Winter Olympics, Book Sales & Blizzards

The Winter Olympic games get underway tonight in Turin, Italy. There are very few places with snow on the ground I'd like to be at this time of year, but Italy is one of them. Best of luck to all the athletes. To celebrate the start of the games we will offer a 25% discount this weekend on any book listed on our Books on Sports & Pastimes pages. As usual, please mention that you saw that special price here in order to be sure we give you the discount.

Our "Going Once... Going Twice..." catalog of auction catalogs was sent to Dave the Printer late this afternoon. "Books on Ceramics" is on schedule, but the schedule has been moved up a week, so that won't be mailed until the end of the month.

We're scheduled to get a blizzard this weekend- well, the eastern part of Massachusetts is anyway. We are supposed to get heavy snow, high winds and low visibility tomorrow night and Sunday, so tomorrow morning we will have some fun and take part in that time-honored pre-storm New England tradition- Panic Last-Minute Shopping. I don't really need anything... but it just doesn't seem like a Real Winter Storm without the ritual.


Come swing me now
as trumpets blare
into the chill night's frosty air,
filled with shiny silver spits,
as gauze of breath comes
from our lips,
the lowry motion of our hips
swing to the beat, oblivious
of our tired,
frozen feet.

Then come and sit awhile with me
under the black-boned maple tree,
under the proud black canopy
of January sky.

Come sit and watch
as stars fly by that velvet
January sky,
a swarm of Winter fireflies
not yet entombed
in some glass jar;

come watch the waltzing
of the stars.