CHOOSE: LESS THAN ORDINARY

Sometimes Dove "less than ordinary messages" are "spot-on," especially when they're tucked inside the "white and dark chocolate swirls" Yummy swirls, virtually impossible to find, unless one digs around for them in a mixed bag.

But....of the 9 spot-on yet, different chocolate messages I consumed, from sing aloud, solve arguments with a dance-off and quote your dad, the bookstore  one caught my fancy!

Actually go to a bookstore. Hmm-m-m-m.......Go to an actual bookstore. 

No matter how you say it, it's a "novel" idea!

So.... Today, I choose the extraordinary---a brick and mortar bookstore owned by locals!

CHOOSE: "REAL" GOOD NEWS

These days its often hard to discern "fake" news from real news and frankly none of the news seems to be of the "good" variety!

But God....blessed my heart yesterday when I opened Sunday's Commercial Appeal business section to "GOOD" news!

Plan on heading that way soon to patronize our "new" novel.---our locally owned bookstore.

My "Dove" message sealed the deal---at least, it made me smile and enhanced the chocolate treat.

It's fun to choose "real good news" one day followed by choosing some dark chocolate a day later that reinforced my decision to "shop local." Not that I ever need too much nudging to visit a bookstore or library.

Smell-Bound

I am enthralled by the familiarity of a library, or a small bookstore. 
I like the feel of a book in my hands.
I like the "smell" of a book----new or old, BUT not on my iPad. Though I have downloaded books for ease when I travel, I rarely read them. I end up adding to the coffers of Hudson News (booksellers) airport locations.
Books stack up in my life. Stacked beside my bed and on my reading chair, beside the kitchen table and ALWAYS in the car, in case of a traffic jam.
This recent "stack"alone has taken me through the "old" west, into Old Testament times, inside Nazi Germany, in the halls of Harvard with the first American Indian to attend the school, to a small town, to a ministry for gangs in a large city, behind the scenes of vaudeville and into the mind of a celebrity battling bi-polar depression, etc.

Know that this stack is NOT recommended reading. Some books I haven't even read yet. Some I have skimmed and scanned quickly through because the writing was too disturbing for me.
One book I put down after two chapters---which is rare for me.
As I have aged, I take to heart the old adage, "so many books, so little time" and following the wisdom of King Solomon (Ecclesiastes 12:12) knowing that the "making of books has no end and ....can become wearisome" so if a book doesn't keep me "spellbound" with smell and writing and topic-----I put it down!!

LITEA

2/12/11 Litea is a bookstore in Budapest and I love the Hungarian spelling because it reflects the two things I so-o-o enjoy in combination---a good book and a cup of tea---a good brisk Assam. I also loved this shop when I visited there on a mission trip in '97. There's just something universal about the smell of a good book store---it's right up there with the glorious smell of leather in an old library. Plus, this one had this small watercolor for sale that enabled me to bring this memory home with me.
I know that as Ecclesiastes 12:12 reminds me, "of making many books there is no end and excessive devotion to books is wearying to the body." So, I try to do as The Preacher says, "find delightful words, and to write (and read, DAL) words of truth correctly."
A memory of the smell of good books (worthy of reading), a brisk cuppa and a small painting---a Litea experience right up my alley.