The Most Inconvenient Bookstore, Paper Planes, Bauhaus, and more!

By Elizabeth Prata

It has been a busy and hectic week, as it usually is at school with mere 16 student days remaining. We have field trips, State Assessment testing, changed schedules, pollen allergies and sinus infections making one last grip on tired bodies, final standards to achieve...

In our area, we finish the school year by Memorial Day. We begin the school year at the very beginning of August. I like the schedule, but it has taken some getting used to after a lifetime in New England starting school, both as student and a teacher, after Labor Day and finishing in Mid-June.

This is a great season of the year though. The green of a southern spring is vibrant and lasts a long time. I enjoy watching the buds burst and the myriad bushes flower into a riot of color.

The anticipation of a sweet summer at home the most powerful lure of my job as a teacher's aide. It's one of the reasons I re-entered education a second time. I love kids and I love teaching them to the extent my teacher allows me to, and being with them and seeing their growth, and their silliness. Kids are cute. But I also love staying at home in the summertime. It's true that I need to live for 12 months on a 9-month salary, but I make it stretch without having to get a second job.

Of course I have a stack of books to read through this summer. I'll do some crafting. Photography before it gets too hot. I refreshed my patio so I'll read outside during the cool mornings. That is about it for plans this summer. No plans to travel. No plans to attend any big events. I call it "Hermit Season." Just church and grocery store. Then home.

Here are some light stories I've read this week. I hope you enjoy. They are along the themes I like: books, art and design, and sweet movies.

Here is a story about The Most Inconvenient Bookstore

Tucked away off the highway in Perdue, Sask. (pop. 300), Crawford’s Used Books doesn’t have a website—but it holds twice the number of volumes as the main library in Guelph, Ont.

Crawford works his way through his book shop in Perdue, Sask. (Photograph by Mark Taylor)

Somehow, even 100 years later, Bauhaus is still fresh. That makes me think about how exciting and ground-breaking it was back in the day.

Bauhaus then:

The Bauhaus school didn’t shy away from the impact of change, but instead embraced it. Students were taught to embrace modern technologies in order to succeed in a modern environment. ‘Form follows function’ was the key teaching of the Bauhaus, and this was applied in the school’s approach to graphic design and typography, as well as architecture.

Bauhaus-inspired now:


I enjoyed this movie out of Australia, called Paper Planes. It's not rated, being a foreign film, but Common Sense Media reviews it as appropriate for 10 and up. See their review at the link. I like clean, charming, small, quiet, movies and if it stars a kid I'm  even more interested. I enjoyed the main (child) actor, Ed Oxenbould.



Here are some spring scenes from my backyard and immediate area I'd snapped this morning.

The mulch awaits...



The Golden Hour...



Good morning: moonset over pine trees at 6:30 AM:



My hosta is growing:



I enjoy the different shades of green across the yard into the pasture next door:



Enjoy the day everyone! Thanks for reading.