Yesterday, with friends from Montanta, we visited the Singing Wind Bookstore. It's a bookstore unlike any you've ever seen. It's located on a ranch miles from town (Benson) and you drive down a dirt road to get to it. It's a working ranch, horses, cattle, tractors, etc., and is owned and managed by a 90 year old woman who still rides and ropes and leads the ranch work. Years ago she (with a Master's degree in library science) wanted to do something to preserve good western literature. She received $600 for babysitting a couple's dog and used that money to begin buying books and began with a single shelf of books. Today her 'bookstore' holds 150,000 volumes and she knows where every book is and what it is about. You name the subject and she has a shelf of that subject. The living room contains four walls of books and there are four floor to ceiling shelves in the middle of the room. Another room holds countless shelves of books. She won't buy or sell "western shoot 'em up" novels. Twice a year a festival is held at the ranch with as many as 300 persons from around the world attending. Novelists, poets, historians, etc all come there at various times. You drive up, ring the big dinner bell hanging out front and walk on in. It's an experience just to visit. We ended up buying a $100 worth of great books. Thomas Hardy is one of my favorite poets and I found a biography of him I've never seen. We visited the bookstore with my new friend, Charlie (see post several posts below) and his wife, Pam. Pam is a headhunter and is in town to help find a president for a nearby college.
Helen and I are going back next week and I'll take some photos of the bookstore and will post them next week.
Today I'm playing golf with 'Charlie' at San Pedro Championship Golf Course.
Weather here in southern Arizona is 30 degrees presently, going to 70 today with all sunshine for today and the rest of the week.
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