Blizzard or Not, Here We Come!

Snow days are not unusual in February, but two blizzards in one month will cause a media frenzy, stop cars, trucks, trains and planes, and make any travel except by snowshoe almost impossible. Valentine’s Day, however, falls in the middle of February, and I believe it is imperative that we celebrate love in a big way. I also believe my Valentine is a magician who makes the impossible seem inevitable, so we did manage to fly out of Chicago and into Boston on Friday the thirteenth and drive out to Worcester, the snowiest city in the nation, and attend Winter Homecoming at the College of the Holy Cross before driving northeast to Bath just minutes before another blizzard hit Boston. Miraculously, at 6:30 p.m. we sat down for a Valentine’s Day dinner at Solo Bistro in Maine’s City of Ships! What a wild ride, and isn’t it funny that we were not the only crazy optimists to brave the frozen highways and skyways in the name of love! Every seat was taken on Friday night’s American flight, and one man boarded the plane with a dozen flowers in his hand. Later, at Logan airport, I saw that young man give the flowers to a young woman who was waiting for him at baggage claim.  All those strong winds and cold snow could not stop Cupid’s arrow! 

Truth be told, my Valentine and I were looking forward to meeting a creative band of people on Monday, February 16^th, at the grand opening of The Mustard Seed Bookstore and Tea Shop in Bath. I was especially eager to meet the owner, Julie Shea, because I had read about her plan to reinvent The Bath Book Store in a new space. Before I even met her, Julie Shea reminded me of Kathleen Kelly, the gentle, but determined owner of The Shop Around The Corner in You’ve Got Mail, one of my all time favorite movies!

On Saturday, when we arrived in Bath, we couldn’t help but notice the walls of snow lining all the roads and covering most of the sidewalks. The City of Ships looked remarkably like a scene out of Walt Disney’s Frozen or Boris Pasternak’s Doctor Zhivago. Many of the doorways were barely visible from the street, but the snow covered rooftops stood tall and glistened in the evening light. On the up side, the snow had transformed Bath into a Winter Palace. On the down side, more than a few events would be cancelled because of the weather. I wondered if The Mustard Seed would cancel their opening day celebration. Julie Shea must have read my mind because she sent out a Facebook blast: Snow or not, The Mustard Seed would open on schedule! I could hear that Kathleen Kelly voice humming over the Internet chatter! For over a month I had been following the progress of Julie and Mike Shea’s labor of love. Supported by her associate Susan Shipsey and encouraged by their daughters, Julie and Mike transformed 74 Front Street into the coziest bookstore and teashop in Maine! On Monday morning, the day after Bath narrowly missed another blizzard, Julie, along with friends and family, turned the key and unlocked the door of the Mustard Seed. God and Mother Nature must listen to the prayers of Mainers!

Julie Shea with her daughter, Breelin

 Of course, there was no shortage of snow on February 16^th, but inside Bath’s shop around the corner there was a glass case filled with freshly baked scones, a side table covered with an assortment of teas, and a wall decorated with dozens of tea cups. Simply stated, the Mustard Seed smelled delicious, and everyone who entered wanted to sit and stay for a while, but first they had to choose a teacup and just the right tea to savor the moment!

Joe and I roamed around the shop for a good fifteen minutes before sitting down to drink tea. I noticed the section for Maine authors first, and I had to pick up a copy of Olive Kitteridge to hold in my hands. Maine is spelled out in big birch letters on the back wall, and the nature books seemed to call Joe over to browse. I spent some quality time among the poetry books looking for my favorite poet, Billy Collins, an alumnus of the College of the Holy Cross, a two term United States Poet Laureate, and the author of “Snow Day.” How could he not be my personal favorite! In an article in The New York Times, Bruce Weber dubbed Billy Colllins “the most popular poet in America” largely because of his witty, conversational style. Weber went on to say, however, that Collins’ wit is only the lure to attract our attention so he can share with us a serious observation. At The Mustard Seed there is an old fashioned typewriter with a stack of library due date cards next to it. Those cards seem to be inviting us to sit down and type an idea. Julie may be a new bookstore owner, but she is experienced in the ways of teaching language arts, and she knows how to encourage us all to read more! Instead of asking me to fill out a form and place it in a suggestion box, Julie asked me to share my ideas about books that would be good for the shop via email. I quickly agreed to send her the titles of a few poetry anthologies by Billy Collins. Fulfilling that promise let me recommend two collections of poems that will help keep your imagination fully alive until spring: Questions About Angels (1991) and Sailing Alone Around the Room: New and Selected Poems (2001). As fate and Bath would have it, I think Julie Shea and Billy Collins are friends in spirit because they share the same passion: a love for reading. One of my favorite poems in Questions About Angels is “First Reader” because it reminds us all of our first encounter with the world of stories:

            I can see them standing politely on the wide pages

            that I was still learning to turn,

            Jane in a blue jumper, Dick with his crayon-brown hair,

            playing with a ball or exploring the cosmos

            of the backyard, unaware they are the first characters,

            the boy and girl who begin fiction.

I didn’t “look” for Dick and Jane at The Mustard Seed last Monday, but I did see a little boy about three years old with big blue eyes in between stacks of books. He was holding a blue balloon that almost matched his eyes, and he was trying very hard to tell me something. His words were not as clear as his gesture. He was offering me his balloon as a gift. It was opening day at The Mustard Seed, and he desperately wanted to share the wonder! At that moment, I was reminded of how important the gift of reading truly is and always will be. If we could read tea leaves, they would tell us that Julie Shea and Susan Shipsey have launched a great ship that will carry us to beautiful places and bring us back home with more stories to share.

On opening day, The Mustard Seed was brewing lots of tea for two  (I spied a young couple at a corner table), and tea for five (I spied a group of high school students at the big table by the window), and Julie even offered a cup of tea to the U.P.S. delivery man who arrived with a dolly loaded with boxes of new books. Sadly, the U.P.S. cannot stop to sip tea from a china cup, but Julie told the delivery man she would get some thermal cups to go for next time! At the end of the blustery, joyful day, Julie Shea probably went directly home and fell into bed, but I like to imagine that before she turned off the lights at 74 Front Street and locked the front door of her cozy new bookstore, she took a moment to twirl around the room with her daughters just like Kathleen Kelly used to do with her mother, Cecilia. Mothers and daughters deserve to twirl and dance, especially if they keep bookstores open for reading!

From behind the counter, Megan Shea and Olivia Shipsey help their moms open The Mustard Seed!