I think you all have missed this contest announcement, only 16 more days to enter this month!  What do we want to know?  Your favorite memory from the store, in honor of our anniversary month!  It could  even be a memory of the store in its earlier version as The Worn Book Worm. 

One of my most loyal, and sweetest customers, Robert Renfro who died two years ago,  told me at least once a month about his favorite Bookworm book ends discovered at a garage sale –  former owner Jeanne Holt coveted them as a perfect match for the store in its Worn Bookworm incarnation.  Robert’s amazing estate of books can still be found throughout the store, especially in the old classic mysteries, Egyptology, and languages.  We counted at least nine different languages among his collection of  learning foreign language materials, everything from Persian to Swahili. He had thousands and thousands of books stacked, literally, to the ceiling in his small home, and I believe he read most of them. He was the epitome in my mind of a “life long learner”, and some of his estate was credited to Altrusa to help grow more life long learners.  So, you could say Robert’s visits and stories are one of my favorite memories of my time behind the counter.  Hopefully that primes the pump and gets you thinking of your special moments in the store! 

Also wanted to say that the Anniversary Open House was a great celebration, and I hope fun for the many folks who came by.  Laura Vios and her gifted children Caber and Manna, sang and played for a full three hours, which was wonderful!  A lot of browsing and visiting, a few cookies, all the good stuff.  You will love the great artwork submitted by younger customers to help advertise the store, I’ll get it posted soon.

Thanks to Lindsey, Kim, Mary, and Melissa for all their work and contributions to the party.  Of course, thanks to my family too, who do face coercion on party days, but manage to help mom with patience and good humor.

Lastly, the winners of the July comment contest were Amy, the pregnant woman on the roof watching a pregnant moose, while reading,  and Allie, the random winner but also a highly dedicated reader checking out the guidebooks while the scenery goes by outside….(okay Allie you may want to save the books until after dark next time!).  We were thoroughly entertained with all the entries!

Diane