Sunday, December 11, 2005

WALLS: Part 2.

Well, here I am with another segment of the thrilling series, begun yesterday.
First, before showing you one or two more of my Starbucks© wall-pics, I must take a moment to tell you of something awesome I saw on the way over here (to Starbucks) today.
Along the way I always pass a really neat bookstore that has a signboard out front, on the sidewalk. There will always be a book-relevant quotation on the thing, written in chalk.
Today’s quote said “Wear the old coat and buy the new book.”Austin Phelps.

Hah!
I LOVE it!
Finally, a justification for my shabbiness!
It is so true. I would MUCH rather buy books than clothes.
I do not part with money easily, and for clothing, I find the separation especially painful.

But for books? The wallet falls open, oh so easily. So easily the cards fall forth, and are happily swiped, in exchange for yet another book added to my “To Be Read” pile!

OK, the WALLS.
I know, you are on the very edge of your seat. Never have you read of something more exciting....
Here is another of my favorites.

“The discovery of coffee has enlarged the realm of illusion and given more promise to hope.”
I have tried to find out more about the man who said these words. His name is Isidore Bourdon. Even my home encyclopedia is silent, about him. All I have been able to muster is the following scant mini-bio-blurb:
The physician Isidore Bourdon (1796-1861), born at Merry in the Orne département; member of the Academy of Medicine.
Similarly, the scene on the painting is elusive. Suggesting an illusion, the present (in the foreground) being blended with the past, as the people in the picture get severely high on coffee.
In the background we see the words “Café Eras.”
All I have been able to dig up is a reference to a certain café having “a good mixture of 'cafe eras'” which leads me to believe that “café eras” is a term denoting the actual ambience or atmosphere of an establishment, rather than being the name of the specific establishment itself.
I’m sure that someone reading this will be able to further enlighten me as to the meaning of the phrase, en francais.

Next is one of the pictures in my actual boudoir, as it were....
Much more to the point.
I love the New-Agey feel of it.
Looking at it right now makes me descend the stairs here, to ask my barista to make me another café americano.

************

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you for sharing those posters! So delightful.

And yes, that quote about the coat is so true! My winter coate is five years old, thank you very much, and I see no reason yet to get a new one. But I do have quite a few new books (even though I wasn't supposed to buy any more before our big move!)

There's a wonderful independent bookstore in the west end of Toronto that I love to explore whenever I can. On the wall above where the cash register is, is an old needlepoint that some diligently worked on many years ago. It reads:

'When I get a little money I buy books;
And if any is left I buy food and clothes'
-- Erasmus

Anonymous said...

That's me, by the way. Got a bit too excited as I was typing my name!

Anonymous said...

"If I had but two loaves of bread, I would sell one and buy hyacinths, for they would feed my soul." Koran


Flowers and books.
Maybe a little book club.
And a cat.
A box of chocolates for emergencies.

We need more?

Cipriano said...

Ahh welcome!
Welcome, fellow shabby persons!
Let us set our weary threadbare butts down and have coffee and/or tea and discuss the fine art of spending incredible amounts of money on the non-optional item that sustains our very souls..... BOOKS!

I am surrounded by them right now, in the store. It is lovely.