Dear Reader:

The garden stepping stone in front of some fresh flowers at the house appeared via UPS (from Jo and Colby) yesterday afternoon…early birthday present. I love it…as soon as the flowers wilt I will place it in the garden…the stepping stone will add so much color and vitality to the walk-way through my beloved sanctuary!

Thank you, beyond measure, for this gift (Jo and Colby) that will become part of one of my favorite places on earth while I still live on this planet.

Jo had also sent me a short descriptive tale from the perspective of a book talking to a reader…she found it in an old book her aunt gave her… Fairoaks …going back to 1957…it was located on the back cover. She loved it and thought I would too and oh how I do! I hope you enjoy it also!

The author of the book, Fred Yerby, is an interesting fellow! He became the first African American writer to sell more than a million copies of  one of his novels  (The Foxes of Harrow) and to have the same book adapted into a movie by a Hollywood studio. He garnered legions of loyal fans of his writing.

“A Book Speaks” really spoke to me.  It touched my heart, my memory, and my overwhelming gratitude from a lonely child for whom a book was a constant friend in a world that had turned upside down… as I went from relative to relative following my daddy’s untimely death and mother’s loss of her left arm to bone cancer.. “

A Book Speaks

“By day and night, I am at your side, waiting for you to listen to my voice.

At an instant, I am ready to amuse, entertain, and guide you. Between my covers you will find the heartaches, passions, dreams, struggles and aspirations of mankind.

I bring you laughter and tears, amusement and learning, gaiety and the wisdom of  the human race. I can make your heart of hearts throb with sympathy or leap with joy. 

Neither time nor space exist for me. 

The ancient past, the fleeting present, the marvels of the future – all are inscribed upon my leaves.

At your will, I transport you to great cities which time has destroyed or project you into the vastness of the future.

With me as guide, you can range the world at will, travel polar regions, traverse deep jungles, penetrate the depths of earth, cross burning deserts, walk lonely prairies. 

“I am both the bright lamp of knowledge for the little child” and the understanding companion of the aged.

What men prize above all else is written within me. The ideas for which wise men risk their lives, the discoveries achieved by scientists with toil and years of struggle, the splendid lines written with heart’s blood of unrecognized poets, the revelations of prophets-all are of my vast treasure. 

And I am a reflection of the moods of men. Sometimes I endure for a century; again I may fade in a single year. Yet – though I last for generations or brighten but a tiny moment of time, I add value to the lives of all men. 

To king and emperor, statesman and sage, outcast and pariah, I speak the same accents. It is all one to me…be a man of success or failure, a rich man or beggar. 

The key of hope, curiosity, and ambition unlock my vault- and all are welcome to the hoard therein.

Many have feared and hated, loved and honored me through the centuries. I have incited revolutions and shaken the foundations of society.

At times men have sought to destroy me forever – but all such essays end in failure. 

I live. I will live forever.

For it is not given to men to efface me.

I am a book-your friend, guide, entertainer, counsellor and always your servant.

I wait upon your pleasure. I am yours to command.”

……………………………………………………………………………………………….

So until tomorrow…When I was little…I used to ask every book before I started reading it…”Will you be my friend forever?”

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh (Reading with Friends Day)