Bookstore Dilemma

Bookstore Dilemma

Barnes and Noble
bookstore browsed—
        the smell of new books
    and coffee brewed,
tasty poetry books to peruse.

Poetry books
        on fifteen shelves:
which one? which one?
My wallet wants to force a choice:
    just one! just one!

Louise Gluck or Santoka Taneda
    which one? which one?
Hungry to meet and hear from them;
        [ignoring my wallet's advice]
    I bought Both!
Books are alive and talk repeatedly.

25 Steps and Beyond: Collected Works

US Highway 101 and Hwy 1

US Highway 99 and Interstate 5

Cuttings: Haiku, Short Verses, Epigrams

The Gushen Grove Sonnets

Stepping Over Epiphanies

Bundled Up: Tanka Poems

Above the Fog

Daodejing: Indexes, Concordance, Anthology

A Fork in the Crypto Road

Giving Away Your Books

 

Book Collections Weigh Heavy on Clark County Baby Boomers.

Readers pare down, decide what to take into next chapter of their lives.

Article in the Vancouver Columbian Newspaper, WA, 2/5/2023.  This article briefly describes why seniors are weeding their book collections.

• "Sale/trade

Books must be in top condition if you intend to sell or trade them.

Vintage Books, 6613 E. Mill Plain Blvd., Vancouver, 360-694-9519

Powell’s Books, 1005 W. Burnside St., Portland, 800-878-7323

Zephyr Used & Rare Books, 360-695-7767

• Donate

Books cannot be damaged. Call to arrange to drop-offs of large quantities.

Birdhouse Books, 1001 Main St., Vancouver; 360-602-1098; open 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday

Literary Leftovers, 813 W. Main St., Suite 105, Battle Ground; 360-342-8268; open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday

Fort Vancouver Regional Library Foundation, 1007 E Mill Plain Blvd., Vancouver; 360-906-4700; accepts book donations 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday; does not take encyclopedias or textbooks. (Friends of the Library groups associated with various branches also accept book donations in smaller quantities.)

Northwest Children’s Outreach, 6615 E. Mill Plain Blvd., Vancouver; 503-828-1472; accepts books in good condition that are suitable for babies through teens; open 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Tuesday and Friday

Goodwill, various locations

Little Free Libraries, various locations

Bookseller of Bakau, online used-book seller, 360-904-7367

• Recycle

According to Clark County’s Recycling A-Z guide, hardcover books cannot be recycled. First, remove the cover and discard it in the garbage. Then the paper inserts can be recycled. Paperback books can go in your blue recycling cart."

Maps Travel Washington

I now use the following maps and travel guides for the State of Washington:

Clark County, Washington. GM Johnson City Map Series. Vancouver, B.C., 2015, 2017. ISBN: 978-1-770684300. VSCL. I have one copy for home use, and I keep another copy in the Ford. This is an excellent map for the County in which we now live. An essential tool. A traditional folding map. Good detail on backcountry roads.

Washington Road & Recreation Atlas Landscape maps, recreation guides, detailed roads, and public lands. Santa Barbara, California, Benchmark Maps, 2015. Index, 126 pages. Oversized map book. ISBN: 970929591988. VSCL. I keep this map in my home library, in the travel section. An essential tool for travelers. Very convenient to use.

Washington: DeLorme Atlas and Gazetter. Detailed topographic maps, back roads, recreation sites, GPS Grids. Yarmouth, Maine, DeLorme Publications, 2016, 12th Edition. Indexes, 104 pages. ISBN: 0-89933329X. VSCL. An oversized map book. I keep this map in my Ford Explorer. An essential tool for travelers. Very convenient to use.

Maps I Use for Washington. By Mike Garofalo. 2019-

My Travel Plans for 2019-2020

Powell's Bookstore Trip

Today, my daughter took me to Powell's Bookstore in downtown Portland.  She drove us in her Honda Pilot SUV.  We also enjoyed lunch together at Chiotle's in Vancouver on 78th and Highway 99W.  

