Thursday, July 02, 2020

A Special St John's Day



Liturgy was nice this morning
and I talked to some friends afterwards,
which was also nice... esp. after not seeing anyone for so long...
***
After liturgy we ordered takeout from 2 different restaurants!
We had delicious Thai green curry today with Talipia!
(We are still in the Apostle's fast and since St John's day is today
it is a fish day, so this was a real treat, and we love curry!)
I also got some middle eastern food for the weekend...
Mr Husband has tomorrow off and we hope to do some library reorg
and (loosely) cataloging... 
I am so happy to have food that is easy to prepare...
this makes it feel like a real holiday weekend for me as well!
***
So I ended up with a really neat surprise...
I had bought 2 books from thrift books... and the one was 
marked an 'acceptable copy' of Q's legacy by Helene Hanff,
the author of 84 Charing Cross Road,
which (84 C C Road that is...)
is a lovely book about her writing to this address in London,
which was a bookshop with antiquarian books...
she sends them food as the food rationing in England was still going on,
post-WWII.
So, this other book, Q's Legacy, that I had just bought by Hanff came 
and, without even opening the bag,
I put it in another bag and placed it in the freezer for a few days,
as we do this to be sure of not having bug infestations.
So after we got home today, 
(we went grocery shopping too), I got the 2 books out and opened then....
I was opening the Q's Legacy by Hanff at our dining-room table 


and exclaimed to my Husband, upon opening it,
as this is what I saw:



It was SIGNED by Helen Hanff!!!
I was so excited!!! Had no idea!!!
THEN I opened to the first page,
not having noticed the staples showing on the page that you can see above...
and this is what I saw next...(!)


A letter FROM Helene Hanff!!!!!! to the library of the organization
that gave her the award...


To say I was overjoyed, flabbergasted and surprised is about right!
I felt like God has given me a special gift on St John's day!
***
(Of course it's always sad when you realize a library has
discarded a book that you find to be really special... makes me 
wonderful what happened to the library and why they would not want this book...
but then a reflection on current educational currents could sadly answer that question...)
***
Amazingly, this book cost me $3.99... ! 
***
So that was really special for us! 
I read some of it to Mr Husband already and he really enjoyed it...
Hanff has this great sense of humour when telling a story...
***
It was wonderful to just heat up delicious leftovers for dinner...




So today was a pretty happy day,
the best one I have had in a good few weeks,
a real blessing, miracle, of a day.
***
Here is a video about St John and how people love him today
and how God answers prayers... 



I know so many are struggling.
We are all struggling.
Let's not give up and look to Christ. 
I read simple words the other day about how
our prayers are not in vain,
no matter how great our struggle.
May God help us...

5 comments:

Elizabethd said...

What an incredible find! How sad that the library didnt see the value of keeping a signed copy.I loved that book when I first read it.

Lisa Richards said...

I love 84 Charing Cross Road! I believe I read the book before I saw the movie. My mom gave me a copy of the movie many years ago, and I re-watch it occasionally. That is thrilling to get such a copy of her book! Middle Eastern food sounds good to me. And good that you could get out to church! God is good!

Mary said...

Elizabeth just last night on FB, Ancient Faith, I found on their segment titled "The Illumined Heart" a 6 part audio interview with a sub-deacon who , as a young child, served at the altar with St. John Maximovitch. I think it was recorded several years ago but I can already tell I want to listen to it over and over and over and make notes!!! It is incredible to hear tiny little personal details of the life of this amazing saint. Please give it a listen.. It is truly a great blessing that we have this. God bless you and Mr. Husband.

Diana said...

What an amazing find you have with that book! I have a feeling it will be one of your best "treasures." I had never heard of this author or her books until I began visiting your blog. I may have to look into reading one of her books sometime. Prayers and blessings to you, dear friend!

Lisa said...

Wow - you'd think the library would have saved the letter, at least. I wonder what we would have done, where I work? Who knows.