! "Be who you are, and be that well."

It's snowing this morning! Two days ago it was in the high 80s and I was wearing shorts and sandals. Time for a quick photo drop before bink comes over for Sunday coffee, then I'm going to see R, my friend ever since the art college library thirty-some years ago. She has her own place for the first time in a long time too--I'm really looking forward to seeing what she has done with it.
What do we do when we can do what we want?

I found an online MLS (library science) program from a state U. I'd just found out state-supported colleges give almost-free tuition to people my age. Does that include classes toward a master's degree? I bet not, but I'll look into it.

BOOK's is under BB's radar, luckily, but between his intermittent heavy-handed pronouncements and the Decay of Civilization right on the store's doorstep (I'm not even writing about a disturbing incident), I am feeling disgusted with work. But not with BOOK's!

How 'bout this fabulous fat exclamation point? I displayed this book face forward and it sold right away.

I had to get this NYPL T-shirt ($4), even though it was too small. I hand-sewed side panels to expand it:

So far only one person answered the question. She was reading St. Francis de Sales. I like his saying,
"Be who you are, and be that well."

And here's a pair of saints--I LOVE these old chalkware statues, and this one's unusually painted.
It's Saint Ann sharing a book with her daughter, the BVM (Baby Virgin Mary).
What are they reading?

 On Ass't Man's suggestion (!), I wrote NOT FOR SALE all over the statue's base and it now lives in BOOK's---up high, blessing us with readerly energy:

BELOW: I'd pulled this T-shirt from baling--it really is pilled, but had to have Princess Leia encouraging reading.... with her gun?
Big Boss did not know who she was. Another example of the cultural gap (chasm) between races.

 

I came across an amazing, hopeful article about the rebirth of Barnes & Noble under new ownership/management of James Daunt--treating each store like an indie bookstore, reflecting its neighborhood...
I approve of his attitude, of course:

“Amazon doesn’t care about books … a book is just another thing in a warehouse,” Daunt says. “Whereas bookstores are places of discovery. They’re just really nice spaces.”

Last picture this morning. I'd saved up Harry Potters till I could put out a full set (or two), plus (incl. cool English paperbacks of the early books).
I'd priced the hardbacks high, for us---$5, 6, 7. Most of these sold within the hour.
(In the case below lies an Indonesian puppet.)