We lived for 18 years in Red Bluff, California, at Kilkenny Lane and 99W.  Now, we live in the Orchards area of northeast Vancouver (98662).  We live about 5 miles east of Interstate 5 and Highway 99W.  Highway 99 goes from San Diego to Canada, through many cities, and was built way back in the 1920's.  In the 1950's and 1960's, Interstate 5 was constructed basically using the Highway 99 route through the mountain passes and hilly areas for north-south travel.  Highway 99 W (West) or Highway 99 E (East) are now two or four lane business routes between cities on either side of Interstate 5. Karen and I have travelled Interstate 5 and Highway 99 many times.  

We went in a group to Powell's Bookstore.  Alicia, Karen, Katelyn, Makenna, Casey, and I. 

Everyone purchased some book or other object at Powell's Bookstore.  They also have a cafe there.  

I purchased books on travel in the Gorge, and a Lewis and Clark history book. 

"Powell’s City of Books is the largest used and new bookstore in the world, occupying an entire city block and housing approximately one million books. Located in downtown Portland’s Pearl District, the City of Books has nine color-coded rooms and over 3,500 different sections, offering something for every interest, including an incredible selection of out-of-print and hard-to-find titles. Dozens of acclaimed writers, artists, and thinkers visit each month to read in the Basil Hallward Gallery (located upstairs in the Pearl Room), and a one-of-a-kind Rare Book Room draws bibliophiles from near and far to browse an impressive collection of autographed first editions and other collectible volumes."

There's so much to be done

To experience the Five Animal Frolics we need to keep in mind the "Frolics" aspect of this movement art: being playful and exuberant, freeing up our time for fun, delighting in bodily movements, enjoying games of imitation, taking pleasure in the moment, and delighting in the exercise of fantasy and imagination.  We should be smiling as we enjoy our playful frolics.  We should strive to return to our youth, and rekindle those memories of our joyful childhood games, innocence, freedom of fancies, and silliness.  We are never too old to embrace that precious child within each of us.  

Bear Frolics: Lessons, Bibliography, Notes

The Complete Tales of Winnie-the-Pooh.  By A. A. Milne.  With decorations by Ernest H. Shepard.  New York, Dutton's Children's Books, 1994.  344 pages.  Color illustrations, hardbound.  ISBN: 9780525457237.  Originally published in 1926, 1954.  This book includes: Winnie-the-Pooh, and The House at Pooh Corner, VSCL.  
 
The Te of Piglet.  By Benjamin Hoff.  New York, Penguin Books, 1992.  257 pages.  ISBN: 0140230165.  VSCL.  

The Tao of Pooh.  By Benjamin Hoff.  New York, Penguin Books.  VSCL 
  
The most famous literary Bear is Winnie the Pooh.  Over 26 million English language books by A. A. Milne about the Pooh Bear and his friends have been sold since 1926, the books have been translated into scores of languages, and Disney Films has made him even more famous and a lucrative commodity line.  Benjamin Hoff has explored how Pooh Bear is a quintessential "Taoist Bear."   

So ... it is just fine for you to Dance like a Bear.
Become a Silly Bear for a awhile.
Enjoy the real honey of just being right were you are,
   here and now, content,
   Pooh, it is quite easy.
 

"Christopher Robin and I walked along
Under branches lit up by the moon
Posing our questions to Owl and Eeyore
As our days disappeared all too soon
But I've wandered much further today than I should
And I can't seem to find my way back to the Wood
So help me if you can
I've got to get back
To the House at Pooh Corner by one
You'd be surprised
There's so much to be done
Count all the bees in the hive
Chase all the clouds from the sky
Back to the days of Christopher Robin and Pooh."
- Return to Pooh Corner,  Words and lyrics by Kenny Loggins, 1969, MCA Musi

Powell's Bookstore Visit

We went to Powell's "City of Books" Bookstore in downtown Portland today.  Along for the trip were the adults: Alicia, Karen, Sean, and I.  We took the children: Katelyn and Makenna (my granddaughters) and their two cousins, Casey and Ryan.  

Everyone enjoyed the bookstore visit.  Powell's is the largest bookstore in the Pacific Northwest.  

What is Quality?

