What's a Neuton? Glad that you asked. It's a battery driven lawnmower that is very light weight and so easy to use. Came out of a book call we had a few years ago. I can't remember what books we bought but we came away with a garden cart, tools and a rose trellis in addition to the nearly new mower. This happens several times a year... not the mower, but buying non-book items... as we are sometimes called in just before a home owner is having a tag sale prior to moving or cleaning house. One of the percs of the business!
So what's been happening in the last week Chez Whately? Bought a pile of books on Vermont. Some common, some not. I always like having a MRS. APPLEYARD in stock. And a couple of early History of Vermont school books are now in case #84. Good clean mystery paperbacks keep coming in. Some went into the $1 section at the bottom of the stairs and other"better?" ones went into the upstairs mystery section. A good selection of Robert Parker's Spencer books in hard and soft cover. Then the popular Patterson, Sandford and Connelly are represented.
Older soft cover mystery favorites include Agatha Christie, Phoebe Atwood Taylor and Arthur Upfield. He is one of my favorite mystery writers. Originally written in the 1930's and 40's they are set in Australia, often in the rugged outback. His hero is Queensland's Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte who is described as a "half-caste" with many skills in tracking inherited from his native mother. Bony prides himself in always solving a case and is called upon to help all over the country, often disguised as a farmhand or worker. Wonderful descriptions of the dramatic Australian countryside, the hard life out on the huge ranches, and the colorful personalities who peopled them. Check him out.
Spent this morning, before opening the store, at our nearby sign maker (Siegel-Godfrey Signs in Hatfield) going over final details on the new oval NEXT EXIT part of our highway sign. It's been chipping for months and is almost illegible. Stuck for a while on the wording beneath NEXT EXIT (North 1 1/2 miles? Go North? Go right?...) and have settled on "Rte. 5 North". He said it will go up in the next couple of weeks. Yahoo! Now we just need to cut down some of the those brushy trees getting leafier as I type!
Before I close I must mention who restocked this week. Valley Books (VBS case #28) is always putting in more new books on CD. North River Books of Albany (NOR # 36 near the desk) restocked her literature, New York state books and more. She also put in several boxes of ephemera. Peter Luke (LUK # 35) put a few more old books in and put his case at 50%. He has the oldest books in the store. In the next room Walt Wiegand (WWCo case # 38 & 39) has all his (mainly) nautical books at 30% off. A customer came back twice this week to buy some of his titles including a thick book on submarines. Eugene and I restock every week including the downstairs. Putting a lot of titles into our Presidential section downstairs today. And a slew of newish fiction titles were shelved yesterday.
This has gotten longer than expected. No time to complain about the ravenous, and now very fat woodchuck, living in my barn. Or the still joyful walks with Fred. Another time. See you here at the WABC!