When looking at a catalog my sister lent me, I found this owl painting by Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849), who is most famous for that big wave painting. I knew he painted birds, but had never seen this particular one before. I'm not sure what species it is, need to look up Asian owls. It's available as a holiday card at the Metropolitan Museum of Art , which is why I found it in their catalog.

     Yesterday I went to a library book sale with a discussion group pal. They didn't have as much as they usually do, but everything was half price, some books were as little as 10 cents. I got 16 books for $4.50 ! My friend got a big bag of paperbacks for $2. How the library made much money with prices like those, I don't know. There were a lot of people there too, all crowded into a small room filled with tall bookcases and bumping into each other.

     Besides animal books, I also bought anything that looked even remotely interested to have on hand when I'm too sick to get to a library. I'm addicted to books, reading more than 200 a year, so I get panicky when I don't have something to read. All of the other books I got were historical, either nonfiction or novels of Ireland, the Crusades & Ancient Egypt. I'm fascinated with history, which is ironic for someone who doesn't really like humans in general. Obviously I prefer them in the abstract or as individuals.

     It was cold & rainy, at times the wipers couldn't keep the windshield clear enough to see much, so I drove slowly. After our book spree, my friend & I went to Subway & had a sandwich, before we drove off in opposite directions in the drizzle.