There can be no good excuse for not reading books here in our Niagara. I will commence this Ramblings with a shout-out to Laura MacFadden, the elegant, effervescent and pulchitrudinous proprietress of the Old Niagara Bookshop downtown.
Across from the Olde Angel Inn, this Hollywood set-like “browsing shop” at 223 Regent St. is perfectly ensconced in an older building, which just seems to make lazy afternoons even lazier.
It is a must-do for my young adult children when they are home for a visit.
Ms. MacFadden is always meticulously coiffed and dressed to the nines, often in sassy outfits from Bella Grace on Queen Street.
With her wire-rimmed spectacles perched perfectly on her delicate beak, this 56-year resident of NOTL fits here like Duke Kahanamoku used to fit surfing the waves off Waikiki Beach.
She has provided “books of the true sort” since 1969, deftly curating the shelves to feature Niagara history, Canadian geography and so many other interesting reads.
The books seem to blend together so calmly, and she is as cool as the other side of the pillow.
Her specialties are Canadiana, art and collectibles, history, biographies, travel and Canadian-based fiction. A particular delight is her children’s book room at the back of her shop.
To ask “How does she do it?” seems trite, and only by watching the master will you believe it.
Asked to describe her shop, Laura said, “This is a small shop in a busy international tourist town, which is also home to the Shaw Festival and 204 wineries.” Sort of says it all, eh?
If the NOTL Library or the museum don’t have a particular title, challenge Laura to find a copy. A few days later, she almost always enthusiastically calls to report she has located the book.
Her hours of opening are customer-friendly and she is open on most statutory and public holidays.
One further quick ramble about the Old Niagara Bookshop. When was the last time you were provided with a hand written and descriptive receipt for a purchase? Written to cursive script to boot.
Permit me to ramble on to another book miracle here in Niagara-on-the-Lake. There is nothing like a clever acronym. Think GO Transit and the ONroute highway service centres.
LiNC is the acronym for “Libraries in Niagara Cooperative” here in Lincoln County. Established in 2010, this wonderfully efficient and customer-friendly library consortium consisted of one college and four public libraries sharing an open-source library catalog system called Evergreen.
Now, there are eight public libraries involved.
To quote their information sheet, “LiNC is a collaborative venture and succeeds due to the efforts of its members. LiNC’s libraries contribute annually to costs associated with the integrated library system. Cost to manage a comparable proprietary system would be significantly more.”
Hurray for LiNC, and I can happily report that they have a 100 per cent fulfillment rate when I have requested a title available from Fort Erie, Grimsby, Welland or Port Colborne public libraries, or other libraries in Niagara.
The logistics are challenging, but LiNC proves even though something won’t work in theory, it works in practice. Much like the BCAA Car Share program in and around Vancouver.
Now for a rambling leap into electronic technology. Way out of my comfort zone, but this idea seems like such a natural. Something to increase our love of Canada, and our admiration of the natural world.
We know the Amber Alert system works and has saved lives. But last week, I was one of hundreds of thousands of Canadians who missed the chance to marvel at the aurora borealis.
Robert Service rhymed that, “The northern lights have seen queer sights, but the queerest they ever did see / was the night on the marge of Lake Lebarge / I cremated Sam McGee.”
Why not have the tech wizards develop another Amber Alert system that would tell all of us that, “Between about midnight and 3 a.m. tonight, in the western or eastern sky, there will be a display of the northern lights.”
So many Canadians would stay up, or get out of bed, dress for the weather and go out to witness this Canadian wonder.
Even with my northern Canadian background, I have only seen this spectacular light show twice: Once from a campsite on Lake Louisa in Algonquin Park, and once from the grandstand at Merrittville Speedway during the stock car races.
Both times free and both lucky episodes were unable to be described with mere words.
There, I have rambled. I hand the ball off to experts who can do the programming for this positive new Amber Alert or Aurora Borealis Alert, to provide a way for Canadians to meet Canadians, saying, “There is obviously a supreme being.”
There must be.
