I'm unsure when I'll be able to do my next book sale at the Caspar Community Center. Probably not in November of this year as I has planned, hopefully sometime in 2021.

I have been finding home for lots of books in the Little Free Libraries that have sprung up on the coast. I am actively thinning out my collection of books and have donated nearly 1500 to the local LFL's. With bookstores and public libraries mostly closed the LFL's have been seeing a lot of action. I have created a list, along with pictures and directions to the LFL's that I have located on one of my blogs and hope that you will check it out and also visit some of the little free libraries to take and leave books. One just recently opened up down in Elk and I just got an email from someone that will soon open another here in Fort Bragg. Happy booking. Below is a link to my other blog.

https://floweringpixels.blogspot.com/

January Book Sale in Caspar

I just created this new flyer for the sale that we will be doing at the Caspar Community Center when they have the monthly fund
raising breakfast on January 26th. My friend Annie Lee who brings textiles and jewelry back from her trips to Guatemala will be sharing the north room of the center with me. Some of the profits from her sales will help support artisans and scholarships for students down there. Carlie and I will be showing our latest mixed metal jewels and I, in the role of the Caspar Bookster will put out 25 to 30 boxes of a great variety of gently used books. I'm really culling out my large collection of books, gave 74 boxes to the Fort Bragg library and local thrift stores this past year and hope to do that with 100 boxes this year. My current rule is that for every book that I acquire I have to get rid of 4. I must confess though that my book obsession is not quite over yet, but I only buy books that I feel are special in some way. And, of course, I'm always looking for ones that have more than ordinary value, just found one at a thrift store that I believe will sell for $160 or so on the internet. The looking for treasure game which I'm sort of addicted to.  I'll have my 77th birthday 2 days after the sale. How did that happen?

Book Sales coming up in November and January

My obsession with books is still running but not as intensely as at certain times in my life. As I approach being 80 years old in a couple of years I am trying to eliminate stuff from my life so others don't have to deal with it when I am no longer here. My current rule relative to books is that for every book I acquire, I have to get rid of 4. That 2nd number will probably increase as time goes by. I've donated over 50 boxes of books to the Ft. Bragg library  and local thrift stores this year but the stack I have left is still pretty big. I'm keeping what I consider to be the best and most interesting for the sales I have coming up in November and January at the Caspar Community Center, more details about those later on. And of course I'm keeping ones that are worth $30 and up to list on the internet. The most expensive one I've sold there so far was for $400. Looking for those books is akin to panning for gold, looking for treasure, a hard habit to break.

Another Book Sale in January

I really enjoyed doing the book sale at the Caspar breakfast on the Sunday after Thanksgiving in November, it felt like coming home in a lot of ways. A lot of my book customers and friends welcomed me back and bought lots of books. We also set up our display of mixed metal jewels and did quite well also. Before the sale I had a dollar number in mind of what I would like to make but thought it was reaching a little too much, at the end of the sale we had actually made twice that much money. Wow!

I plan to do it again in January, at the Caspar Community Center breakfast on the 27th, from 9am to 2pm. Hopefully my back, which I sometimes have problems with will let me do it. I will have a totally different selection of quality books this time, I plan to bring around 25 boxes. Annie Lee will also share the space of the north room with me with her fascinating selection of Guatemalan treasures. Hope to see you.

Books, books, books and more books

Well, it looks like doing book sales at the Caspar Community Center monthly breakfast is probably over for me, it's been almost a year since I did one and I don't have a wish to do one now. I did them for 11 years. A lot of people, when I tell them that I'm no longer doing books sales, they say something about all the lifting and toting must be hard and get old. Actually that's one of the things about the sales that I miss the most, that and talking to friends and people about books. The exercise involved in lifting and moving 50 or 60 boxes of books 4 times during the course of a sale & afterwards made me really strong and flexible. I'm 73 and it's still easy for me to move boxes of books up and down stairs and such which I still do at my house as I try to figure out what to do with the 300 or 400 boxes that I have left. Whoa, where did all these books come from?

I'm slowly evaluating them and deciding where they go. A couple of boxes a week generally go to thrift stores and each time I walk towards downtown Ft. Bragg I drop a bag of books, CD's and magazines off at the free box at the Ft. Bragg Library. I'm also getting a number of boxes of books that I'll have for sale at the Caspar Community Center's Flea Market on May 22nd, these books will be all $2 or 3 for $5. Some interesting books I'm trying to find a home for. I also sell a box of books to a used book store every once in a while and still list more valuable books on the internet and plan to increase that effort as time goes on.

