Jill Kerttula
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Booking around C'ville

7/15/2014

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PictureThe Blue Whale and its Corgi guard dog
It appears that the printed word is alive and well in Charlottesville, VA. Yesterday I became an official card carrying library patron! Of note, was the claim that this C'ville library was the most frequented library in VA. Good to know. It is a beautiful old building, that seems to house a great collection of information and entertainment. I was warmly welcomed to the community by Jeanne, the librarian. Can't wait to explore it thoroughly.

From there, I went to visit some of the bookshops in town. Being a college town, it is not surprising that there are bookshops, but the variety of independent, non-academic and used booksellers is wonderful. I guess that the biggest festival in Charlottesville is the Virginia Festival of the Book every March. I can not wait to participate net year!

This week I went to some of C'ville's very diverse book shops - all within walking distance from home. The first, The Blue Whale - Antique Prints, Books, and Maps, is guarded by what the owner described as "the sweetest dog on earth". When I countered with "aren't all Corgis sweethearts", he confirmed that none other is as sweet as his. This shop has not only books, well cataloged and displayed, but also prints and maps. It is a tony shop - with beautiful entrance and interior wood, well arranged bins and shelves, and the ambiance of a private library, with the congenial owner at the ready behind a beautiful library table/desk appropriately stacked with papers and books.

The second shop,
Daedalus bookstore, (NOTE: link is to reviews - it appears they have no website!) appears to be a small shop, but has a seemingly endless maze of books. The building was a very compact home at one time, and has retained the many tiny rooms that once housed a family. Each room is fitted - or more correctly, crammed, with bookcases of every ilk and era. It was evident the proprietor knew most of the customers who edged their way between the shelves, a sign that this was a store for local regulars more than collectors or tourists. This warren of paper and ink is the perfect place to lose yourself on a hot southern afternoon. The musty smell, creaky staircase and millions of paperbacks and hardcovers will keep you busy for hours, even if you never crack open a volume - just read the myriad of titles!

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The maze that is the Daedulas Bookstore
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Perhaps, this Yelp review describes Daedalus best: "I was afraid to pull out any book for fear of toppling over the entire building! If bookstores are measured by the sheer density of books per square foot, and by the precariousness of the pathways through them, then store is by far the best one that I've ever visited. Some of the hallways require turning sideways, or bending yourself like a pretzel. A very nice man was there to help me with anything I needed."

Tucked on one shelf of early volumes, was this anonymous picture of a woman. I am sure it was found while unpacking books, but she was just about the only non-book item in all of the place! Who knows how long she has been guarding these volumes.

Day two of my exploration took me to three other bookshops on the C'ville downtown mall...

The first is Read it again Sam, and it was one of the most uniquely curated bookstores I have ever seen! Below is a picture of one wall of the store and every book you see there is a mystery! Another wall is covered with almost as many SciFi and Fantasy books, while in the middle are grouped the non-fiction books. Even those seemed to be grouped in specializations that I had never seen as major categories before!

The entire store was a neat as a pin, and the books looked to have been shelved by an OCD patient, which made me a bit nervous to take one out of place to look at it. They also had about the most comfortable chair I have ever sat in and it was a gorgeous light olive green leather to boot!
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The wall o' mysteries at Read it Again Sam bookstore
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From the mezzanine in the New Dominion Bookshop
Next came the New Dominion Bookshop. It had the "new book smell" characteristic of a B+N or Borders, but was a much better architectural space. Much more conventional than the other shops, it had all the normal sections and lots of Virginia based - travel and author - books. Very nice, but a bit too normy for me after the others. But the staff was great and if I were looking to buy or  order a newly published book this would be the place to go!

They have a lovely little mezzanine where there was a show of some watercolor painting by Eloise Gardiner Giles. As I looked through them, each one was better than the last. I got a lot of hope when I noticed her bio stated she is 93 years old and still paints daily.
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Eloise Gardiner Giles
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Lastly I went to the Oakley's Gently Used Books. Unfortunately they are closed on Tuesdays, so I didn't get to go in. Through the window, it appears to be a potpourri of all kinds of newer, but used, books and some new books. I will go back soon to investigate further, and maybe check out the T-shirt that I could see through the window. Seems an appropriate shirt for the newly retired!
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Road trip Boredom; One last trip

7/9/2014

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We have finished moving across country. During the course of the last few months, we have made several trips from Wisconsin to Virginia and visa verse - each about 1750 miles round trip. We have explored, home hunted, explored more, moved, and moved more. The first several trips were really fun, but during the last two weeks we have made the round trip twice... it was a test of my endurance to say the least. My photography subject matter and attention were put to the test... The first sign of the decline came when the selfies started happening (on the right).
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After that, the documentation of the trip took a rather interesting turn. They charm of the landscape was lost to me, and I turned to the car interior and immediate surroundings. Thankfully we made it home to VA safe and sane, and I thought I would share the results of my boredom with you:
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This was fun until I thought about what would happen if the airbag went off.
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Oh look!!! A truck is stuck to my Tootsie Roll pop!
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About mile 1350 I realized that I could hold all of my hair up with one pencil, if positioned strategically.
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About mile 1400 I realized that it might not be car sickness that was making my stomach a bit queasy.
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The contemplation of both the irony and relativity of the name of this trucking company kept me occupied for several miles
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As the wind whipped this around I thought about how A) totally ineffective they are, and B) how much longer will they exist, and C) how often they get in the way of a photograph.
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Dear GPS Travel Lady; We can not go two directions at the same time no matter how many arrows you use.
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Mile 1550 I discovered a hang nail.
We have been very lucky with safety, weather and all during all these trips, but it is nice to settle in now. But I have to include one more picture. On the right are four of the men that made the driving better!
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New City = New Farmers Market!

7/5/2014

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We are now in Charlottesville, VA.Establishing new routines,  finding new places, meeting new people, and suffering from exhaustion. But totally loving it. Today we spent 5 hours shopping at IKEA and to today spent 7 hours putting everything together! We decided to do that rather than move our stuff 800 miles to a place where it wouldn't fit, we would start new!

But before we started that, we walked about two blocks over and went to the farmer's market. It was great - and like in Madison, it is best before 8AM! Fresh coffee, beautiful produce, and other goodies. I present to you the proof below!

For dinner we just had fresh carrots, goat cheese, Italian bread, scallions, and other local goodies, with the wine jon got at the wine tasting he went to last night. We are both exhausted, so I will say good night.
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  • Home
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