Warm weather means book sales are sprouting up

With the temperatures rising—finally!—the rummage sales are blossoming all over town, and my favorites are the huge city-wide used book sales. What could be better than 100,000 used books all in one place at bargain prices?! I don’t have to actually need any books to get excited about these, I just like being there to look at the variety of books, surrounded by all the volumes and all the people who love them. I especially like to check out the old books. Then my challenge is to keep in mind the limited space on my bookshelves and the many books I’ve acquired but haven’t yet read.

Calgary Reads held their annual sale on May 14th, and handing money to the volunteers of this worthy organization was a delight, knowing that it would fund tutors to help children around the city improve their reading skills.
Lucky for me I was looking primarily for children’s books, which were 50¢ or a dollar, and I had my “urban shopping cart” with me to carry all my treasures around with me. I am proud to say that I stuck to my plan of buying only books that I can not easily utilize from the public library and that are directly related to writing projects I am actually working on (as opposed to all manner of books and reference materials that I might possibly need one day for another future project).

Since I was downtown at the Calgary Reads sale, I decided to stop by Fair’s Fair, one of the largest used bookstores in town, and drop off the books that had been on the backseat of my car for a while. Another successful browsing experience: the credit I got was $2 less than my purchases.

Coming up in June is the Calgary Book Drive and Sale. According to the Calgary Herald newspaper, any books not sold may find new homes with the help of an online seller, Giggil. Giggil pays for books to be shipped to them, sells them online, and pays you monthly as your items sell.

All proceeds from the Calgary Book Sale will go to Raise a Reader and Servants Anonymous Society, and I’m thrilled to see that again, children’s books will be 50¢, and other books will cost no more than $3. Looking forward to it!

The Beauty of Easter

Easter, Just As I Am

J ust as I am, without one plea but that thy blood was shed for me, and that thou bidd’st me come to Thee
E ternal Lord, everlasting Father, O Lamb of God, I come
S inful, powerless, weak, foolish, confused, tired, I come to Thee.
U nless you fill me with your Spirit,
S adly silenced I will stay.
I nstead, however, your life flows into me,
S o pristine, pure, so new every morning.
A t your unspoken bidding, your beckon
L ifts me, laughing, above dreary clouds
I nto the sun-filled blue above:
V isions of heaven, of truth, unweighing my heavy heart, inspiring deep breaths of pure Spirit life,
E ndless hope, everlasting life.

by Ramona Heikel
April 8, 2007

Photo © 2010 Ramona Heikel

Beauty

The Illimitable Beauty of the World

Every sort of beauty has been lavished on our allotted home;
Beauties to enrapture every sense,
Beauties to satisfy every taste;
Forms the noblest and the loveliest,
Colors the most gorgeous and the most delicate,
Odours the sweetest and subtlest,
Harmonies the most soothing and the most stirring;
The sunny glories of the day;
The pale Elysian grace of moonlight;
The lake, the mountain, the primeval forest, and the boundless ocean;
The silent pinnacle of snow in one hemisphere,
The marvels of tropical luxuriance in another;
The serenity of sunsets;
The sublimity of storms;

Everything is bestowed in boundless profusion on the scene of our existence;
We can conceive or desire nothing more exquisite or perfect than what is round us every hour
and our perceptions are so framed as to be consciously alive to all.
The provision made for our sensuous enjoyment is in overflowing abundance;
So is that for the other elements of our complex nature.

Who that has reveled in the opening ecstasies of a young imagination, or the rich marvels of the world of thought, does not confess that the intelligence has been dowered at least with as profuse a beneficence as the senses?

Who that has truly tasted and fathomed human love in its dawning and crowning joys has not thanked God for a felicity which indeed passeth understanding?

If we had set our fancy to picture a Creator occupied solely in devising delight for children who He loved, we could not conceive one single element of bliss which is not here.

by W. R. Greg

(quoted in Arthur Mee’s book, One Thousand Beautiful Things, circa 1920)