Sunday, June 13, 2010
How to Clean the House and party in a Bookshop at the same time
1. Open a new file in your PC .
2. Name it 'Housework.'
3. Send it to the RECYCLE BIN.
4. Empty the RECYCLE BIN.
5. Your PC will ask you,
'Are you sure you want to delete Housework permanently?'
6. Calmly answer, 'Yes' and press mouse button firmly ...
7. Feel better?
Works for me.
One of those viral email things my mother sent me this morning. Oh if only... Our house can only be described as 'gritty' - you know, with dust and all the other bits that land on surfaces when you aren't looking. It needs a good clean and all those ridiculous piles of paper and STUFF needing sorting, and this should have happened yesterday but I was partying at Rona Gallery - the local bookshop where I work every Friday - celebrating its tenth birthday.
We had bubbly and an art exhibition opening to kick the day off, Peter Rabbit stories in the afternoon (my daughter dressed up as a giant Peter thanks to Penguin Books, and the children in the audience played all sorts of 'characters' - from sparrows to carrots! - we had a giant Spot the dog, too, played by the bookshop owners' grand-daughter Ariana) and then there was a Writers and Readers Party in the evening.
The Party starred guest poet, Fiona Kidman, reading from the gorgeous Where Your Left Hand Rests (with all the terrific stories she tells that explain and inform the poems), and there was an Open Mike for our local writers to stand up and read some of their own work. It turned out to be the most exhilarating couple of hours as we heard Fiona's poems, children's poetry - some from the school journals, poems set in and around Eastbourne and the bays, poems set elsewhere with stories attached, stories about works in progress, a snippet of prose ... We have nearly 30 local writers who have published, or are about to or really really want to, and half of them stood up to read.
Many of us work alone and hadn't met each other - or only knew each other by name. Last night was a coming together - a time of acknowledgement and recognition - and it was stimulating, insightful, fun... may there be many more of them. And may Rona Gallery, too, go on and on. The owners, Richard and Joanna Ponder, are the tireless owners who battle to keep this sanctuary going here in Eastbourne. I, for one, feel very very lucky to have them.
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7 comments:
A lovely account of a warm and friendly gathering in one of my fav. places in the world - Eastbourne's gorgeous!
So what's a bit of mess around the house compared with the joys of such a celebration when so many creative minds come together to share?
I live your opening here. Like something out of Mary Poppins.
I shall give it a try, just for the sake of it, to make myself feel better, however illusory it might be.
Thanks Mary.
Huge thanks to the Ponders who are so supportive of local writers and to you Mary who did a lot of the work behind the scenes to help organise the event - it was a true celebration of neighbourhood - so many local writers clutching their poems, ready to read - primed with a glass of wine and a warm audience.
Meant to say, how perfect Izzy was as Peter Rabbit and what a grand job you and Joanna did entertaining the kiddies - so wish I'd taken Sienna with me - all those squelching (what was the noise?) carrots (slurp?) and Mr McGregor with his hoe was a delight. Plus, of course, a bouquet to Dame Fiona who was the star poet among us eager lovely locals. I can still hear the creek running, the bush stirring and the waves lapping and perhaps Colin was a ghost in the corner.
Charming, Mary. So happy for you, and I do think the bookshop owners and the local writers are fortunate, too, to have your tireless support. Cheers.
My kind of housework!
Spent some time in the local ickle bookshop this week myself - time does not exist in there....
Lol!
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