The "Luckily I Only Paid $1!" Story

It was an ordinary day.  An early week-day and I had just parked the car in the lot of the Overlook Roller Rink.  Today was the start of the annual book sale that features books of all types from hard-back novels to trashy paper-backs.  The sale began at 9:00 AM and I had arrived about 8:55 AM.  The line was about 50 yards long, but the day was a beautiful autumn day with the sun beginning to show through the trees that lined the walk of the roller rink.  I thought I would make a visit to see if I could find any books that would make a good story for my blog.  9:00 AM and the line began to move.  Wasn't long before I was standing in the roller rink looking at row after row of used books that carried a price tag of $2.00 for every hard-bound book and $.50 for any book with a soft cover.  There were also quite a few puzzles that were for sale, but I'm not sure what the price might have been.  Table after table of books marked with signs that read: Novels, History, etc.  On one table I was pulling out book after book to examine when I came upon a book I was responsible for in 2004.  There was the school yearbook for the Manheim Township Middle School from 2003-2004.  

Cover was designed by the 8th grade art class and the book was filled with page after page of student photos.  I spent about a half-hour wandering around the rink before picking up two soft-cover books in the history row.  One book was titled "Lancaster County" with text by Ed Klimuska and photos by Keith Baum and Jerry Irwin while the other book was titled "50 American Heroes Every Kid Should Meet" by Dennis Denenberg & Lorraine Roscoe.  Took a few photographs, paid my $1.00 and headed out the door towards my car.  Took me a few minutes to get home and carried my books into the house to see exactly what I had purchased. Showed my wife the first one and she said, "You bought that same book last year! Remember, Denny Denenberg wrote it and that's why you bought it. You gave it to Caden!" She was right! I do remember buying the book written by an old friend whom worked at Manheim Township School District with me and giving it to my grandson Caden. I spent the next hour or so looking over both books and thought who I could give these books to this year. The "Lancaster County" book had 144 pages and had beautiful photography in it as well as a few stories in it that were very interesting. Stories that I had never heard about in my lifetime as a citizen of Lancaster. One story was titled "Pig's Stomach: A Tasty Pennsylvania German Meal." Reason I had never read this story before was that I'm not German and can't imagine why anyone would want to eat a pig's stomach. As I began to read the story I found it is also called "Dutch Goose." Why? I stopped reading the story at this point, since it was just too gross for me. Another story told of the "Moravian Star." Now, that I knew about. Since 1958 a 58 inch, 110-point plastic star hung in the Lititz Moravian Church during the Christmas season. The design was developed in the Moravian school handicraft sessions in Niesky, Germany, in the late 1800s. It's been used in the churches of Hernhut and Konigsfeld and now hangs in the Lititz Moravian Church. Actually, we have one that we hang in a window of our home during the Christmas season. Another story told of "A Peculiar People" who lived in the town of Ephrata at the Ephrata Cloister. The Ephrata Cloister was one of America's earliest communal societies. It was housed in a collection of Germanic-style buildings and was a community of religious zealots who practiced an austere lifestyle that stressed spiritual and mystical goals. It was also known for its original music and artwork and was an important center for printing and publishing in colonial Pennsylvania. Ever hear of either the Moravian Star or Ephrata Cloister before? If you want to read more on either one, type them into the white box, top left on this page. I have written about each in the past. Well, the more I went through the "Lancaster County" book, the more I realized that I had written a story for my blog about most everything in my new book I had just purchased. Oh, well...luckily they only cost me $1. I'll have to see whom I can give these books to for Christmas! Wonder if my grandson would remember that I gave him the same one years ago when he was in elementary school. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.