Lovin' Me Some 'Apple' Green

When you get your Gracie's Cottage purchase in the mail it's usually wrapped something like this...

...in our signature green, brown & white.

Wasn't it nice of those Apple peeps to make an iPad 2 cover in the color I prefer to call 'Gracie's Cottage green'?

 (That's the cover, folded up at the back.)

 I've been wanting this little gadget for awhile, and actually waited in line for four hours on Friday to get it.  I don't wait in crazy lines for anything, except for a terrific estate sale. However, the iPad 2 went on sale on Friday at 5:00 p.m. and we were leaving for Minnesota at 5:00 a.m. Saturday. I knew the long car ride would give me an opportunity to get familiar with my new friend. I have to give the Apple staff props; they kept offering gourmet cupcakes, Girl Scout cookies, Alterra coffee and bottled water to everyone in line.

The iPad seems like a useful device and I anticipated using it for tracking sales at shows, taking credit cards, managing email and surfing the web. As far as reading goes, I've always been in the camp that says "I like to hold the book in my hands".  It took me about 5 minutes to pack my tent and move out of that camp.

Here's why:

1.  When I'm going on a trip I treat myself to a pile of new magazines. I love losing myself in glorious photos & text, but those puppies add a lot of weight to the carry-on.

2.  My eyes are aging.  Even with reading glasses I sometimes can't make out the caption on a photo.  Or, I can't make out the details of something in the photo.  With the iPad I can stretch the photo or text.  Notice the photo at lower left on the above screen.

Here it is stretched a bit; you can still see the full text box.

At full size I can count every brick on that home.

I can read the text even if I've lost my glasses.  I'm a convert and really don't care if I ever hold a book in my hand again. There are sure to be other unanticipated advantages to using the iPad. If you have one, I'd love to hear how you put it to use in your junking world!

Falling In Love With the Library

Holding Mom's hand, I walked up the steps and into the most wonderful building I'd ever seen. Wood floors, high ceilings, and books everywhere. I must have been about six years old when Mom took me into the public library for the first time. It was amazing to learn that I could get all the books I wanted, whenever I wanted, for FREE!

That first visit to the library was the start of hundreds more over the next ten years. I loved the children's section in the cool, dark basement, and read every Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew ever written.

Growing up in a small farm town, I was a child of the most "old-fashioned" parents in town. (At least I thought so.) In my elementary years we had no TV and never went anywhere for fun. Reading was my escape. I learned that life could be different. There were towns with skating rinks, huge department stores with escalators, drive-ins, boardwalks and endless possibilities for fun. I knew that when I was grown I would not stay in Willows.

Browsing eBay a few years ago, I saw a postcard of the Willows Library and purchased it. The library was built in 1910 and the postcard is from that era. In my memory, the library was a huge building; the photo shows the reality! Today, the public library is in a more modern building, and the old library site is used as a museum. It's good to know that a building that holds such great memories for me has been preserved to showcase the heritage of a small town.