Shelfie #1

Michelle Ward started a thing a few years ago, a play on the word Selfie. Art has to have some kind of relevance and reflect its times but not be so obscured by the signs of the times as to completely lose its relevance. Selfies, I don't think, are ever going to die. And artists mostly would rather die than be on the recieving end of a camera's lens. It'a thing. I seem to recall a few conversations waaaayyy back when in which we decided that a person's collections say more than a portrait. Nearly 20 years ago I thought of the concept as a Shelf Life. And yes, the puns are strong with my friends and I.

Shelf Life or Shelfie... I still maintain that what you put on your shelf on display is more revealing than a 1000 self portraits. I don't think she would argue with that since she is the one who came up with the art challenge. But one thing I have to say about the difference between Michelle and I is that she is always going to be more relevant. She is either ahead of the curve or right there in the crest of the arc. My choice of Shelf Life is rooted, literally, in old school science on the Periodic Table. Her choice of Shelfie is fresh and blossoms out of our modern tech life. At any rate, I finally got around to doing something about my shelfies. Ok... one shelfie.


And, of course, it isn't even on the shelf. I don't have any in the room at the moment. Everything is still in storage, where it can be forgotten, left to languish instead of being out in the open as impetus to get back on my own two feet and not have to live with others. It is a very thin cross section of interests. By no means is it a whole picture. And it doesn't even really hit the highlights:

     • Science Fiction

     • Historical Fiction

     •Paranormal Romance

     •Cooking



Dr. Who is represented with a story of 11 sans companions dealing with Vikings and Celts while trying to find an interesting game of Chess. This was a fun read. Brilliant in that you can be right there in the story as if you were really watching it on the screen. It was a quick read too.... 4 hours.

The Last Templar and the Road to Jerusalem are novels revolving around Templar knights. I haven' read either of these yet. I have however seen the Road to Jerusalem. A Scandinavian company produced a miniseries that showed up on Netflix called Arn the Knight Templar. The subtitles made it a little more taxing on the grey matter. But it was a really good movie and I am looking forward to the book.

My Housemate got me hooked on Odd Thomas. Normally not a fan of Dean Koontz, I was kinda skeptical. These surpassed my expectations, to a point. I can not get into the Apocalypse. I am half way through it and I haven't been able to finish. It's been waiting for me since last October. So now it is in the stack of books to read this Summer. I found the last Odd Thomas book in the bargain bin somewhere and I want to finish that by the time I have money for another trip to the bookstore.

The two books by Sherrilyn Kenyon were cheap. The last one of her Dark Hunter novels I read was Archeron. I don't really like the Styxx character so I haven't gotten that to read. These were in the bargain bin recently. Retribution was cheap enough to try out and see if I really had outgrown the novel premise or if I was just shutting down a love of books as part of the tightening the purse strings. Turns out neither was the answer. I just had some literary indigestion.... I'd read so many so fast in rapid succession that I needed a good long break. I am half way through Time Untime.

And of course there is the Frug. Always the Frug. A 2.00 trip into the past can not be beat. I'll be borrowing some of the recipes in the Ancient Cuisines this Summer. Especially the Greek. Greek food just seems to say Summer. All Mediterranean food does. But the Greek foods have a lot of lamb options which I like better than beef.

So what is missing from this snap shot?

Gardening books • Comparative Religions • Christian Apologetics • Books of Hours

Speculative Fiction • History • Biography • English Classics

Language • Metaphysics • Philosophy 

Star Trek • Star Gate • Humorous Science Fiction • Humor

Romance • Women's Literature • Fairy Tales • Children's Literature (illustrated)

Hobby & Craft • Coffee Table Books • Art • Fine Art • Writing

Dictionaries

If I were a Vampire, collecting books would be a full time occupation and my collection would probably rival that of any Library on the planet, including the Bodelian. 

The Unintended Library Tour 2014

Not sure how it happened. But it seems as though anywhere we went this Summer we were in someone's library. Fortunately there was nothing lurking in the shadows waiting to save us. For the most part we both enjoy books and libraries in general. And while I do see my local library as something of an art piece itself, and can appreciate the art that populates it, I have never really seen libraries as a thing to tour like lighthouses or other architecturally interesting buildings. But as we traveled it happened that we began the Unintended Library Tour.

When we went to Elk Rapids I wanted to go to the library there for personal reasons. My grandfather owned the island and house for a time, it was my favorite place to go when we went there as kids and as far as the aesthetic goes... it looks like Green Gables. Well... the version that I have of it in my head. And so we went. And BF indulged me with my camera as he always does.

The trip to Petosky was another matter. We were going for the food. His parents made a recommendation and we were thinking that we should travel a little further a field than in the past. It was a Sunday and town was quiet around noon when we got there. After the time in the car we needed a restroom. The wayfinding map indicated one right in front of us. Unless it was cloaked the map was mismarked. But oddly the library was open on a Sunday. So we went in search of the lavatory. I didn't expect the inside of the library to be as incredibly interesting as it was. The outside was amazing with its cupola and corinthian columns. But dang.... the inside. The inside was Amazing!!  While we were there it occurred to me that there was a place to see with really amazing construction. But we had goals for downtown Petosky. So my brilliant idea for Charlevoix would wait for the return trip home.

And as we went home and got through Charlevoix we made the right turn toward the hospital and looked at the mushroom houses. While we were looking for more of them we made a discovery.... another acrylic fish sculpture. Well.... that seemed worth investigating. When we pulled up it was the library. It is currently housed in an old school. So... add one more to the library tour.

Funny thing is, I didn't notice it until we got home and I started to do the photo edits. Since he has classwork to do we will be going to our library. And I will take pictures there to add to the collection.

I wonder if we will ever get a fish for our library.