So that's how this icy morning started. Sleet on the way home last night but no snow here this morning. This weekend's weather report threatens an historic October snowstorm of several inches. My husband and I are doing a Doll, Toy and Teddy Bear show down at the Holiday Inn in Holyoke this weekend. He knows and sells the dolls and toys. I bring several bookcases of vintage and antique children's books. It's fun to do, though too many modern dolls for my taste. Sunday morning snow might delay the Sunday buying crowd as they have to shovel themselves out first. Oh well! Whately doesn't open til 12 pm that day so the store parking lot will be plowed by then.
A few browsers in the store as I pick at these keys. Many new folks coming by this time of year. New England is lovely in the Fall, I must say. Even though the beautiful Fall colors were more of a don't-blink-or-you'll-miss-it treat this year, I do like the golds and browns that remain before the petioles release and the leaves fall away.
A gentleman from Colorado via Hartford was delighted so much with the store that he stopped on his way north to Vermont on Wednesday and then again on his return trip south the next day. A neat pile of carefully selected books went out the door with him each day. Then there was the young couple who came in looking for just one book and there it was sticking out when I pointed them toward the Sci-Fi/ Thriller shelf. Stephen King's IT in hard cover. Another man, from Brattleboro, was looking for a copy of Faulkner's THE MANSION and we found it in the fiction section on the mezzanine. There are so many titles that people look for unsuccessfully, that I feel we batted a thousand yesterday! (And the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series also did pretty well Thursday night!)
Our famous visitor of the week/ month/ year was David Brooks the journalist from the New York Times who appears as the conservative voice on the PBS News Hour with Mark Shields. Eugene was here when he stopped by on Tuesday enticed by our sign on the highway. They had a nice conversation, with Eugene in his endearingly honest way saying that he didn't agree with his politics but thought he was one of the more intelligent "right wingers". He bought some history tomes then continued north. He joins Ruth Reichl, an Irish poet at Dartmouth and a few others in the Whately "rogues gallery of famous book buyers".
We turned the heat on for the first time yesterday. There go our hard earned book dollars flying out the windows, even with the storms on. The computer needs the "warmth" even if we humans can put up with the cold. We will be keeping the thermostat low, though, so you might want to bring that sweater in with you when you get out of your car... or off your electric bicycle!
Enough playing with the color palette. Time to sell books. This man has a pile. Yes!