I got an iPad for my birthday and one of many uses I found for it is checking the online value of books when I'm looking through books at thrift stores (yes, I still look but don't buy very many, just things for myself and things that have more value.) The iPad has more than paid for itself by doing this. I never check more than 2 or 3 at a time but am surprised at how many books I find that are worth $25 to $150. It's an interesting game, like panning for gold. I probably shouldn't be telling you this. Oh well.

I'm enjoying being semi-retired from my jewelry business also, down to 18 yours a week and doing very few art shows. Business is really good though and we are making some interesting jewels. We'll be selling our mixed metal jewels at the Mendocino Street Fairs on Saturday of Memorial Day Weekend, May 29th and also this summer on two Saturdays in July, the 2nd and the 23rd.

And finally, I've turned a good part of the large upstairs portion of my house into an art studio and am enjoying taking the time each day to draw, paint and do collage work and see that continuing to develop for quite a while. I'll post some pictures of what I'm doing on my flowering pixels blog in the next couple of months.

A book sale hiatus

The Bookster will take a break from book sales for a while. He wants to take more time for other activities in his life. Check back here for an updated schedule.

Books at the February Breakfast

I wasn't sure I was going to sell books at the Feb. breakfast because my old body has been sending me pain signals but I managed to ignore them enough to get a book sale together so I'll be there with books from 9am to 1pm on Sunday, Feb. 22nd. I'll take March off to do other things with my grand kids and then I'll be back with books for the breakfast on April 26th. Breakfast menu below.

First Book Sale of 2015

Starting out this year with a book sale at the breakfast on January 25th. A lot of new ones as usual. When we were doing a week long sale of our jewelry up in Chico just before Christmas I was able to harvest books at all of Chico's 7 thrift stores and found some neat things. Didn't get to Paradise or Oroville this year as I do sometimes, maybe next year. I have a couple of individuals that I will be visiting before the sale and expect to score some interesting things there also. I get carried away with this book thing sometimes. A relatively healthy obsession though.
Annie Lee will join me in the Community Center's north room with her usual excellent selection of fabric items from Guatemala.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Last book sale of the year.

I'll be bringing books to breakfast on Sunday, November 23rd, this will be my last book sale for 2014. Since we aren't selling our mixed metal jewelry at an art fair on Thanksgiving weekend for the first time in 37 years we will also bring a couple of cases of our latest jewels to this book sale so our local customers can take a look at what we have been creating. We just had a very successful time selling our jewels at the Sacramento Arts Festival a couple of weekends ago and on our way home I harvested a goodly number of books at thrift stores in Petaluma, Sebastopol and Santa Rosa, an area where I have consistently good luck in finding interesting items.
I'm busy processing them now to have them ready for this coming Sunday. My friend Annie Lee will be joining me in the north room of the Caspar Community Center with a selection of brand new Guatemalan imports that she has recently returned with.

Breakfast with books

These monthly Sunday breakfasts have been going on for a long time, 7 or 8 years, I lost track of exactly when. I designed this poster about 6 years ago or so, did several other designs before I arrived at this one. I change the color palette each month and am always looking for new color combinations.

I'll have a quite a number of new books at the book sale in the north room of the center while breakfast is going on and for an hour or so afterwards.

A River of Books

Books have been an integral and significant part of my life as far back as my memory goes. My mother told me once that even before I could read I would lay on my belly on the floor and look at books, ones with pictures of course, but she said also I would look at ones with only words. I remember once, as a teenager, thinking that if I read enough and made notes I could figure out the nature of the universe. Well, I've given up on that, and enjoy the mystery of it all, but books are still a daily adventure for me. I do live in a river of books, finding new ones for myself and to sell just about every day.  I just found one of the best ones I've seen on creating food items with chocolate, a nicely illustrated one on learning to use a microscope creatively, a interesting history of the French people and a couple of historical novels. We're going to keep the chocolate one around and see if we can cook up something sweet and delicious when my granddaughter comes to visit. Below are a few interesting books that recently came into my hands. I'll try to put up some more pictures soon. The Gourd Instrument one includes a CD. I found a couple of Lathe turned objects books and also a couple of other ceramic techniques ones besides the one pictured.

