It's a stormy day here on the Oregon coast and the store is packed. There are people camped out in all the corners, surrounded by books. They blow on in, door crashing in the wind, the wood floor spotted with drops from raincoats.

We just had some letterboxers come in from New Mexico.

One of them, Tom Church, told me his grandmother, Ruth Bush Jones, was the creator of Smokey the Bear!

When he comes back after lunch I'll get the whole story.

Yes, we have a letterbox hidden in the store, and a geocache. See www.letterboxing.org and www.geocaching.com for more info.

A cute little Gund bear is going off to England today, to Billingham, close to Middlesborough. Lucky little guy!

I just read a fascinating book by Penelope Evans called "Freezing".

Someone brought it in for trade and I started reading it because it said "Quirky to the hilt" (yes, I sometimes fall for blurbs). I could barely get my work done then took it home and finished it.

She's not in print here in the states so I Googled her. Turns out she has a sort of cult following in the UK.

Bibles galore!

I started ordering new Bibles from the publishers because we didn't have enough on the shelves.

We have 4 copies of the Qur'an, 2 Tao Te Ching, 2 nice copies if the Bhagavadgita, plenty of the Book of Mormon, you name it we got it. But before I ordered new ones we had no Bibles. Zero.

Now Bibles are just flowing in.

One of our long-time trade customers came in today with 4 bags of books, including several fine, unmarked Bibles.

Her family comes at Christmastime and she likes to beef up her trade credit so they can have fun shopping for free. Looks like I'll be able to add close to $100 to her account from this collection.

Maybe I CAN keep everybody happy!

Today I get to break into three huge boxes of books sent to me from my brother in Boston. I just opened the first box. Right on the top is a gorgeous copy of "The Tragedy of the Korosko" by A. Conan Doyle, from 1898!! This is going to be a fun day.

A very cute Ganz Piper bear just sold to a couple from Texas. He will join a bear they bought here 11 years ago!

Every year one of our customers donates $100 in trade credit to the Florence Area Humane Society Wine and Chocolate Gala silent auction.

I always love to see her coming. She brings lots of exciting books for trade that I'll be glad to have in the store.

This time there's the latest Laurel K. Hamilton, "Skin Trade", 2 Anita Blake graphic novels, almost a complete set of J. R. Ward paperbacks in perfect condition, and too much more to mention.

My customers will be happy to find these in stock.

It's a nice cool misty morning here in Florence and there are lots of visitors, probably escaping the heat in the valley.

A couple just bought two books, "Wine Trails of Oregon" and "Photographing Oregon". Clearly they are in for a wonderful trip! I'd like to tag along on that one.

"Photographing Oregon" is a new publication. It's set up like a guide book, directing people to all the fabulous photo ops Oregon offers. Sounds like big fun, eh?

See it's bigger than it looks from the outside.

I just sold a first edition (fifteenth printing) "To Kill a Mockingbird" to someone who named their kid "Jem". I love it when the perfect book goes to the right people.

Here's our bookstore, on the coast of Oregon in Florence.