"True North"

I’ve said it here before. Now I say it again—I’m a book buyer. I see a book I want and the next thing I do without much thinking about it is hop in the car and head for the bookstore, or, likely as not, I don’t even head for the car but the computer.  Why not let them bring it to me?

                The budget demands that I taper off. Plus, I can walk to two libraries. Use your head, Trilla.

And, I’m getting better.

                Sometimes, though, I don’t have an option. That’s my book adventure of the week—well really the last couple of weeks.

                The Heights is a wonderful older neighborhood in Houston. It’s wonderful not only because of the carefully tended older homes, the fascinating shops, and—no surprise—the great restaurants. It’s the folks who live there. They love their neighborhood and do lots of things to make it a great place to visit as well as to live.

                I’m a Heights booster, you can tell, but not a resident. I don’t live too far away, and when I’m travelling around town, if there is a route through the Heights I take it. I know I’m likely to find a good surprise.   

                A couple of weeks ago, I certainly did. Right up the center of the neighborhood, runs shady Heights Boulevard, with, as you might expect, a well-used running trail right through the center of the esplanade. This day was different, an almost two-mile of the trail was marked with intriguing and large installations. What a great place for an outing with my teen grandson. But he’d want to know more than “aren’t these neat?’ Off to the computer. Here’s a sample of what I found: http://www.visithoustontexas.com/blog/index.cfm/2014/5/12/The-Heights-Outdoor-Sculpture-Project-True-North/

A fine book

Dog in the book

Dog on the ground

The owner of one of those fascinating shops, Redbud Gallery, had spearheaded the efforts of many  artists, organizations, and the City of Houston to make "True North" Heights Boulevard Sculpture Project happen.

 Plus, Gus Kopiva, that visionary Redbud owner did more. He put together a book with photographs of the artworks and the artists. Imagine taking the tour with that in our hands. Of course I ordered it.

Then I began to fret. This is a print-to-order book. The publisher (bookemon) warned me that delivery took a few extra days. The outing was long set for yesterday. Would it make it? You know it did. Did we enjoy? Grandparents and grandson alike! Is this one book I’m glad I ordered? You betcha!

                 

(A version of this post appears at http://storycirclenetwork.wordpress.com/)