[LargeFormat] re:reading

[Eve Girard]

  "Buy more books. Keeps the publishers in business and lowers the prices."

Dearest Uncle Dick,
    Alas, I live in the literal Land of Amazon.  They lurk just up the road
from me devouring all who want to be independant.  True, there is the knave
Barnes and his lackey Noble but, they, too, have cleansed our little spot of
heaven of new book sellers.  As with my camera buying, I prefer to go
underground.  I seek out the halt, the lame and the lazy helping them in
their plight by trading their treasures for ducats.
    Fortunately here in the Great Pacific Northwest, most of our natives
live in caves and devour their young.  Some of our smaller outlying towns
only list 3 or 4 last names in their phonebooks.  The children are quite
bright, being able to master the compexities of family trees that have
entries such as "Aunt Mom" and "Uncle Dad".  The carpet-bagging
Californians, upon seeing all this,  huddle in their enclaves, count their
money and Microsoft shares and create their own young.
    Having said all that, the used book flourishes here.  Our winters are
long, dark, dank and dreary.  (One must either read, live in the darkroom
[as opposed to dark cave] or walk naked in the rain to maintain mental
equilibrium.)  I know that buying used does not help the publisher but it
does help local business stay afloat.
    I do empathize with your pastry shop seduction.  Some day we should
compare  notes re seduction sites.  I'm sure that would be a novel in itself
. . .
    As I re-read this, I find the mention of LF camera work to be a no-show.
Ooops, Sorry, Clive!
    To make amends, (and since you have your phallic compensatory wheeled
vehicle with lens) I must make mention of my latest toy.  I snagged a very
clean 4x5 Gowlandflex (a TLR) off the net for a mere Sixty Dollars.  It's an
original wooden model with Symmar 210 as taking lens.  What a lovely tool
for portraiture!  The 'flex and a Grafmatic make for a lovely series.  It's
a very spontaneous setup.
    Eve
btw, is the doily cut from the society pages for formal dining and from the
sports section for casual ?