Booksales coming up

Just finished with the May book sale at the Caspar Community Center's ongoing 4th Sunday breakfast, this month in conjunction with an annual Memorial Day Weekend Flea Market that I have organized for the center for 12 years, Everything went pretty smoothly, I had a good book sale, the vendors at the flea market did good business and got rid of lots of stuff and we set a new record for number of breakfasts served at a monthly breakfast, 223. The kitchen crew worked hard to keep it together for this many servings. Nice weather helped, lots of out of town visitors came by.

I will be doing my next book sale at the June breakfast which is on Sunday, the 22nd. The breakfast goes from 9 until 11:30am, I'll be selling books from 9 until about noon or so.

Working Books

A week until my next book sale, I'm processing new books which I've been acquiring with regularity and going back through boxes that I own but haven't looked at in up to 6 or 7 years. Looking through old boxes is always interesting, a combination of "why in the world did I ever buy that" and "Wow, look at this". And, of course, I have to check most of them again on the internet because values always change. One book that someone could have bought from me a few years ago for $8 is now worth over $150.
A combination of limited availability and high demand. To the right are a few more new books I'll have at this sale. The 500 Tables book is one of those Lark books featuring the work of artist/craftsmen from all over the world. I have several from this series in my own personal collection of jewelry books, including 1000 Rings & 500 Earrings. The diversity of design ideas portrayed is quite astonishing. The Wegman book of Puppies is almost too cute to look at. Paper Yachts is for the origami enthusiast who wants to make practical things. Paper yachts are practical, right?

More New Books

Here are three more books that have just been processed and will be at my next book sale on June 23rd. The Whole Hog book is a treasure of info about the oink oink guys & gals. Factual, myths, lots of pictures, history of human/pig relationship.
The center book, Fruits features a couple of hundred full page color images of Japanese teenagers in an amazing array of regalia, much of which they have made themselves. I read somewhere that many high profile fashion companies keep observers on the ground in cities in Japan to capture ideas from the innovative teenagers there. Many of the ideas end up at fashion shows and in stores across the country. And the fnal book, practical ideas on how to turn driftwood into furniture pieces for use or sale. I'll be posting new books a couple more times before my sale.

Next Bookster Book Sale in June

I'm busy going through books and processing them, which means checking to see if they have more than ordinary value on the internet and cleaning them and repairing any little flaws that they might have, getting them ready for their new homes. Currently I'm going through 20 to 40 books a day. My next book sale will be at the Caspar Community Center on Sunday, June 23rd, during and after the monthly fund raising breakfast there. I'll post the menu when I get a copy of it but it's always a very delicious array of food. The three books pictured above are ones that just passed though my processing hands and will soon go into boxes getting ready for the sale. I have several other books on silk painting that I just acquired also. I'll be posting more pictures of new books that I find interesting as I go along.

Books Books Books

Next week I'll start loading books into my van and taking some to the Caspar Community Center preparing for Sunday's breakfast and my book sale on the 28th of April. It's been a couple of months since I've done this. I did a sale in January and had planned to do one in February but my back was hurting, I guess I'm getting old. In March we were in Arizona, selling our mixed metal jewels at the Scottsdale Arts Festival and enjoying visiting indian ruins and relaxing in the Verde Valley area north of Phoenix. It was great to enjoy the warm sunshine for a couple of weeks. Of course I harvested books all along my trail coming and going. The most productive new place I found to acquire books this trip was the friends of the library store at the library in Prescott, Arizona which turned out to be a treasure trove of interesting books at reasonable prices and very well organized. I have harvested at Prescott thrift stores a number of times but this was my first time at their library, hopefully not the last.

I'm fairly amazed to have sold a CD on Amazon recently for $80. It was one from an album originally released in the early 70's called "From Delaney to Bonnie" recorded by Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett. It was one of a collection of 300 CD's I acquired last year for 75 cents a piece. I've only recently started checking CD's on the internet, and I find that most are available for $2 to $6 but every once in a while I find one that is worth $20, $40, $50 and, in this case $80. The down side of this is, of course, that I have to end up checking each and every one. It's a lot easier with the internet to check this and also the value of books. Before digital days it was a long and laborious process to find out how much books were worth. Now it's a matter of seconds usually.

It's interesting the rituals that life leads one into. It's a fun game though, looking for treasure.

