Model Train Show

Program and wrist band

Those were the days...Seems like old times.

Saturday Richard and I returned to the Big E to see the annual Amherst Railway Society Railroad Hobby Show (aka Model Train Show). We used to go to this show every year. It is huge (see the floor layout below). It is billed as the"largest railroad hobby show in the country!" There were 410 exhibitors in just over 400,000 square feet (or 9.3 acres) spread out over four (4) buildings.

Floor plans

Although we didn't buy anything, we enjoyed a quick walk-through looking at all the vendors and especially the train layouts. Fabulous. It seems like every model train club in the area had a setup and some were gigantic (look carefully at the map above). The Lego train layout was impressive (see pic below). Richard has a bunch of these. I remember building a Santa Fe locomotive with him.

Lego Train layout

Since all our trains are in storage, I wasn't looking to buy anything....except I would have been extremely tempted if I found a K-Line Black Cat Candy freight car (in memory of my cat Robie).

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Links:

http://www.railroadhobbyshow.com/index.php
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Written Saturday 9 March 2019

A Woman Clothed With The Sun

Front cover of my copy of
A Woman Clothed With The Sun

I just finished this book about eight (8) apparitions of the Blessed Mother:

• Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico (by Ethel Cook Eliot)
• The Lady of the Miraculous Medal [Paris] (by Rev Joseph I. Dirvin, C.M.)
• The Lady in Tears [La Salette] (by Msgr. John S. Kennedy)
• Bernadette and the Beautiful Lady [Lourdes] (by Frances Parkinson Keyes)
• Our Lady of Silence [Knock Ireland] (by Mary Purcell)
• The Lady of the Rosary [Fatima] (by Msgr. William C. McGrath)
• The Virgin with the Golden Heart [Beauraing Belgium] (by Don Sharkey)
• The Virgin of the Poor [Banneux Belgium] (by Robert M. Maloy, S.M.)

At the beginning of each story is an illustration by Paul Galdone. In addition to the eight stories, the book contains a lengthy introduction by the editor, John J. Delaney, to provide context and explain the selections. At the back of the book are biographical sketches of the authors.

The book was published in 1960 by Hanover House, a division of Doubleday & Company. The hardbound book has 240 numbered pages.

I obtained my copy of the book from a used book sale. Inside the front end piece is a stamp that indicates it is from the Library of the Sisters of St Joseph.

I actually started reading this book around Saturday Dec 17, 2018 while waiting at a car dealer for an oil change for my vehicle. Every morning thereafter, I read a little bit.

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Links:
https://books.google.com/books?id=A5VBDwAAQBAJ&pg=PP9&lpg=PP9&dq=Robert+M.+Maloy,+S.M.&source=bl&ots=T2Co1ctIve&sig=ACfU3U0Gmv1yP_7mExlyQRYioli-aa9rMA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjpnf-D-InhAhVjUN8KHdm4BScQ6AEwAHoECAUQAQ#v=onepage&q=Robert%20M.%20Maloy%2C%20S.M.&f=false
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marian_apparition
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_Guadalupe
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miraculous_Medal
https://www.nytimes.com/1993/07/08/obituaries/joseph-i-dirvin-75-official-at-st-john-s-wrote-about-saints.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_La_Salette
https://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-xpm-2000-10-05-0010042783-story.html
https://www.lourdes-france.org/en/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frances_Parkinson_Keyes
https://traditioninaction.org/religious/a056_Knock_1.html
https://www.knockshrine.ie/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_F%C3%A1tima
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_Beauraing
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_Banneux
https://prabook.com/web/robert_michael.maloy/36124
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Galdone
https://www.nytimes.com/1985/04/12/arts/john-j-delaney-is-dead-at-74-edited-catholic-publications.html
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Written Sunday 17 March 2019

The Mystery of the Ivory Charm (1974)

Front cover of my copy of the 1974 edition.

Last month, after I finished reading the original 1936 edition of the Nancy Drew mystery book, The Mystery of the Ivory Charm, I realized I also had the 1974 version. So I quickly (for me) read the "modern" version.

Endpaper

The book was published in 1974 by Grosset & Dunlap (New York). It has XX (20) chapters (compared to 25 in the 1936 edition) spread out over 179 pages (compared with 216 in the 1936 edition). It has new cover art by Rudy Nappi (see above) and five simple illustrations (by an uncredited artist; see below for a comparison between an illustration for the same scene from the 1974 edition [left] and the 1936 edition [right]).

 

The basic story line is the same in both editions, however, I think that the illustrations (see above) are symbolic of the differences between the 1936 and the 1974 edition. The 1974 edition was easy to read and went quickly, almost without substance. Whereas, the 1936 version had more weight; meatier. One might say that the 1974 version is a diet version of the full bodied 1936 edition.

The Mystery of the Ivory Charm is #13 in the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series.

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Links:

http://ricketwrite.blogspot.com/2018/12/the-mystery-of-ivory-charm.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mystery_of_the_Ivory_Charmhttps://americanillustration.org/project/rudy-nappi/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nancy_Drew_Mystery_Stories
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Written Sunday 17 March 2019

1936 edition