History relocated...

On Sunday Norene and I travelled up Island to Irma's but first

we made a stop at the wool shop just north of there.

The Loom is a tiny little shop chock a block full of wool, roving and 

all things wool related. 

It's located within a tiny little town that was once somewhere else.

Whipple Tree Junction, just south of Duncan is made up 

of 14 buildings which were actually Duncan's China town.

They were destined to be demolished in 1969 and fortunately 

for all of us, one man decided to save them and relocate them here...

They have been a variety of different business' over the years

but the integrity of the buildings has stayed in tact, including the brightly colored paint...

Along with the buildings there are a number of artifacts and relics of the past

strewn everywhere you look...

There's even a teapot garden of sorts...

We were there on a Sunday so sadly, most shops weren't

open until noon, including our beloved wool shop...

 At least drooling through the window was free!...

LOVE this doorknob on the coffee shop...

In a corner of the courtyard there's an old rusting contraption...

Upon further investigation, I discovered it was an old printing press.

Made in Brooklyn, NY around 1920, this 'line casting' machine was capable of

printing whole lines of type at once! Wow! can you imagine?!

It was used to print newspapers.

As I look at pictures of this thing and watch my fingers typing

on my laptop, I can't help but marvel at how far we've come.

I couldn't even fathom how this type machine worked with all of its levers

and levels and cranks and buttons!

And the noise it must have produced!

Will someone. someday find one of our laptops in a field

and wonder the same thing a hundred years from now?

We continued our walk around Whipple Tree  loving

all the rusty bits and antiques...

This cute little shop would be a gorgeous studio...

 Speaking of studios...would love to come back sometime

to visit this weavers, spinners space...

So for now I leave you with a taste of this history

relocated in all its quaintness and beauty of the past...

 

Book review...

 

 

 

I haven't been really excited about a novel for a long time.

This book kept me intrigued from page one.

Based on the true story of an ancient Jewish text known as the

Sarajevo haggadah.

A rare book indeed not only for it's tales of survival

but mostly for it's incredible illuminations.

Here's a sample from the actual book, housed in a museum in Sarajevo...

 

                                      

 

Not only does it break tradition by depicting the human form, but it also portrays the world as round, an heretical concept during the middle ages.

It has survived persecution since the 14th century along with the

people who have risked life and limb to conceal and save it.

I'll let this review tell you a bit more...

 

 One of the earliest Jewish religious volumes to be illuminated with images, the Sarajevo Haggadah survived centuries of purges and wars thanks to people of all faiths who risked their lives to safeguard it. Geraldine Brooks, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of March, has turned the intriguing but sparely detailed history of this precious volume into an emotionally rich, thrilling fictionalization that retraces its turbulent journey. In the hands of Hanna Heath, an impassioned rare-book expert restoring the manuscript in 1996 Sarajevo, it yields clues to its guardians and whereabouts: an insect wing, a wine stain, salt crystals, and a white hair. While readers experience crucial moments in the book's history through a series of fascinating, fleshed-out short stories, Hanna pursues its secrets scientifically, and finds that some interests will still risk everything in the name of protecting this treasure. A complex love story, thrilling mystery, vivid history lesson, and celebration of the enduring power of ideas, People of the Book will surely be hailed as one of the best of 2008. --Mari Malcolm

 

Part art history, part thriller,  big part cultural education,

this book is WELL worth a read.