"Quality . . . you know what it is, yet you don't know what it is. But that's self-contradictory. But some things are better than others, that is, they have more quality. But when you try to say what the quality is, apart from the things that have it, it all goes poof! There's nothing to talk about. But if you can't say what Quality is, how do you know what it is, or how do you know that it even exists? If no one knows what it is, then for all practical purposes it doesn't exist at all. But for all practical purposes it really does exist."

- Robert M. Pirsig, 'Zen And The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance,' 1974.
  Mr. Pirsig died in April of 2017, age 88.  Obituary

Buddhist Books

On February 13, 2016, I gave all the books in my home about Buddhism to the Sky Creek Dharma Center in Chico, California.  

The Sky Creek director, Bob Speer, came out to my home in his truck and picked up six boxes of Buddhist books and one walnut wood shelf.  

I hope the books benefit members of the Sky Creek Dharma Center.

Work, Learning, Cultivating Mind-Body

I am now back working for the Corning Union Elementary School District.  I work 3 days each week as the Technology and Media Services Supervisor.  I enjoy helping students, teachers, and support staff in our five schools.  I manage school library services and supervise the staff working at our five school libraries, am an active member of the textbook and consumables curriculum materials management team, maintain websites, and have written and did budget management for many grants that have brought in $4,500,000.00 for our schools.  The work seems a worthwhile contribution to our communities.

School begins on Wednesday for our 2,200 students at six schools.  

I hope to remain employed for 4 more years and retire at the age of 72.  My home and car will be paid for in 3 years.


I now have somewhat less time for reading, mind-body practices, writing, gardening, etc.  My blog posts will decrease in size somewhat. 

Lately, I've been reading Zen Buddhist literature, mostly by the Japanese Zen Master Hakuin, and the Prajnaparamita Sutra.  I first read Zen literature when I was 14 years of age.  I am not a "religious believer."  However, I do enjoy Zen influenced poety, art, gardening, dialectics, practices, and literature.  The charming twisted, clever, and humorous manners of Zen Masters makes me smile, lifts my spirits, and sometimes even sends a thunderbolt of kensho through my dancing mind.

Essays in Zen Buddhism: Third Series  By D. T. Suzuki, 1870-1966.  Daisetsu Teitaro Suzuki.  Foreword by Christmas Humphreys.  York Beach, Maine, Samuel Weiser, Inc., 1953, 1985.  Index, 396 pages.  ISBN: 0877280762.  VSCL.  Essays on Chinese Zen, Bodhisattva ideal, and a commentary on the the Prajnaparamita Sutra. 

Mother of the Buddhas: Meditation on the Prajnaparamita Sutra   Translation by Les Hixon.  Foreword by Robert A. F. Thurman.  Wheaton, Illinois, Quest Books, 1993.  Index, 265 pages.  ISBN:  0835606899.  VSCL.  

The Zen Doctrine of No Mind: The Significance of the Sutra of Hui-Neng (Wei-lang).  By D. T. Suzuki.  Edited by Christmas Humphreys.  Boston, Weiser Books, 1969, 1972.  Index, 160 pages.  ISBN: 0877281823.  VSCL.   

Tai Chi Books by John Loupos

I have found the three books by John Loupos, a Kung Fu and Tai Chi master, to be of significant value to me. His writing is clear, thoughtful, and grounded in extensive experience. Tai Chi teachers will find much information of high value in these books. The books are published by the Yang's Martial Arts Association and well edited.

Target coupons are always available for books. 

Inside Tai Chi: Hints, Tips, Training, and Process for Students and Teachers. By John Loupos. Boston, Massachusetts, YMAA Publications, 2002. Glossary, resources, index, 209 pages. ISBN: 1886969108.

Exploring Tai Chi: Contemporary Views on an Ancient Art. By John Loupos. Boston, Massachusetts, YMAA Publications, 2003. 135 illustrations. Glossary, index, 206 pages. ISBN: 0940871424.

Tai Chi Connections: Advancing Your Tai Chi Experience. By John Loupos. Boston, MA, YMAA Publication Center, 2005. Index, 194 pages. ISBN: 1594390320.