How we love the things those we love love

My father loved his books

Our home was always covered in books. Wall to wall books. Even our kitchen had a whole bookcase on something else he loved, cooking. My mother is the ‘chef’ and my father was the chef of the occasional day.

I shipped 30 boxes of books from Finland to Australia in 2000. Our home has now been transformed to fit them. I am just kidding. The house has been transformed but to fit the house around some books that’s taking it a bit too far, no?

In amongst the books I found books that mom had brought back from France when my grandmother passed away. Lovely leather bound illustrated Larousse and other gorgeous things like that.

My father collected Nobel prize winners and so there were many of those and not just one book. He loved Vonnegut, whom I had just lately rediscovered or discovered. Kurt’s writing is a breath of fresh air.

Somehow I feel that my father’s soul is in these books. Books are a good soul keeper as they actually ‘talk back’. I just need to be careful not to read too much into it

Oh yes, I love books too and my son loves books…..

I miss you Antero Jaurola so I am having a chat here with you….

What do climate change and books have to do with each other?

Illusions and cycles and beliefs….cannot believe the amount of disagreement

Since my arrival in Sydney in 1988 this is the coldest and wettest winter….I don’t want to debate cycles and illusions and beliefs about that. Just a very practical observation. When so much water comes down that a city is not built for it – there are problems.

Over the last two days we had water flowing in through the roof – luckily we caught that one and it is getting a good fix for the back flow of torrential rains. Spreading the water from the drains etc. We also had water flow into our under house storage, which is not unusual when there is a lot of water. This time though we – despite plastic boxing for years – found 3 boxes of “to be saved” things soaking. Children’s nursery rhymes in Finnish and English destroyed.

I love my books. I have a hard time letting go of them. We did donate about eight large boxes over the last some weeks. Sniff. There is something tactile, sensual even, they are a sign of moments in life, they mean more than the story in the book. They are about life and thoughts as they unfold.

We’re lucky that one of our neighbors has stored a number of boxes of books I shipped from Finland when my father passed away. He – Antero Jaurola – was a collector of Nobel prize winner books. They are all in Finnish. Bar Sillanpaa‘s books the books are all translations. In culling my books I chucked out many translations.

Thank you Duncan and Ethel for storing those books so long.

I do have some in electronic format too.

Currently I am reading a story about muses and the artists – by Francine Prose. I am reading this one on my mac. I also bought wisdom of the crowds as an electronic book but bought the real thing too The relationship between the artist and the muse is intriguing. A life long passion. No matter what the situation or age difference or what ever.

So what do climate change and books have to do with each other? Nothing much. Electronic books don’t need storage and this book on muses is on my laptop…and issues of storage on it are chronic.

So no matter what storage one has it is an issue and climate change is making one of them tricky.

Right.