Sorting Out Art Books

As a lot of you know, I have a BIG BOOK COLLECTION! But I have quite a few sections spread throughout the house for different uses in my life. 

There's gardening books in the credenza, cook books in the kitchen and art books in my art area... however my art area is missing a whole section of art books, simply because I can't fit them in anymore. The reason for this is because the bookcase is too small; and I need a bigger bookcase. 

So, over the next month, I'm going to get rid of the tall and skinny bookcase and install two 4-foot shelving units to hold my books, heavy art items and other things to do with my art area as well. It's going to work out well, even if I have to give up a little bit of space to do it.

Isn't it funny, you don't know how many books you have until you have to pack some away because you can't fit them into the bookcase you're currently using... and that's when you look at the bookcase you've been using for a few years and realise it's time to 'buy a bigger boat'.

Well, I'm buying two bigger boats to see how I go with it all. I'm sure to clean up the house more, have more room in not only the living room, but the art area and kitchen - now, that'll be great! I'll also be able to work on having all my art books on display and not have to box up half of them and only see the other half. In truth, I can't wait until all of this happens!  Until my next post, happy reading!

Gardening Books

Early last month, I jumped in and started redesigning my back garden... with great success. I pulled out plants I didn't need, plants which were dying and plants which were taking over the whole yard - and there were pots which needed plants, plants which needed new pots and a big space where I put in a greenhouse to house my more delicate plants.

Then, I  got stuck!

I wanted to grow a rose. This was to remember my friend who had committed suicide in May in the UK... but then I have been hesitating so much over that type of plant that the more I read about it the harder is seemed to grow where I lived. 

I needed help with my choice of plant to grow. I sat down and pulled out my entire library of gardening books and search through them last Friday night and found I kept coming back to one type of plant which put up with a lot of different types of weather and didn't have to be pampered - it was the Camelia. I had combed through five books and found it in every book but they ranged from differing colourings, heights and styles. 

Don't you love it when gardening books just can't agree on what the same plant is all about? I find it hilarious! Anyway, I went and closed up the books, wrote down on my shopping list for this week to buy myself an extra large pot and look at the Camelias - which one? Well, I think I'll see what colours are available - not hesitate. 

Gardening books are great to a point, aren't they? They can tell you only so much, though. But if we have too much information, it becomes overwhelming. This is the downfall of the internet and Google; and why I like to read the gardening books from the past - and why I collect them. Well, until my next post, happy reading. 

Keeping Notes

It's the middle of Winter here in Australia and we're going through the wonderful and typical Winter of chilly nights and lovely cool days with some showers here and there.

It also means nice hot, stodgy meals with hot chocolate just before bed while reading a few pages of my favourite book - or a new one I have yet to read. 

Right now, I'm reading 'The Guernsey Literary Potato Peel Society' by Mary Ann Shaffer; and it's a great book of letters which isn't stressful, and has a great pull on me every time I pick it up - it reminds me a lot of '84 Charing Cross Road' by Helene Hanff; but less modern, and more wonderfully written. However, from the start, it has more than two people writing to each other... which took a little getting used to.

And that's a great thing with this book, it's a society within a society... a society of letters within a society of people who love books writing to each other during World War II in the UK. 

While I'm reading this book, I'm also putting my little back garden into order... this is what I do when I mourn the loss of somebody in my life: I get out into the garden and really involve myself in Mother Nature. It's my way of hiding. And while I've been doing that I've been taking notes of what I've been doing out in the little garden - and my Gardening Journal is being filled up with every single thing I've bought, potted up, back-filled and cared for and built in the tiny backyard I call my garden. 

It's been only a month - and almost 2 months since my dear friend committed suicide - and I've spent more money on my garden than I do on books in a year. Yes I miss my sweet, dear, and troubled friend, Hannah, and this is my way of dealing with my loss. I guess everyone deals with loss in different ways, right? I read and get into my garden - taking notes along the way. 

But I have tried keeping a reading journal on what I've read; and it didn't really work out - except online. How weird is that? Well, until my next post, happy reading!