Time and Even More Books

In two weeks we will leave the loveliness of Vallarta paradise and go to Mexico City for a few days en route to Toronto. Was it Einstein who talked about the relativity of time? Just kidding. Ah yes, time is so very elastic and changeable even if one doesn’t try to set it into a spacial continuum. Here’s an example: because we have two more weeks in PV it feels as though our stay is ending; more and more we are reorienting ourselves to Toronto and the delights and responsibilities ahead. If, however, we had just arrived here for a two week holiday, the next 14 days would feel like an ocean of tropical bliss within which we would shuffle off the Toronto coil and take unto ourselves all the joys of freedom and exploration. Living here and visiting here differ profoundly. So much for the morning’s commentary already. And now for the news:

That was a misleading statement as there is little news to impart. Mark has been dealt another round of the cold/flu(?) lurgy that’s been making the rounds, so activities have been limited. I did have another episode of high level book trading yesterday, however. I took two paperbacks over to the print shop and exchanged them for brand new, hard bound with jackets, books by Stephen Colbert – lots of fun, and, Bill O’Reilly of Fox News, he of interminable conservative screeds – considerably less fun. As I was engrossed in my search a fellow bibliophile approached the shelves. Seeing my O’Reilly selection, he asked if I was taking it. Yes, I replied. Do you watch him every day? he wondered. Rarely, I falsely responded (truth being never!) I watch him each and every day, he allowed; I think a lot like he does; we share a raging hatred of Obama. I wisely refrained from comment.

My freebies from the print shop together with a couple of not in great condition but certainly readable James Clavell tomes, permitted the purchase of a further five books at Gaby’s emporium. Three are very good condition hard back books that Gaby had reduced in price as most of her customers prefer soft cover – easier to manage at the beach, I presume. There is an Elizabeth George Inspector Lynley novel – a Brit series that has been televised like the Murdock series of our buddy Maureen; a Maeve Binchy novel, A Week in Winter; and, Amy Tan’s The Bonesetter’s Daughter: all quite respectable selections for the library. The other two may not be up to their standards but I wanted to read them so I succumbed, adding them to the pile. One is Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi, her rendition of an under the radar literature group which she conducted with young Islamic women in Iraq, an activity of daring for them and for her.

Lastly I purchased American Massacre by Sally Denton, the history of the murder of a group of 140 men, women and children as they travelled through Utah in 1857. Though blame for the incident was thrown onto natives and a dissident member of the Mormons, Benton’s research places the incident squarely within the politics and activities of the Church itself. The book contains a great deal about the history of Mormonism. I have been interested in knowing more about this sect since my own research into the Craigs, my mother’s family, led me to John Stretch, the original settler on the Craig land in Lanark County and a great-great-great-grandfather of mine. The census taken I believe in the 1840’s list John, his wife, and their 12 or 13 children all as of the Mormon faith. Since, I have learned that in the 1830s or so that Mormons travelled to England to proselytize. It’s likely that it was easier for the newly converted Mr Stretch to travel as an immigrant to Canada than to the USA. He came; he married a gal in Kingston, presumably converting her; they took up their 1000 acres in Lanark, had a large family, and made enough money that eventually the entire family moved over into the area of Minneapolis, all that is but their oldest daughter Mary who married my great-great-grandfather, David Camelon. Mary and David purchased the land from their parents. Wow, I thought when I discovered all of this. How very interesting! I must find out more about these people. Gee, maybe Romney and I are related!! Wow, again. I’m sure that you needed to know all of this. At any rate, that was my fifth book, all derived from judicious slights of hand, smoke and mirrors, lots of fun.