A Nice Find

Today I devoted most of the day for an all day excursion with my wife to Charlottesville, Virginia to do some critical holiday errands, and though I was not expecting the day to be anything but a pleasant outing without the kids in tow, I did not expect anything in the way of my hobby to incite the bells and whistles this day...but I was mistaken! Thanks to Charlottesville's proximity to the University of Virginia, the downtown boasts a goodly number of used bookstores of truly high quality. I was just going to kill a few minutes while my wife was over in a yarn shop visiting a friend by stepping in to the wonderful "Blue Whale Books" next door.

I was not expecting to buy anything,
just a quick to look see... 


When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a clean new copy of Knotel's "Uniforms of the World", 
and for only eight tiny dollars.

Away to the checkout I flew like a flash,
Tore open my wallet and drew out the cash.


The owner was skinny not chubby, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself!
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work, And ran my debit card, then turned with a jerk. And laying his finger aside of his nose, And giving a nod, this card should work! He sprang to his chair, to himself gave a whistle, And away I flew like the down of a thistle. But I heard him exclaim, ‘ere I walked out of sight, "Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!"  ...for me I'll be tucked with this new treasure in my bed,  while visions of new uniforms dance in my head... Happy Holiday Hunting Everyone! (...my sincere apologies to Clement Clarke Moore and my readers as I am no poet, it's true!)