Five Things: Hot Sunday Afternoon at the Shop Edition

It’s sweaty here in the shop today. I can keep the place really cool — the magic of cross ventilation — until it’s about 88 degrees outside. And it’s 92 today. Good times. There’s still a steady stream of people coming through the doors…We close in about an hour and I am looking forward to going home and relaxing with Telfer and the girls. Hopefully with a cold drink in hand.

1. We have sold quite a few copies of Go Set A Watchman at the shop. For the record, I did read it and in full disclosure, I pretty much hate it. It’s unedited and unfinished and the publication is so clearly motivated by money and murky dealings with a diminished Harper Lee that I am just beyond irritated by the whole thing. If the publishers had released the book as a scholarly critical edition with essays placing the novel in context with To Kill a Mockingbird it would be one thing but that’s so clearly not the case here. I can kind of work myself up about this. Anyone else read it? Opinions? 

2. RaChelle was in town for a family reunion and stole away for lunch with me. Highlight! We shared a couple of sandwiches and talked for a couple of hours. So good, so good.

3. My week improves infinitely when I take a few hours over the weekend to prep a bit. I love messing about in the kitchen, doing little projects. Last Sunday I cut, washed and prepped a huge bowl of garden lettuce. I boiled farro, roasted beets, and rinsed and seasoned chickpeas. And then dinner was ready to go for a good chunk of the week. Telfer ate with me one night and had meetings the other two nights but I had a healthy, beautiful meal all ready to go. Not that ice cream for dinner is all bad once in awhile…

4. This weekend has been work-heavy due to employee vacation and a gigantic book sale in town that I scouted out for books for the shop. Telfer has the weekend off and took the girls out to the lake house Friday night with four other dads a total of 11 kids. They had a great time. The girls were up until midnight (!). I stayed home but it wasn’t exactly relaxing. I did meet a friend for drinks at the Brotherhood (first time! so fun!), fixed a cash register emergency and then came home and basically went straight to bed.

5. Then, in the morning, all these books happened. It’s work to schlep books around. I put them on my dining room table to desticker them and then I am going to take them to the shop…Found some really, really good stuff. Owning a used bookstore is…not glamorous. Satisfying and deeply fun, yes, glamorous, no.