Tag Archives: Little Bookstore of Big Stone Gap

That was Then, This is Now

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Jack’s weekly guest blog

Now that our cafe is up and running and proving successful, it’s worth taking a step to the side and assessing how our life has changed over the last couple of years.

Two years ago Wendy’s book hadn’t been published, we hadn’t done the ‘booking down the road trip’, I hadn’t turned the basement into a habitable space and we hadn’t even thought about a cafe.

The publication of the book and the search for a ‘store-sitter’ (hat tip to Andrew Whalen and Wesley Hearp) to allow us to go out and do signings around the country put the little bookstore on the map and quickly resulted in lots of people (individuals and groups) coming to see us and the shop. We’ve really enjoyed these visitors. About a week ago we got the farthest one yet, coming all the way from Washington State just to see the Little Bookstore for herself.

When we moved down to the basement, that cleared our upstairs area, which allowed us to consider expansion of one kind or another. With the demise of our beloved Mutual Pharmacy and Diner the kind of expansion we wanted was decided for us! The cafe has brought folks in who buy in the bookstore and vice versa – win-win all round.

So, how has our life changed?

We are far, far busier than we’ve ever been, not just as the bookstore but as individuals. We travel far more than we did, and we are in touch with a whole network of like-minded folks around the world. It’s actually quite strange in some ways – we arrived in a very rural place as outsiders who had traveled a fair bit, and settled into a quiet rural existence. Now we are back out traveling and occupying common ground with people all over the place.

Although we can always retreat to the basement we find we now enjoy sharing time and space with Kelley and Sam, who run the cafe on the second floor (hence the name Second Story Cafe). They arrive before we wake and sometimes leave after we’ve gone to bed.

We still have a guest bedroom, so we continue to have friends stay over from time to time, particularly musicians and storytellers from the United Kingdom. That’s a good anchor to our strange new lives.

And I sometimes, in the midst of the cafe and the shop and the visitors swirling around us, think about a famous Scottish proverb, and laugh. If ‘the De’il funds wark fir idle haunds’ then he wouldn’t find much fertile ground around here.

Y’all come see us – or, as we say in Scotland: Come Awa’ Ben.

If Birds Could Fly, Then Jenna Elfman would Cuddle Max the Foster Cat

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movie star bookstoreRunning a bookstore can be a surreal experience, but last night might have set a new standard. About 6:30, as we were preparing for a quiet evening with the Needlework Night gang, the door opened and a tall young man walked in. “Vould you mind iff ve shot a music fideo here?” he asked.

Uh, no, we said, and his German accent deepened with his smile. “That iss vunderful! Dank you!”if birds could fly Out he went. Ten minutes later two people we’d never met before introduced themselves as “If Birds Could Fly.” Her name was Brittany. I didn’t hear his name, but we’d heard of the band; they had a good reputation among our music-loving friends, so we just said “our house is your house and please don’t let the dogs out” and let it roll.

With Brittany and her mystery musician husband were Meghan-the-photographer and Sebastian-the-producer, he of the lovely accent. They set up some lighting equipment, did some furniture moving, and sat back and waited.

For what, we weren’t quite sure, but Sebastian had said something about a woman called Jenna Elfman….movie star book

Now please keep in mind that Jack and I don’t have a television. We lived in Scotland for the first seven years of our marriage. So we only knew that this was an actress in town to film the Big Stone Gap movie, and that Sebastian said she’d agreed to do a video for If Birds Could Fly. Yeah, okay, let it roll; they all seemed like nice people, and Meghan was showing us her beautiful portraits of children and moms, so time flew by as we waited. She does fantastic photography.

Ms. E showed up about 8 pm and suddenly the bookstore was full of people, laughter, cats, and cameras. The band filmed and pronounced it good, and we passed around celebratory libations. Yeah, we didn’t know them, but they seemed like nice people, and fun artistic types. Any excuse for a party, right? “Cuppa? Glass of?” All was mirth and merriment.

pumpkin barsHere’s where it started to get surreal……

Down from the kitchen came Kelley, our master chef at Second Story Cafe, with fresh-made pumpkin bars. Those got passed around amid enthusiastic delight at their flavor and abundance. Max the foster cat wandered in, and next thing I know he and Jenna were cuddled in the armchair, carrying on like old friends. I think she fed him a pumpkin bar. People were swapping stories and having fun: just another night in the bookstore, with a movie star, two band members, a batch of fresh baked goods, a bunch of tripods, and a foster cat, all held together by a bottle of Scotch.max and jenna

Yeah, bookslinging is a crazy business, but we love our life here. If Brittany ever brings back that nice musician that is her husband, I’m gonna get his name. We like people who make good music. Jenna Elfman was sweet, and we are glad artists who run around filling the world with happy things exist. Max and his sister Chloe were adopted the day after he got the tummy rub shown here. Life is good.

You can check If Birds Could Fly out on Facebook. And they seemed like really nice people, so I think we’ll get their CD. And someday, Brittany, please introduce me to your husband!