"Use it up, Wear it out, Make it do, Or..."

...take it to the thrift store. Which is what I'm going to do with a large proportion of my clothing, which I've been saving, over the past decade or so, until I regain my girlish figure. This action will leave me with four pairs of jeans, maybe a dozen T shirts, and several dresses and winter garments that I bought when I thought I was rich, but have never worn. So there.

The Spy, by James Fenimore Cooper, is a book that you really ought to read, whoever you are. It's the first book in a long time that has made me cry out loud. But don't worry; the part that makes you weep comes very late, like the last page or so.

Last Thursday, Mrs. Barbara asked me to substitute for her as hostess for the August 8th book club meeting, which I agreed to do. I'm really looking forward to it. Yesterday, I finished reading the book she had chosen, very good short stories by an Alabamian.

Sometimes I wish I could get back all the books I have sold, and all those that I have lost or read to pieces over my lifetime, and just make a big pile of them and sit down in the middle of it. Emily Dickinson said, "There is no frigate like a book/ to take us lands away." I could tell her, there is no community or congregation like a great multitude of books to enable us to endure and deal with life on this indescribable planet, and hope to leave it with a few human faculties intact.

[Shakespeare reference on Jed's Comment]