Celtic Christmas VI

Last night was one of our personal favorite events here at the bookstore: the annual Celtic Christmas celebration. This year was a bit more low-key than usual; planning often starts around Halloween, but with the book coming out in October we crowdsourced. Instead of making and freezing foods from Galicia, Brittany, Cornwall, Isle of Man, Scotland, Ireland and Wales, we put out a “Come all ye” to regulars, who brought various foods. Our friends are great cooks, but their offerings required some spin once they landed on the table. On the one hand, Heather Richards’ beautiful mince pies easily represented Cornwall, but on the other we had oatmeal raisin cookies from the grocery.mincemeat pie

Galicia… they grow grapes there, right? And what could be more Scottish than oatmeal? So.

Organized chaos or not, it was a fun night with some regulars and some newbies; the mix it attracts is part of the fun of Celtic Christmas in the first place. The first-timers quickly settled in to the idea that they would be singing along in phonetically reproduced Irish Gaelic and Welsh, and a good time was had by all. Enjoy the photos; there are more on our FB page, taken by the talented Elissa Powers (who has her own FB photo page as elp6n. Her dachshund portraits are lovely.)

bud in harp

 

scots christmas story

 

 

 

 

 

dulcimer and guitar

The Whalen Legacy

We miss shopsitter Andrew Whalen’s sensible, stolid presence at the downstairs table, working on his Mac. (He’s the only tech geek we know who has a Mac. We always suspected he had an e-reader, but he either didn’t bring it with him from NYC or never brought it down from his room.)

More than anything, we miss Andrew’s organizational mind. One of our favorite customers came in the other day, a nice guy who favors Westerns. He went back to the man-cave where these are shelved and emerged a few minutes later, a large stack in his arms and a puzzled expression on his face.

“What happened back ‘er?” he asked. (He has a beautiful mountain accent.)

“What? Where?” asked Jack, leaping to his feet in alarm at the prospect of a fallen shelf, pet accident, or other bookselling disaster.

“ ‘S so … neat,” our customer responded. “Like ‘s been cleaned, or sumpin. Just took me a minute tuh find ever’thin’ I wanted.”

Andrew, kiddo, you set the bar too high. We’re not sure how long we can carry on.

Editor’s note: The cookies with which Andrew’s mom ransomed him (scroll back to the blog COOKIE EXTORTION for the full story) were so good, we ordered two boxes for far-away gifts. Best of both shopping worlds: the simplicity of a single click while supporting a small business. (Cookie Glass is her company, if you want to look. We unequivocally endorse all Mrs. Whalen’s products!)