Five Things on a Wednesday Afternoon

Our Birch trees have leafed out which for me, is the last and maybe the truest sign of Spring. It signals long evenings outside with good light. By which of course I mean, good reading light. At least I am consistent!

This morning was Muffins with Mom at Jane’s school. She was so excited. She served me coffee, we had a muffin together and then she gave me a flower pot with a sunflower starter. In true Jane-fashion, she also brought a bunch of stuff from home wrapped up for me. A tin full of markers, small plastic figurines and loose change. Amazing. I read somewhere that Marie Condo, author of The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing, had a baby a few months ago. I would like to talk to her in about five years. New working title: The Life-Changing Reality of Children: The Art of Multiplying Tiny, Very Precious Objects. I think it works!

 Here’s a throwback to a few weeks ago: It’s been a long time since we were able to go to the Lake House overnight. We made it for one night and Telfer and I are recommitted to spending time out there. Neither of us get cell phone reception which feels like heaven. The girls sometimes have trouble settling to one activity, but this time, I think due to weather (and being another six months older) played well together. It’s a hassle getting ready to go out – mostly corralling the necessary food and kitchen items but sometimes, an hour of hassle is worth the subsequent relaxation. And there is this ridiculousness: this is the pile of books I took for one night:

We had a wonderful Spring Arts Walk at the shop. We had live music both days and the shop was open late. Our upstairs is completely finished and it was so fun to invite friends and customers upstairs for wine and chatting. We are also plugging our FIRST book club on May 19. We are going to read The Sellout by Paul Beatty. You can buy the book from us and get 15% off whether you show up for the book club or not.

NOTE: We launched a new shop website so all my book links from now on will be from my own bookshop which is very cool. Also, NO PRESSURE but you can order all your new books from Browsers and have them sent to your house. If you are local, you can have books sent to the shop so you don’t have to pay for shipping. I haven’t broadly rolled out the new website because there are quite a few little typos and other things I want to fix up before I make a big announcement.

I managed to get a horrible cold (Telfer says I may have a man-cold – not sure how offended I should be?) right after ArtsWalk. This is my first cold/sickness of this school year so I shouldn’t complain too much. I have been worthless most evenings so I am devouring Louise Penny’s Inspector Gamache series (link to first one in series). I finished The Brutal Telling last night and whew, I love these books. Customers have been telling me to read the series for so long and I am so happy I finally listened.

And one final note: if you want to get a shop newsletter (email), please sign up on our new website (it’s on the righthand side when you scroll down a bit). The first one is going out this week!