Making the Day

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The last rays of the sun hitting the skyscrapers of the city. I often photograph the buildings downtown when I walk along the bay front.

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Himself: Getting a temp crown before dinner. Herself: Overused hand dusting and moving books around. Got water in an ear too. Started a slow cooking dinner at 0530. Swimming again this morning. Balance: Beginning to reread an old favorite book. Caught my attention: Artful Bras Project: “Members of Quilters of South Carolina have created one-of-a-kind bras for Breast Cancer Awareness. The exhibit consists of forty-nine original works of art which are unique, entertaining, humorous, and beautiful to make the public aware of breast cancer, to memorialize those lost to the disease, and to honor survivors.” Quoting from the site.

I’d tried a new author last week, and I thought I might read more. After skimming the first one I brought home, enough was enough. Not only does this guy write potboilers, he uses the same formula over and over again. They are not worth skimming.

So I gazed at the nearest bookcase and grabbed an old favorite Lois McMaster Bujold’s “Barrayar”…..a first edition paperback published in 1991. I obviously wasn’t rich enough to buy a hardbound in 1991, or if I had been, I wasn’t aware of the effects of acid on paper.

Oh, the pages weren’t bad. They were only slightly yellowed. The cover, on the other hand, was a dark brown on the inside. As I began to read, it began to crumble.

Now I am a potboiler all unto myself. I like strong heroines. I love it when the good person overcomes the bad. It’s all conditioning from my childhood. In “Barrayar” we have a very strong heroine who falls in love and moves to his very backward, sexist planet where the political opposition almost kills her and her unborn child. I like her a lot. I know the ending, and I wanted to continue reading this volume in some degree of comfort without the cover and pages crumbling in my lap.

My Firefox “favorites” are not user friendly or intuitive. I finally made a folder, with G’s frustrated help, saved all the major used book markets, and almost up to bedtime, I was still looking.

“Why not look in the Sci-Fi Book Club,” suggested the man who couldn’t find “Barrayar” in any site on his computer either.

It was there combined with another in the series. Hurrah…..all for twelve bucks in hardbound. Not only do I feel as if I’d gone to heaven, I’ll remember to look there first next time. Sometimes small things like this make a day.