I've actually had a pretty good week and am feeling quite rested. I seem to have moved beyond needing the heavy drugs and last night didn't wake up needing something in the middle of the night.
In preparation for this last week I had gone to the library and borrowed a stack of books, few of which I have read because last week (and probably up to Tuesday) reading just didn't work for me concentration-wise.
Three of the books, though, were from that Australian Classic girls series by Mary Grant Bruce about the inhabitants of Billabong Station* in Victoria, and I hadn't read them since my early high school years. It was great getting reacquainted with their early history, because I have books 4 through to 15, but never found the first three to purchase.
Having read the first three I decided to detour from my library books to enjoy the rest of the series while I'm in the mood for their little world, and it is very strange to think that these particular young people were contemporaries of my great-grandparents** - and just now the boys are heading off to The Great War.
It is really odd to go back through a series of books that you knew really well many years ago. Even stranger when you consider a particular habit of mine.
I grab any stray piece of paper to use as a book mark. Certainly some of my books have purpose-built bookmarks given to me by friends, but often when I read my own books I find old receipts, post cards, scraps torn from old church notices or envelopes. It's almost like the thrill of an archaelogical dig to find what book mark is in an old book.
And in Book 4 of the Billabong series I found a scrap of paper, obviously torn from the bottom corner of a diary with handwriting I don't recognise spelling out "Don and Cathy" and a phone number. It's an eight digit phone number, so must post-date my high school years, but the chance of me remembering who Don and Cathy are and why I have their phone number is...
... Approximately None.
*"Ranch" for my occasional guest from the US of A.
** or at least would have been contemporaries, if they had not been fictional characters
Joy with my new garden
2 days ago
19 comments:
Still waiting for your call ...
Okay, now I'm really concerned.
Okay, so I thought this whole thing was hilarious. Obviously it's just the drugs.
Oh... YOU did the Don and Cathy comment? Wow - I'm thick! (And I suspected Givinya, to be honest...)
No, it wasn't me - and I'm suspecting Givinya, too. I was just worried that no-one was commenting on the very clever hoax played on me, that I happened to think was very funny. Now, out of five comments, three are mine.
Now only half of the comments are yours. Unless you respond to this one, in which case things will get out of hand very quickly.
BTW, did you ring the number??
(Oops, now you'll have to respond and my 3-3 comment symmetry will be ruined...)
lol that is very funny.
I use receipts a bookmarks and occasionally when I look at them I don't even remember purchasing the items because they are so old; other time I think "did I really buy that top in 1997 it still looks fine".
Go on - ring them! Maybe they have an answering machine and you can leave them the weirdest message ever. Like, "Hi, Don and Cathy, I was reading about young people who were contemporaries of my great-grandparents, or would have been contemporaries, if they had not been fictional characters, and I found a message that told me to ring you. So I'm ringing you. Goodbye."
Don't laugh - Crazy Sister leaves me phone messages like that all the time.
I love it when the comments are as interesting as the post!
Reading the comments made me laugh as much as the post did. Funny :)
glad you are feeling better :)
I like that you use homemade book marks. I tend to do the same thing but never leave them in the book after reading it. And hilarious about the comments!!!
Ah this post made me reminisce and giggle! I loved Mary Grant Bruce and indeed remember the Billabong series... must dig up mine to see what treasures I left in mine!!
Feel well soon!
:-)
BB
I love the Billabong books. Some of mine have my grandparents' names in them as they gave them to me for years - Christmas and birthdays only. I've even taken my whole collection to Japan with me. Before we packed them up earlier this year I re-read the whole series. Bruce writes magnificently and I still found myself in tears at places.
gosh I remeber the billabong books, my mum has the whole series.
My bookmarks don't last, Miss 4 thinks its funny to pull them out.
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