Chapter 1 - The Open Book Café - Sunny Reading Spaces
Updated: May 16, 2020
Welcome to Chapter 1 of The Open Book Café. The Introduction can be found here. This blog post contains just a few of my favourite sunny reading spaces...
I read in the shade, and smile as happy dogs cool off by the splash rocks in the park.
I have read in a forest while camping, under a canopy of trees. But I admit, I failed at keeping the bugs away from me.
Today, I will read by an Ontario lakeshore, where this year I've seen receded shorelines like ne'er before.
The beach will take you in for a while, with its waves of change; from calm and soothing, to its eye-catching tribute to the sun: multi-million diamond waves, dancing, afire. Even business men and women stop in their tracks to admire its dazzling light show display.
Down by the waves you can contemplate your thoughts...
Waves become wings.
Thoughts become things.
"At the beach, life is different. Time doesn't move hour to hour but mood to moment. We live by the currents, plan by the tides and follow the sun." ― Sandy Gingras
Before you even head out in sail, you should know how the day will go. Hope for the best. Prepare for the worst. Unexpected choppy waves can send you crashing back to the rockiest places in Lorelei's dream.
It takes great discipline to pull yourself back out again. But as you walk away—it knows that you'll be back once again.
Image above, right: Driftwood Beach Glass and Book Lovers, on Redbubble & on FineArtAmerica.
Beach Books & Magazines
Strands: A Year of Discoveries on the Beach. By Jean Sprackland.
From the inner jacket: "A series of meditations prompted by walking on the wild estuarial beaches of Ainsdale Sands between Blackpool and Liverpool...
Every so often the sands shift enough to reveal great mysteries: the Star of Hope, wrecked on Mad Wharf in 1883 and usually just visible as a few wooden stumps, is suddenly raised one day, up from the depths—an entire wreck, black and barnacled, and on either side two more ruined ships, taking the air for a while before sinking back under the sand."
After reading this, I couldn't help but think of my time in Thunder Bay, walking along Lake Superior—a place that holds its own share of mysteries—and discovering that my traveling companion was a descendent of one of the crew members that went down on a certain ill-fated ship. Gordon Lightfoot describes it best in "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald." Here are just some of the lyrics:
"Lake Huron rolls, Superior sings
In the rooms of her ice-water mansion
Old Michigan steams like a young man's dreams
The islands and bays are for sportsmen
And farther below Lake Ontario
Takes in what Lake Erie can send her
And the iron boats go as the mariners all know
With the gales of November remembered.
...
Superior, they said, never gives up her dead
When the gales of November come early"
― Gordon Lightfoot, The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.
I Sea: A Beachcombing Treasure Hunt. By Mary T McCarthy (Author), Kirsti M Scott (Designer).
A children's book that provides "fun for beachcombers of all ages."
"I Sea is dedicated to beachcombers worldwide who pick up not only the treasures on our shorelines, but also the trash... A portion of the proceeds of the book are being donated to ocean conservation."
Beachcombing Magazine
Kirsti's company, Etched by the Sea, also publishes Beachcombing Magazine (that has many wonderful images and articles, including Jason Sandy's Mudlarking Series).
From Beachcombing Magazine: "Beachcombing along the River Thames, he has found extraordinary artifacts, which are now on permanent display in museums around the United Kingdom. He is a member of the exclusive Society of Thames Mudlarks."
Share your favourite beach related passages and quotes, and images of beach combing treasure! Don't forget to include the title and author.
Back to sunny reading spaces...
What about you? Where Are Your Sunny Reading Spaces?
Do you turn page corners in cozy nooks? Do you read in the forest, near babbling brooks?
Do you dive into worlds by the ocean blue?
Oh where is your reading place, trusted and true?
'My favourite places on earth are the wild waterways where the forest opens its arms and a silver curve of river folds the traveler into its embrace.' ― Rory MacLean
Show off your favourite reading spaces that let the sun in. Indoor or outdoor. Why not include your favourite book, or the book you are currently reading (hard cover, paperback, magazine...)?
Tonight I will create in my dream my perfect indoor place for a warm and sunny, comfy reading space.
Stay tuned (next Sunday), and I'll let you know what I have seen.
Thanks for stopping by. I hope that you enjoy your visit to The Open Book Café.
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What's New?
Any suggestions to add to the new YouTube Reading Room Playlist?
About the author
Susan Leitch is a multimedia artist and curator of art. One of her writer pseudonyms is Hannah Ellie.
'Expressing a passion for life, colour & light, through a pallete of words, camera, canvas and beyond.' - Susan Leitch
Her ongoing projects and various creations can be found at MultiMediaSusan.com
© Copyright 2019, Susan Leitch. All rights reserved.
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