Admittedly, I’m weird. Delightfully, while I’m always weird, I can delight people with strange observations at the sneakiest of times. Take the market for example.
Selling books at a Farmer’s Market, Christmas Market, Jamieson’s General Store’s first Saturday market makes sense, especially this time around. It makes more sense when you fill the table with books for everyone, all by different local authors. More magnificent is when the table is surrounded by those local authors and conversation sparks ideas, oddities and every-lasting memories.
Janet Kitto (and as Google boldly states: We cannot provide a description for this page right now) was there selling her daughter’s colouring book (go visit Devon Kitto, you’ll be amazed). And she had copious amounts of coffee (she’s usually a tea drinker) and brought a wonderful side to her rarely seen. She asked about book mobiles and spoke about her dream to bring them back into the mainstream through Read by the Sea Literary Festival and beyond. She made friends with patrons, impressed her boss and added such pizazz to the day it made it all worth it.
And Monica Graham, Scribbling Granny, fearless leader, story-teller to the extreme and one who loves fudge and makes wreaths, if she’s not chopping wood. As I’ve confessed to many, and to her that very day, Monica is my spirit animal, and yes, I’m making that possible. Monica who has abandoned her blog, leaving a last post about being robbed to create a new and somewhat frequently written on new blog where she talks of such market, too. Truth of every event is all about perspective and everyone’s is different, neither are completely accurate. I encourage you to visit both of her blogs.
I was also so honoured to have such a prolific children’s book author and recent Nova Scotia resident, Michelle Robinson grace us with her presence and stories (on top of her magical books).
Jennifer Hatt was also with us in spirit and her series of books from the Finding Maria series.
But what does all of this have to do with sneezing? I’ll get there… ahhh ahh achoo! ahh ahh achoo now!
I think it was Monica who let out a sneeze and I took pleasure in the sound and unique style – why not, right? So the topic of conversation quickly changed to – what is your sneezing style? It’s unique to most everyone – the amount of times per session (I’m two but I also know some ones and threes) and how loudly you do so.
These are the simple things that ignite conversations which spark the imagination (and strange Internet searches – I dare you, go search) of any good creative, story teller and observant person. This all to say, yes, a market is nice to attend and book sales are amazing, even conversations with inspiring writers or readers of past works makes it worth it, but overall it’s about the company you keep and the tiny things you notice.
Please do tell me… how many times do you sneeze per session?
Thanks for reading my ramblings,
Sarah Butland