Photographic Evidence

I believe there are more footnotes than post today.

If you have any truck with independent bookstores, you may have heard of the Tattered Cover in Denver.

The Tattered Cover has a long and storied (hahahahaha!) history, and publishers, readers and writers† recognise it as a Mecca for small publishers, niche writers% and independent-thinking literary-minded types all over the world. I know many people (and have overheard others at the airport) who specifically arrange long layovers in Denverish so they can visit the Tattered Cover when they travel.

Among the many sweet details that make the Tattered Cover what it is:

1. Chairs and sofas.
2. A coffee shop in every store (until just a few years ago -- maybe 12 -- there was only one store in Cherry Creek).
3. A "stay as long as you like, read as much as you want" policy.
4. A strident stance against the turning over of customer purchase information to the government.
5. A box of index cards and a cup of pencils in the cookbook section so you can copy a recipe if it strikes your fancy.
6. An abnormal number of author appearances.
7. Staff that reads... *really* reads. Reads-with-a-capital-R Reads.
8. Wood floors, wood shelves.
9. A vast and varied newsstand.
10. MiniCooper.

I was perusing the Tattered Cover website to find out (first) when the LoDo‡ store opens in the morning (6:30 am, for those of you scoring at home), and (second) seeking "Dyeing to Knit," since I never start a new hobby without books,§ and, you know, two dye kits, miles and miles of naked, waiting, willing yarn...

mmmmmmmmmm...

Sorry. Reverie.$

Anyway, to make a long story short,¶ when I went to the TC website, I happened to catch the right portion of the slide show in the upper left hand corner and, lo and behold, there is my Mini Cooper, from last summer, parked outside the Highlands Ranch Tattered Cover.

I remember the guy taking pictures. I joked with him about upping the cool quotient on the Tattered Cover# by including the MiCo in the shot, and... there she is. The Cutest Little Car in the Whole Wide World.^

You can see for yourself by going to the website and watching the slide show. CLCWWW is the ninth photo,†† right after the two little blond kids reading.

What does it say about my book problem that the Tattered Cover captured my car for its website? What do you suppose are the odds?‡‡

I'm so proud. The rest of you can stop laughing now.

†FOOTNOTE (crossed): Like the Yarn Harlot, to personalise it for y'all.

%FOOTNOTE (percented): As I read that, it sounds (reads?) like it's some freaky-deaky little place. They do carry all the bestsellers and trite beach trash, but it all feels like quality literary material when you put it in real wood shelves over real wood floors, adjacent to antique couches and good coffee.

‡FOOTNOTE (double-crossed): Lower Downtown, the hip and happening portion of downtown Denver that was re-engineered from a slum that made us feel mad, bad and dangerous to know in high school to the home of trendy, expensive restaurants and bars in the late 80's. And the LoDo Tattered Cover is about four blocks from the office.

§FOOTNOTE (swerved): Often many, many books. You shoulda seen the stack when The Boy wanted me to golf with him last summer. Potential for Humiliation + Potential for Learning + Opportunity for Book Procurement = Serious Book Problem That Makes Family and Friends Laugh at Me.

¶FOOTNOTE (paragraphed): Hahahahaha! Too late!

$FOOTNOTE (moneyed): You needn't ask if the reverie is over yarn or sexual reference. Po-tay-to, po-tah-to.

#FOOTNOTE (pounded): Seriously, that's funny too. The Tattered Cover is the height of cool to the hip and/or literary around here.

^FOOTNOTE (carated): Do you think this is how photographers flirt? Do you think the photographer would like to go to the Brown Palace with me next week? Do you think he'll be my new best friend?

††FOOTNOTE (doubble-crossssed): OK, she's technically IN the ninth photo, but for me, she IS the ninth photo.

‡‡FOOTNOTE (ddouble-ccrossed): In case you're not my sister-in-law, I'll give you a hint: the odds are WAYYYYY better if you're at the Tattered Cover an obsessive number of times in any given week. Like four or five.

*FOOTNOTE (unmarked): Is it kinda funny that the title of this post is "Photographic Evidence," but I have no actual photos to post in the post? Tomorrow I will have at least a picture of my bat tattoo, by request.