McHuston Booksellers

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Tag: used books (Page 58 of 128)

What a difference a year makes.

March 20, 2014 /

Time was, you could fire a cannon down the middle of Main Street after 5pm and not worry a single soul. It wasn’t that long ago. Before moving the shop into the Rose District, I would occasionally take a slight detour after locking up and drive through Old Downtown BA.

Dead.

You could have parked anywhere, but wouldn’t have had much of a reason to do so. Nothing much was open. I should know. For years, I was probably the last retail shop open after five or six o’clock on Main.

Take a look at the picture. You can click on it for a slightly larger view, if you like. The snapshot was taken about seven-thirty this evening. As you can see, it’s a completely different scenario these days. The image is looking south through the Main and Commercial Street intersection, from in front of the shop. When I looked the other direction, the parking spaces were filled all the way to Broadway.

Since I don’t own an NSA secret-agent look-around-the-corner camera, you can’t see the cars parked east and west along Commercial.

And in the public lot on Ash Street.

The photo was taken about the time of day I would occasionally drive down Main before heading to the house, back when the shop was in the Oak Crest Center. Back then, you could have had your pick of spaces in which to park, but not many shopping or dining options.

That was before Main Street Tavern and the Bruhouse Grill and Fiesta Mambo. And with yesterday’s announcement about The Rooftop (to open in June above In the Raw’s new restaurant location), and the rumored restaurant to be located right next door, the evening activity will certainly make for busy sidewalks and happy, hungry guests.

But no more firing of cannons down the middle of Main.

Come visit!

McHuston

Booksellers & Irish Bistro
Rose District
122 South Main St. Broken Arrow OK!

You call it.

March 19, 2014 /

It was a divided highway. I was driving in the left-hand lane. In Oklahoma, we recognize that as the – Exceed-The-Speed-Limit lane of traffic. The highway wasn’t particularly crowded, but there were a number of cars on the other side of the median, coming in my direction.

Most of them were flashing their headlights on and off.

Speed trap ahead, I thought to myself. I began scanning the shoulder up ahead, trying to locate the Highway Patrol cruiser with the radar gun. I was about to give up when I spotted him, driving in the inner lane, red-lights flashing, headlights blinking. But, I couldn’t see anyone being chased. All the northbound cars had pulled over to the outside lane, still flashing their headlights about the speed trap.

Weird, I thought.

I looked back at my own lane, where a large sedan was headed directly for me. Going the wrong way. I’m doing seventy-miles-per-hour. We’re closing fast.

Really fast.

There wasn’t even a second to shout. Or cuss. I looked up, saw the impending head-on collision, and in the same moment in time – the car whizzed by my door.

I guess I had jerked the steering wheel. At any rate, the next thing I know I’m driving at seventy-miles-an-hour in the outside lane. The Highway Patrol cruiser is visible in my rear view mirror – he’s pacing the car that’s headed in the wrong direction, maybe trying to get him to stop or pull onto the shoulder, I don’t know.

There wasn’t even time to be nervous or scared when it happened, but I got the shakes afterward. There were two of us in the front seat of my car. We both would have died.

I can’t really solve the mystery of actions or reactions that happen outside the thinking process. Instinct, maybe. Some would call it Divine Intervention. The crazy thing is, I’ve had similar incidents in which the outcome was Whew! What a close one! – rather than suffering through trips to the emergency room. I thought about that driving episode when I read about the boy falling from a third-story apartment today.

Maybe that toddler will wonder one day about the serendipity of it, or the Divine Intervention, that allowed his fall from a third-floor apartment balcony to be interrupted by a man and woman who happened to be carrying their bed on the sidewalk this afternoon.

If you didn’t see the story, you can read it here: Reuters News

In a nutshell, the three-year old was tossing toys from a window or balcony and decided to climb out after them. After less than a minute of precarious clinging, gravity prevailed. Here’s that amazing part. The guy moving the mattress glanced up, saw the kid a moment before he fell, and positioned the bedding on the sidewalk as a safety net backup as he tried to catch the boy.

Konrad Lighter managed to grab the kid. Neither is the worse for wear. What should have been – by all circumstances – a heart-wrenching accidental death, will be remembered as a childhood incident that made the news. Mr. Lighter is the hero of the event, not because he acted bravely, but because he Acted. Reacted to the situation. Moved faster than he had time to think.

You can call it a miracle, or whatever you like.

It was certainly a lucky day for moving the bedroom furniture on the sidewalk below the apartments. At least, it was lucky for one three-year-old toy tosser.

Some true stories are more outrageous than fiction. You’ll find both kinds on the book shelves when you –

Come visit!

McHuston

Booksellers & Irish Bistro
Rose District
122 South Main St. Broken Arrow OK!

Rose-colored glasses looking Green!

March 16, 2014 /

One thing about working on your day off – you can tackle the jobs at your own pace. So here I am, taking a break from chopping vegetables, looking over some pictures from the first ShamRock the Rose festival. Here comes my admission, right up front, honest and forthright.

I had my doubts. Once again, I was wrong.

Predictably (pun-intended), there were the expected dire forecasts from the meteorologists, which made me worry. (Those are the same who advised us, when it got cold and snowy, that we should all stay home – or die. I didn’t and I didn’t. My customers did, regrettably. Stay home, that is. Not die.)

This time the prediction was for a 100% chance of rain beginning at noon.

Mention of severe tossed in, just for good measure.

As it turned out, the rain held off and the festival got underway as scheduled. A net-posted photograph indicated sparse attendance, but it was obviously a snapshot taken early on. On our part of the Rose, there were plenty of folks wandering about, and many of them stopped at our door-front table. We were offering Irish Stew and – Surprise! – green beer.

Based on the festival sales, I decided to up my preparation for St. Paddy’s Day’s lunch service. Back in my Paddy’s Irish Restaurant days, we were strong on corned beef and cabbage, Irish whiskeys, and – of course – green beer. We had a great kitchen staff back then. My kitchen staff here is – me.

So, I’m planning to do what I know I can manage on my own. Some of you will recognize my lovely daughter Kristen in the image. (It was the Luck o’ the Irish that she didn’t inherit the old man’s face.) She’s agreed to help out during the St. Paddy’s lunch, which will make it a much smoother service.

We’ll be offering green beer to go along with corned beef on rye, if you like. Or Irish stew, if you prefer. Potato soup, as always. Shepherd’s Pie with the hand-mashed potatoes and stew gravy. Some Irish music, as you might expect.

Compared to the old days, it will be a small party. But we’ll be in good spirits and wishing everyone the merriest of St. Patrick’s Days from the heart of the Rose District.

Come visit!

McHuston

Booksellers & Irish Bistro
Rose District
122 South Main St. Broken Arrow OK!

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