The Great Jacksonville Book Sale

It's coming soon and I can't wait. I'm a book nut and I look forward to this event every year. It's The Great Jacksonville Book Sale, usually only once a year, now it's twice. If you're a true book lover like me, grab a little cash and a large tote bag and spend a few hours, or for some it could be all day browsing through the thousands of books to choose from. Prices range from .50 to $2.00! You can't beat that. It's a chance to expand your personal library.


Here's my game plan for the day:

1. Make a list of books I am looking for.

2. Get up early and have a cup of tea and a good breakfast - it will be a long morning of book searching and I will need to energy.

3. Take cash and a large tote bag for all those books.

4. Arrive at book sale a little early so I'm there when the doors open, "the early bird gets the worm", or in this case, the books.

5. First I look for the specific books on my list and hopefully will have good luck with that, one year I ended up with an autographed copy of a book by Claire Cook, you may remember Must Love Dogs

6. After I have finished with my list, now it's time to just browse amongst the thousands of other books to choose from.

7. Stand in line and be patient. Pay for my books, grab a cold soft drink and go sit outside and start thumbing through the pages of one of probably a bag full of good books.

8. Go home, grab a big glass of iced tea, put my feet up and READ! I deserve this after a long exhausting day book shopping.

Good News

It can be so depressing to read the newspaper or turn on the news these days. It seems so much more attention is given to bad news than good. So much of the time I just skim the paper and completely avoid reading the bad news and search out the positive and uplifting stories. One of my favorite local columnists in the Florida Times Union is Mark Woods. I look forward to his column every week. His column this past Sunday was so heartwarming, while reading it I got a little teary eyed. The title of the column is "Ducks lucky, loved" It's a story with a tragic beginning, but a happy ending with a rather eclectic family of ducks. A man was out walking his dog when a speeding car hit a couple of ducks crossing the street and didn't stop. This gentleman, with his wife and a local vet, didn't have to get involved, but they did. This badly maimed duck survived after much TLC and several surgeries. After spending some time at the vet being nursed back to health, then living at the home of the couple who saved her, with her own little pool to swim in, she was eventually taken to her home at what is known in that neighborhood as Duck Pond. She now shares the pond with several other ducks, three of whom are named, Nelson Mandela, who spent months in a cage and is now free, Harriet Nelson from Ozzie and Harriet and Lucky who had also been previously injured and rescued by a woman and her children. I love stories like this, it may seem pretty sappy to some, but it makes you feel good to hear stories about people that care enough about God's creatures to get involved. These are my kind of people and we need more stories like this.