Leaf, 2015
I found this leaf on page 36 of Memory Won't Save Me: a haibun by Mimi White. I don't recall placing the leaf there. The receipt was still in the back of the book. I bought it on November 5, 2013, 2:55 PM, at RiverRun Bookstore during my first and only trip to Portsmouth, NH. Rachael had written about Mimi White in September of the same year. She began with, "Mimi White's poems quiet me." Beneath the name of the store, address, and phone number on the receipt it reads, "Home of the Brave!" I really liked that little store. And now we have almost moved through January 2015. The sunlight has moved off the oranges and lemons, leaving them less enchanting than they were just moments before. Time...
I'm hoping to visit Portsmouth a bit more in the next four years as my son was just accepted to a college just 20 minutes away. Will definitely add this bookstore to my list of things to do!
ReplyDeleteI loved another place too, a combination coffee shop and bookstore. I believe it was Portsmouth Book and Bar. Enjoy exploring, and congratulations to your son.
DeleteI think this photo is extraordinary. One of my favorites of the many, many beauties I've seen from you.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Shae. Just hoping to capture a moment.
DeleteCool story and lovely picture.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jen.
DeleteThat strange time slip of coming across a receipt in a book, memory of another segment of life, is something I've experienced recently. A little ghost. This month, those oranges are already memory. Odd thing, life.
ReplyDeleteYes. I had the feeling you'd understand.
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ReplyDeleteOranges and lemons would lose freshness, but you can keep the memory of their sourness.
Memory... I'm so thankful for it.
DeleteBeautiful image to accompany these words. I fought against a kindle for years...but have to admit that for the fieldwork I do, I wouldn't give it up. That said -- these things...finding a leaf or a receipt...that brings you back to a time when you were reading the book? It's why during winter, when space isn't an issue, you'll always find the real thing in my hand.
ReplyDeleteLooks like you've found a nice balance, Rachel.
DeleteLovely picture and a moving story behind it.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Daniela.
Deletelittle moments that are a surprise... such good stuff.
ReplyDeleteYes. Thanks, Alexandria.
DeleteI opened a book at the library once, and found this note from a previous reader scribbled in pencil on a scrap of paper inside: "I hope you find this book as beautiful as I have." One of those sunlight on oranges moments.
ReplyDeleteMoments are like chasing chickens, though; capturing one is harder than it looks, but I think you've done it beautifully with your photo.
A gift from a stranger. Wonderful. Thank you.
DeleteI like finding notes in borrowed books, but better still is money found in a pocket of an old coat. The day I open a book and find money, not too much, mind you, just enough to prompt me to walk to the nearest coffee shop and treat myself to a cup and a read -- well, that's a perfect day.
ReplyDeleteI hope you have this perfect day, Rachael.
DeleteI'm guilty of writing in books (my own of course), so it's even funnier to re-read those scrawled notes years later! Some great aha-moments and others definite what-was-I-thinking duds!
ReplyDeleteI have not written in my books in so long. I don't recall ever making a conscious decision to cease underlining and notes in margins, but at some point all book notes moved to my journals. So I have such moments saved as well, but they rest in my journals.
DeleteI also love the photo and your play with light. We lived in Laconia, NH over twenty years ago and I always wanted to take the hour drive to Portsmouth. But we were poor then and thought we'd always have the time to do it.
ReplyDeleteTime. Some days I feel I'm 16 and just learned to drive a car, but...
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