Did you ever watch Monty Python? That was one of my favourite lines – “and now for something completely different…” – because it always did introduce something that had little to do with whatever had come before. I loved the unexpectedness of that troupe.
Anyway, this isn’t a blog about Monty Python. It’s a blog about something different – something other than writing paranormal romance or the appeal of angels or the majesty of dragons or any of that other stuff I’ve been guest blogging about for the past 60 days. All good, but I’m ready for a change.
This isn’t even (*gasp*) about knitting.
This is about a triumph of organization. Mr. C. used to subscribe to National Geographic magazine. For years. And these are the kind of magazines that you don’t pitch – or at least, Mr. C. and I don’t pitch them. So we have bunches of National Geographic magazines. I like them a lot and use them when I’m doing research. The pictures and the maps can be very helpful. They’re also good to just browse through. Mr. C. has been known to grab half a dozen issues on a rainy day, and just read.
The problem is that a/ we have a lot of them; b/ they weigh a ton; and c/ bookshelf space is always at a premium in our house. In our old house, we had a built-in bookshelf which they filled, but since moving, the magazines have remained packed in their boxes. This isn’t ideal for either browsing or finding a specific issue.
Until this past weekend. We bought some of those cheap pine shelving units. Mr. C. assembled them in the basement and I unpacked and sorted the magazines. Wow! They’re all accessible! They’re all in order! And – bonus – Mr. C. installed a light right in that corner. Perfect for browsing.
I’m excited about this. I want to pull up a chair and start reading, right now!
Just in case you didn’t know, National Geographic has a catalogue on their website. You can search there, just as you do at the library, and learn which issue(s) you need to find the articles you want. Here’s a link. How cool is that?
(Maybe we’re not the only ones with a whole whack of National Geographic magazines.)
How about you? Do you have a stash of the yellow-spined mags? Or do you stash another kind of magazine? How do you store them? What do you use them for? How do you find the one you want or need?
Deborah Cooke: Author 
4 responses to “Now For Something Completely Different…”
Did I ever watch Monty Python? *thunk* (Pardon me while I’m off to play the grand piano . . . only GC pronounces it peeeyannnno.)
We have been getting NatGeo for a bazillion years but we do not save it. I know this is sacrilege, but for years we never had any space at all and now we just don’t. We do keep all the maps though.
So glad to hear you have your shelves. We’re putting some up in the garage but they are for more mundane things, like all the appliances that don’t fit into the kitchen and all my canning jars–both the filled and the un.
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Knitting and crochet pattern magazines. The Bob saves all his modeling magazines. ALL of them.
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I loved NaGeo when I was a kid. My mum had a subscription and I would spend hours looking at them. Sometimes, I wonder if I do my children an injustice by not having a subscription.
Myself, I collect the LCBO Food and Drink magazines. They take up a ton of room and most of them are in boxes from my last move but I can’t bring myself to part with them. What makes this stranger is the fact that my husband does the majority of cooking… I like looking at the pictures. LOL
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AHHHHHHHH – I have a ridiculous number of LCBO Food & Drink magazines. I make myself tear out the recipes and chuck the rest every few years, but it’s painful business. I’ve used only a few of the recipes, but the photography is gorgeous.
d
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