First Book Sale of 2013

My plan is to fill a room with books at the January 27th Caspar Community Center Breakfast. It's been 4 months since my last one and I guess I'm ready again if this aging body holds up. Can't believe I'll be 70 years old the day after the booksale. Where did the time go? I have a lot of new books I've acquired here and there and will also have about 100 new CD's, rock, folk, jazz and a lot of blues. I hope you can drop by and say hi.

It will be a great breakfast menu this time:

Winter vegetable hash, served with two organic over easy eggs and choice of bread (GF available)  $12

Spinach and cheese strata served with Noyo Hill Farms potatoes and braised greens $12

Breakfast tapioca with apple and  dried apricot compote  (GF)  $7

Broccoli and mushroom quiche served with potatoes (vegan and GF)  $10

House-made pork sausage patties $4

Baked pumpkin spice donut  $2.00

Organic cider, Thanksgiving coffee & teas

Final Book Sale of 2012

I thought I was going to do two more book sales this year but because of the schedule of other things in my life, the sale on September 23rd will be the last one of 2012. January 27th of 2013 will be the next one after this. That's my daughter Akeesa's birthday and the day before my 70th birthday. I just returned from a few days relaxing down in the Pacific Grove/Carmel area and spending some time at beautiful Pt. Lobos State Reserve. The thrift stores in that area were extraordinarily productive this time and I brought back 3 boxes of good books from this trip. I've been making progress going through the collection of 350 CD's that I bought a few months ago and will have at least 100 of them to sell this time. A lot of Jazz and blues but other stuff too and also CD's that I picked up along my trail since my last book sale in June.

Last Book Sale

I just finished returning the last load of books from my book sale on Sunday, June 24th to one of my storerooms. Took 55 boxes of books and 5 1/2 boxes of CD's to this sale. Am happy with how I did this time although it was the lowest total of this year. Sold a few of the new CD's from the collection of 350 that I just acquired, had probably 40 from this batch. I will have many more from this selection of CD's at my next sale which will probably be in August, Sunday the 26th.  There will be a lot of blues music at the next sale. In July, my wife Carlie and I will be at an Art Festival in Salem, Oregon selling our mixed metal jewels on the day of the Caspar Breakfast and so can't do the book sale. This sale just completed was made simpler because there was no event at the Caspar Community Center on the Saturday before so I was able to set up the tables and put out books the day before making it a whole lot easier to be ready Sunday morning. Unfortunately this won't be the case in August because there is an event taking up the entire building that will go into Saturday night. If I want to do my book sale I will have to get up at something like 4 in the morning in order to be ready by 9am on Sunday. I've done this before but it's not my favorite activity. If my energy level is good and I feel OK I'll do it and plan to at this point.
Am in Cotati at the moment with my grandkids and will harvest books tomorrow on my way back to the coast at thrift stores in Santa Rosa and Cloverdale. Email me if you have books or CD's that need new homes. Jima@mcn.org

It's Sunday evening after the book sale at the Caspar Community Center. You can see pictures on the right of the north room before and then at the start of the sale. Later on in the morning there were as many as 30 people at times looking at books. We did very well, this one scored a 7 1/2 on a scale of 1 to 10.

These book sales are somewhat obsessive behavior for me but I enjoy them a lot and the  money is good. I basically move 50 to 60 boxes of books 4 times before, during and after the sales. All that to create a bookstore for 5 hours.

 I enjoy this game I play with books, basically I'm looking for useful and interesting books for myself and also friends, neighbors and people who happen to come to the breakfast, many from out of town. Another part of the game is finding books that have more than expected value. It's almost always something unexpected. The books I see and think that they might be valuable usually aren't, it's usually some odd little volume out of left field that surprises me with what it's worth.



 

Two examples: recently I found a very sweet little book about butterflies, it was a Hallmark book with watercolor pictures of species of butterflies and side by side pictures of the caterpillar and the moth or butterfly that it became. Very nicely done but it was Hallmark after all. I paid 50 cents for it and supposed I would sell it for $4 or $5. As it turns out the
cheapest one on the internet (listed by major sellers) was $65. It's hard to figure why, it was published in 1998. I guess they didn't reprint it and a demand developed for it. The other was a
little hardback called 85 Ways to Tie a Neck Tie that I picked up for a dollar at a library sale. Nice looking book that I thought I would probably sell for $6. After checking it on the internet, I listed it on Amazon and it sold very fast for $55. One aspect of this game is that I have to check great numbers of books online. Assessing value is certainly incredibly easier than it used to be, before the internet when you had to acquire printed catalogs or communicate with sellers by phone or mail or in person.