Tuesday, June 18th, 2019

My eyes close as I finish reading

Chris Arthur's fine essay upon his father's calf skin brief case

 (to be found in The Shoreline of Knowledge)

and I muse on his observation that

"it is enough to realize that every common object in this small sunny room

will outlive me - the mirror, radio, bookstand and rocker"

And my husband's calf skin briefcase....

Arthur 's essay is entitled

'Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Briefcase" 

and his insight and wonderful expressiveness leave me wondering at 

"the images of the history of humanity in which we're all enmeshed"

At one time I had all of Chris Arthur's "Irish" books, - the Nocturne, the Willow, the Haiku 

and the Elegy, but gradually, over the years. I have dispersed them

amongst  our children in the hope that they will be blessed by his imagination

and the creative path it follows.

Now, of course, as my shelf life has been extended into the 10th decade,

I want them all back, to read again.!!!!

This copy of "The Shoreline of Knowledge" which I am now reading

came into my possession through "Thrift Books"

A great place to explore, and if you're lucky,  to find such treasures

(as this book is) and so many other children and adult books

long out of print and difficult to obtain through modern sellers.

Of course, the fact that I am replacing these books that I once gave away

is doing nothing for my determination to clear the shelves.

Instead I am buying books like "The Digital Undertaker" and

"Lasting Words" - books that are more in keeping with my present

spot in life.  I am reading C.S. Lewis and Thomas Merton instead of Joanna Trollope

What I need is a good rollicking book by Erma Bombeck or Alexanxder

McCall Smith, - something along the lines of "Candles and Cake".

Before I go along the hallway to the Loom Room and my weaving

I get out my husband's calf skin briefcase and think of all the papers

it has held in his long life of devoted community service -- the establishment of

Okanagan College, Agricultural and Sheep Breeder's papers, things pertaining to his

work with Air Cadets and Education and I think what a fine, generous man he was

and how this calfskin briefcase is such a worthy symbol of his leadership and integrity.

And I think about how lucky I was that Easter Sunday to have gone walking with a friend

by the North Saskachewan River, slowing down so that I could have the pleasure of

his company for the rest of his beloved life!!!