CATALYTIC ACTION

CATALYST:
    something that causes activity between two or more persons or

    forces without itself being affected.


    a person whose talk, enthusiasm, or energy causes others to be
    more friendly, enthusiastic, or energetic.

The word "catalyst" is the one description that I can comfortably accept for myself. Presumably that's what made me a halfway decent bookseller; my ability to put people together or person and book successfully.

I suppose it's this quality that makes me wish I could gather together into one room all of you good people who leave comments, so that you could come to know each other. For, truth to tell, I think your comments make more interesting reading that what you're commenting on and I suspect that several of you would be compatible.

The best I can do here is to list some of your names, telling how you came into our world. But before I do that, you must realize that there is an equal number of readers who for whatever reason don't leave comments and they are just as precious to me, even in their silence. I am honored that you take the time to join us by reading what I send out most days. Thank you.

ANONYMOUS...........One in particular, judging by her writing, is
                                     Lisa, a long time bookshop customer who,            
                                     after the sale of the store remains a friend.

A NON Y MOUSE.....A lady, my age, who lives in Minnesota. We                                 
                                    met through looking at each other's photos
                                    in flickr. She's an artist, plays the accordian
                                    and has great legs and wears Harry Potter
                                    glasses. She's the wife of

TED............................Also a resident of MN, a retired art        
                                    professor at the college level. Every day
                                    for the past few years he has taken a photo
                                    of the lake, standing in the same place. I
                                    shamelessly tease him about the
                                    ho-humness of the exercise even though I
                                    suspect it's brilliant.

JOANNE ...................A customer in the bookshop's early days, we
                                    have reconnected because she's the best
                                    friend of the daughter of the woman I share
                                    Manor library duties with.

EDIE...........................We met on an Elderhostel weekend in
                                    Austin, TX back in 2003 and have kept in
                                    touch ever since.

DENISE IN C'VILLE..Years ago, maybe 10 or so, a small group
                                      of people got together, online, with the
                                      common interest of writings by Anne
                                      Lamott, especially "Bird by Bird". We
                                      called ourselves The Birds. With a couple
                                      of exceptions, we've never met face-to-face

FRENCH SPEAKING
LADY...........................A staff member here at the Manor.

MJ.................................Now living in Vermont, MJ served on my
                                      staff for some time and was one of my
                                      favorite employees.

KAREN.........................Mr. Bob's niece who lives in Whittier.

A BRUSH WITH
COLOR..........................Another flickr friend, one who travels for
                                        Duke University. We had the good luck to
                                        meet her when Pasadena was on her
                                        itinerary. She's a wonderful watercolorist.
                                        Click on her name to visit her blog.

#409................................A Manor resident who lives next door.

VAL................................I've not actually met Val. She lives in PA
                                         and is the reader who sent flowers when
                                         Mr. Bob was hospitalized.

LYNNE...........................A longtime customer and friend who is an
                                         accomplished violinist.

SHELLEY.......................Mr. Bob's niece who lives in Chino Hills

SUZAN............................No idea how she found us from her home
                                          in Great Britain.

DAVE...............................A previous neighbor, the one who has a
                                           front yard full of mining paraphernalia
                                           gathered from the High Sierra when he
                                           was a camp director there.

THE WRINKLIES............Harvey&Sheila from England who visit        
                                           the USA each year for an extended time.
                                            That's their name when we correspond.
                                            We respond as The Wobblies.

KATHY G. .......................When new residents move to the Manor,
                                             great help is supplied by Gentle
                                             Transitions. Kathy G. made our move
                                             as painless as possible.

SUSAN H. ..........................Our dear and precious daughter in
                                              Alaska. The women in our family are
                                              the verbal ones. The men are more
                                              taciturn.

LIDOLIL..............................Another unmet flickr friend who        
                                               resides in England. She's of my age
                                               group and is a belly dancer!

COWTOWNER....................Lonna is the daughter of our once-
                                               upon-a-time best friends, both long                                                            
                                               gone from this plane of existence.

MICHEO..............................A flickr friend from Spain. She's the
                                               teacher who asked permission to
                                               use my blog as her high school
                                               students' lessons because it's more
                                               interesting than the text book.

How I wish I could reserve the large room on the Lower Level here and invite you to come see us, all at the same time. I'm pretty sure you'd enjoy each other.

I can pull up statistics about my blog. The following shows the activity for one week. I can only imagine that some them were called up by mistake for I don't know a soul in Russia or Argentina and the countries that are green show activity.

Again, thank you for being part of the Manorisms community.