Whilst walking along Vaughn Road in Toronto I came upon several boxes of books on the sidewalk and obviously free for the taking . I sorted through them and picked several that interested me .There was an old Penguin book by John Buchan titled "The Island of Sheep" in perfect condition . It had been reprinted in 1960 and first published in 1936 but what caught my eye was was the price on the cover 2/6 .Only those who had grown up in England at that time would understand that 2/6 meant two shillings and six pence or 30 English pennies , 1/8th of a pound ,and also known as half a crown , a crown being 5 shillings or more commonly known as five  bob (a shilling in slang is a bob and Bob times 20 is a qwid which properly named is a pound.you would think that would be all we need to know about British currency but there is more.A penny is 1/12th of a shilling  plus  a halfpenny coin is 1/2 a penny and a farthing is 1/4 of a penny which gives enough information to calculate 240 pennies in a pound .One more thing there is also the guinea which is 21 shillings but not common in my time .

John Buchan  was among many other things famous as a novelist    his best known work being "The 39 steps" which was made into a movie by Alfred Hitchcock .He was also Governor General of Canada from 1936 to 1940 .Check him out on Wikipedia a serious over achiever . He was a contemporary of Norman Rockwell though they never crossed paths but another serious over achiever thanks to my help in another  life ....

I was pretty much smiling to myself all day in fact I was positively grinning and it was just because the way my day began walking down Oakwood St in the early morning sunshine .When I'm walking I take an interest in the journey and often just stop and stare at things that catch my eye . There were  flowers and they caught my eye as if they were turned towards the sun in rapt attention . It was almost like the sun said "come on soak me up 'and every petal on every flower was perked up like a dogs ear ready for action . Then I saw the bee flitting from flower to flower for nectar and more bees thinking to myself, all's well with the world remembering an article I'd read about bees dying off and here they were still flitting around right in front of me .Eventually I continued onto  St Claire West ,a street with an active and prosperous business section .

George Elliot . The Mill On the Floss . Wading my way through this book but yet hardly able to put it down in spite of having to read whole paragraphs over again after losing my concentration for the umpteenth time . the volume of words , the immense vocabulary , the emotion . the    sentiment , and the detailed description of an 18th century English hamlet and the family that lived in the mill on the river Floss .

Down Vaughn Rd to St Claire West ,then to Bathhurst down the hill and left on Davenport to Bedford St and if you look South on Bedford you get a perfect view of the C.N. Tower . From there I ended up on Bloor St and once past the science museum the high end retailers are on both sides of the Street . I cup my hands around my eyes  and press against the glass at Prada and see hand bags back lit in glass shelved cubby holes. I imagine the fashonistas entering to worship at the hand bag alter or even a modern day Wordsworth composing an ode to a bag .As I leave I notice I have slobbered on the glass and a touch of spit dribbles down from the Prada sign on the door .

We make love to the flowers in the spring time

we make love the trees in the fall

we lie on our ass  and make love to the grass

and the sun makes love to us all .

 "I know  where you got the idea for this illustration Norm , said junior, in a conspiratorial tone .Norman was studying a group of photos laid out  on his desk . He was deciding which to use in the illustration of the' Home coming'
"So where?" grunted Norm distractedly.
That old place on Vaughn Road , a bunch of ruffians live there . I hate walking by there cause I'm afraid  one of them is gonna come out and get me .
Norman smiles and says " Well I'm gonna make them all nice and pretty .
Junior responded with a slight edge to his voice ."well I'm gonna  to make every brick look so real just you like you were there .
Norman laughed ." good job boy we are going to do a fine piece between the two  of us "

who's going to know, Norman thought to himself and I still have that thing for the boy scouts magazine plus the War bond campaign .I really need help . It will be good for the kid , he needs discipline .If he does well I'll let him help with a portrait or two .

Tedium

"Bricks", said Norman .
"But I wanted to do one of the the family or the dog even "Junior pleaded hopefully .
"Listen , I have a deadline , You don't need models for bricks and I can fill in the characters later . Help me out will you " .

Junior fidgeted  on the stool staring at a rough sketch  of the back   of a house ." Bricks are so tedious."  he grumbled ".How about a wash there has to be two thousand bricks on that wall "

"let me tell you, tedium can be your friend learn to love it .Imagine that you are the one building that house and so become the bricklayer. Start on the foundation one brick at a time and I don't want any of that impressionist wash garbage and watch your perspective as the side wall goes down  the alley and just  like the bricky keep that corner plumb ,got it?"

"Yes ok now I'm a bricklayer. Come on bring me mortar and throw me the level and plumb line we have a deadline to meet ."laughs Junior

Charles Phillips and his blog ?spell check???: promise

Charles Phillips and his blog ?spell check???: promise

Charles Phillips and his blog ?spell check???: Child hood memory

Charles Phillips and his blog ?spell check???: Child hood memory

promise

there is a pencil on the floor
  it has been there for a while
how long ? dont want to say but i know what its telling me
pick me up ,come on pick me up
 but are you the right kind of pencil
 not too hard not too soft  sharp enough
yeah thats me
pick me up
you will still be there tomorrow
 i want to  but not now
i need paper  and after that
 i will come and get  you
promise
yes i promise

mood

Tap tap tap
,sigh
 ,tap tap
 sigh sigh sigh
 tap tap
sigh
 bye bye.

We have endured several weeks of beastly weather with temp.hovering around lows of -20 plus 18 inches of snow piled up on the side walks all over the City of Windsor .Today at last the slush has dried up and it is even pleasant to walk out in so  much milder weather .I have just returned from the library where I had been engrossed in the feb 2 edition of The New Yorker magazine . This is where I discovered an article about a Chinese man who has made his life's work a study of the peculiarities of prime numbers .Thus in my previous post I hurriedly recorded  one  particular prime 700666007 which reads same backwards and contains the so called mark of the beast 666  and is nicknamed as a beastly palindrome .I should say here that I consider the" mark of the beast " a vile superstition used by some to manipulate and spread fear .So consider this , this very humble and unassuming calculus teacher at a prestigious American university has made a momentous discovery regarding prime numbers the enormity of which is akin to sitting on a beach and actually counting out grains of sand to infinity .What I get from this is that there is probably no end to anything and there people out there  who give their whole lives  to prove that there is life everlasting .

700666007 prime number known as beastly palindrome  

Slushy snow and puddles greet me as I shuffle along Wyandotte Street on my way to lunch and at the the milder temp is pleasant to walk in.

Connie

Yes I chose her first and who knew she was so smart , yet not smart enough . I chased her and she surrendered by running her fingers through my hair , washing my back , and listening to my every word . I was king of the jungle with not a hair on my chest and as if by magic I sprouted a forest as we breathed each others breath .