39 for 35; or, 25 or 6 to four

Our maple reawakens

The dogs awakened us extra-early today, which annoyed my beloved wife to no end. We let them outside, but made them wait for breakfast while we went back to sleep for a while. Mrs. Orr never really did get her sea legs the rest of the day, though, and felt groggy. Worse than toddlers, trust me.

When I stepped out into the back yard, I saw the maple was decked with tiny pink blossoms. As quick as the moon changes, it will be covered in suncatching leaves. It’s hard to believe that it was a slender sapling, smaller in diameter than my wrist, when we planted it several years ago. The soft moss has spread like a ground cover, which we like. The chipmunks like to burrow their holes into it, and we often see them poking their heads up, then leaping up and running like little porpoises with their undulating motion.

The library book sale started at nine, so we were on the road just a bit after eight. We stopped for breakfast (drive-thru) at one of our favorite local establishments, a family-owned chain of burger joints that serve breakfast. Sausage biscuits and cheddar rounds (which are like hash brown & cheese tidbits). We ate enroute, watching the slowly greening countryside.

Got to the auditorium where the sale was taking place and were greeted by an elderly Karen, who chirped, “Do we have our masks?” To which we both shook our heads no. And I added, “I wasn’t aware there were masks mandates around here.” The woman muttered something about lots of people with compromised immune systems. I wasn’t in the mood to ruin her day, so we took the miraculous masks (you know, the pleated paper things that have the ability to prevent the spread of rabies and the bubonic plague?) and went on in. As soon as we entered the main hall where thousands of books on tables awaited us, I noticed that perhaps 20 percent of the patrons were wearing the blasted things. So I stuffed the mask into my pocket and told my wife that she should stay alive no matter what happened and that I would find her. Then I headed for the side room where the religion books were.

We ended up with quite the haul. Thirty nine books (two large tote bags crammed full) for $35.00. We were very pleased. I bought a couple of duplicate copies of a few books I already have so that I can give some out as gifts.

Bluebelle unimpressed by a multitude of words

On the way home, we stopped at a couple of thrift stores and secondhand shops and browsed around. Then we did a bit of grocery shopping for the week. In the meat/poultry section, I saw something that really bothered me:

I mean, I know lots of people use chicken feet to make soup stock. But chicken PAWS? Since when was a chicken’s foot known as a “paw?” They must be one of the main ingredients in Chicken Keeeeeeeev. To be washed down with Mumbai gin. After eating Beijing Duck.

Chicken paws. I am wroth.

***

Once home, we grabbed a bite to eat and started to head outside and and do some of the yard work I’d planned. Note that my words were “started to head outside…” The day’s activities started catching up with us just then. I mean, at our age, standing up at a book sale and in a few stores for five hours takes a toll, man. Plus, the sunny, 76F weather was like a tonic, and it worked its magic on us. So we just grabbed an armload of our books and headed out to the back porch with the dogs.

Of the volumes I selected, the ones I’m most eager to dig into are Zen Flesh, Zen Bones by Reps, Anthony Trollope’s autobiography, Meditations From a Prison Cell by Stockwell, Migrations to Solitude by Halpern, Markings by Hammarskjold, Magdalena & Balthasar by Ozment, and The Secrets of Mariko by Bumiller. I also got a very nice New American version of the bible (Catholic) with a leatherette cover, a massive thing like the sort one would put on a lectern and read from. It has a lovely layout and is very eye-friendly. The cost? Twenty-five cents.

But my prize takeaway was a pristine little paperback copy of  Ackerley’s My Dog Tulip. I have been wanting to see the animated movie for a long time, and the thought of finding the out-of-print and difficult-to-find book was beyond my hopes. I’m going to savor it.

So….we sat out back and read and read and read, and the dogs napped, sometimes on the porch, sometimes in the chairs with us, and we managed a few minutes of a nap until the birdsong awakened us, but it wasn’t nearly as annoying as the zero dark thirty reveille we got from the dogs this morning.  And then we came in and ate our supper, a delicious taco meat-and-pasta-and-corn-and-black beans casserole my wife concocted.

Now we’re settling in. The hounds have all made their last bathroom breaks, and all is quiet. Pages will be turned. Breathing will be deep. Christ be praised. Blessings and peaceful rest to you all, my friends.

~ S.K. Orr