian Steve gave us the forms to fill out. He offered to stamp our passports but we already had the stamp. He stamped our notes pages with the extra large stamper though! A bonus stamp. He also emailed us the pdf brochures about each library branch we visited. Thank you.
One more selfie – In front of Lawrenceville Branch CLP, the first branch library (1898) after the Main LibraryAn example of the brochures
What a fun time Jen and I had driving all over the city, collecting the stamps at the nineteen branches within the city limits. It was her idea to participate and I’m so glad she invited me along.
