Apr. 09, 2007 - 22:42 MDT

BOOKISH TIMES

I could read before I started school and was avid to learn. I remember reading something about the time I was trying to learn pronunciation and make it jibe with what little I knew.

I read of this huge river, vast beyond my comprehension, seeing that all I had ever seen was the South Platte River running through our town.

So I asked Dad and Mom about the Amazing River, drew a blank for a time, and then Dad said, "Show me in the book, son." He chuckled and said something to the effect, "Sounds the same in a way, but it is the Amazon River in South America, and it is huge."

I was reading books of the folk's bookshelf, as well as reading books from our local library.

Depression days came along and birthday and Christmas presents got very, very slim -- Mom and Dad dressed their celebrations in a bit of camouflage saying things like, "Dad already gave me my present." Which flew for this dummy. But I knew that come birthday or Christmas, there would come a package of Juicy Fruit Gum, an orange, a pair of socks and best of all a book bought at Woolworth's for me. I think that is where I became acquainted with "Bomba the Jungle Boy."

I do remember as I once said, that I had worked my way along their bookshelf to reading their adult books. One of which blew Mom's mind when she found out I had read it. "The Lady of the Camellias," by Dumas. Later I discovered that the opera, La Traviata's story line was from that book. She was even more horrified when she found that I understood what was being written about.

Times got a bit better and Mom and Dad were buying me books that had a bit more than adventure story content. And my exploration of the world via printed page expanded no end. I remember a book by a man called Ivan Sanderson about his treks into the African Jungle, totally fascinated me.

Books have been my fascination since early years, and added to that is the internet now.

I dropped out of high school and went to work along about the time that pocket books gained popularity, so a portion of my money went to buying them, I learned many things from reading those.

My increasing deafness has pretty well ruled out TV for me, but with the necessity to get a new set some time along the line due to TV going to high-definition, I know that our next set will have Closed Caption capabilities and I do so hope that PBS will have such programs on their channels. The set I did have while I was on WebTV had CC capabilities and there were programs I watched every week, but those programs were a bit sparse.

So, all I can do is pray that my sight doesn't desert me as my ears have, because I want to continue living in my BOOKISH TIMES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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