Above the 49th Parallel

Last week my wife, Joyce, and I took off for the Great White North. I use the term loosely. It was great and it was north but it was anything but white. The temperature hovered around 40C. For those isolated Americans not used to Metric/Centigrade measurements, it means it was hot. We left Dallas with the thermometer in the 90’s (F) and arrived in Toronto to be greeted by about the same degrees of warmth. We actually flew into Buffalo, New York and made the three hour car trip northward.

We met some Sherlockian friends for dinner and then ventured back to their home where we were treated to a collection beyond words, so I will leave it at that (this is meant to instill intrigue, leaving the reader to want more). Since this vacation was an extension of Joyce’s April birthday, it was never meant to be Sherlockian in nature. Not that she is opposed to such adventures, it simply means there were other items more important on her agenda.

Dinner Table for 64 guest at South Pond Farm

 The main reason for the northward bound journey was a preplanned dinner. Netflix ran a show called Taste of the Country about South Pond Farms. It features Danielle French who moved from the hustle and bustle of Toronto to a farm about 100KM from Toronto. The concept is a low carbon footprint establishment that hosts dinners, weddings, and other social gatherings with an emphasis on local food and drink. The dinner we attended was called the Sturgeon Moon Dinner. The First Nation (Canadian call their native inhabitants by this less offensive term) had names for each full moon. The August full moon is called The Sturgeon Moon, the Green Corn Moon, or the Barley Moon. The dinner, even though called the Sturgeon Moon, featured corn in every course. There were sixty-four guest plus two live musicians. The moon rose on a clean, clear night, bright red and to a full round of oohs and aahs.  Our plans are now to make this an annual event.

Joyce & I on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls.

Next up was the Canadian side of Niagara Falls, which we were told are more spectacular than viewed from the United States side. As it turned out, whoever “they” were, were quite correct. Niagara Falls on either side is very touristy but on the Canadian side the view is much closer and easier to reach. Just about every nationality crowded for a vantage point. A question I heard someone ask and it made me wonder was, ‘what is the point of Muslim women in full face covered hijabs taking selfies in front of the falls’. How can anyone tell who they are looking at? Just a thought.

The Hound of the Baskervilles at the Festival Theatre

Niagara-on-the-Lake is known for many things, one of them being the Festival Theatre. Its roots can be traced back to 1962 when an Ontario lawyer staged a summertime “Salute to Shaw” in the town’s courthouse. The festival gained huge international publicity and is now the second largest repertory theatre company in North America. Our schedule was open on Tuesday night, so we decided to attend a play, giving us the bragging rights to say we’ve been there. Well low and behold, R. Hamilton and David Pichette’s adaptation of The Hound of the Baskervilles just happened to be the play that was being staged. Just because this was not a Sherlockian holiday, did not stop us from attending. As it turned out, this was one of the most enjoyable plays we have ever attended. From opening act to closing curtain everything was first rate and truly amazing.

We ended our trek to Canada visiting a few vineyards. Our favorite was #99 – Wayne Gretzky’s Winery and Distillery. What a perfect end to a marvelous blitz of Canada.

Remember, it’s not a Sherlockian holiday but it really always is one.

Happy Collecting!

My Children Are Going Off to College

  

Retired SMU Logo

After nearly thirty-five years as a collector of Sherlock Holmes I recently came to a crossroad. With retirement fast approaching, I needed to do a bit of estate planning. My collection has always played a role in my retirement plans. Until recently nothing very serious had been decided. Selling the book was never an option and I really wanted to keep the foreign language collection complete. What's an aging Sherlockian supposed to do? Talking to an old friend is always a good place to begin. Even better if the old friend is a Sherlockian. Still better, if that old Sherlockian friend works at a major, local university.

Jim Webb (that's Dr. Webb to mere mortals) is a long time Dallas Sherlockian. We used to trade-off  being the Third Mate of the Crew of the Barque LONE STAR back in the 80's and 90's. We co-founded the Diogenes Club of Dallas. Jim became its only president and when the Crew began to falter, the Diogenes Club stepped in and filled the void. Only recently the Barque LONE STAR came out of dry-dock and once again became the main Dallas area Sherlock Holmes society. At one of the regular monthly meetings I asked Jim, who is professor at Southern Methodist University (SMU), if there might be any interest in my collection.

Packing up the collection.

Jim arranged a meeting at my house with Russell L. Martin, III, the director at the DeGoyler Library. Dr. Martin arrived at the scheduled time. As a collector, I have seen my library slowly grow from a few hundred books to well over twelve-thousand volumes. I have seen the reactions of other Sherlockians when they visit for the first time but was not sure about how a professional book person would respond. Well, it did not take long to find out. It may be hyperbole to say his jaw hit the ground but it was close. He was amazed and definitely wanted to add the collection to SMU. I was both pleased and saddened at the same time. The meeting took place in August 2017 and after a few short weeks

Not quite 221 boxes

of negotiations, we came to terms and in September 2017 SMU arrived with a large truck. It took nearly thirty-five years to amass my collection and just under four hours to box, load, and haul it away.

One of the arrangements is that I have visitation rights whenever I see fit and I have gone several times. The collection is currently stored in the Stacks with a two small display cases in the Texas Room with a sampling for various translations. Graduate students are working on cataloging the collection into WorldCat which is estimated to take until spring 2020. After this process is completed, there will be a full display

Old my children going off to college.

and public exhibition. As an added bonus, it was arranged that I could still buy books up to a set amount and SMU would reimburse me. Needless to say I have taken them up on this offer.

One of my best ideas ever was when I decided to have the entire foreign language collection photographed before they went off to college. The end result is freaky. My daughter and I spent three days spray-mounting the life-sized photographs on 1/8th foam board. I managed to slice off the end of one finger and make another unscheduled, deep slash in my thumb before we were through. After the bodily repairs, we glued wine corks to the back of each photograph so they would sit upright on the ninety-two shelves that the foreign translations filled. The faux-images were placed on the exact shelves where their real-world books once sat. Recently a Sherlockian friend who was a frequent visitor before the books left dropped over. He was completely at a loss for words. The last bay of shelving on the right side of the library did not get photographed and is now filled with other books. Sitting across the room from those shelves, he could not tell where the photographs ended and the real books began. I was pleased with this reaction because it was what I had initially envisioned when I thought of the idea. 

The foreign language books being photographed.

I am happy with the entire end results of donating my collection to SMU. I have full visitation rights, the collection is named The Donald J. Hobbs Sherlock Holmes Collection, I can still buy books using SMU's nickel, they want to sponsor an annual dinner, and would also like to host a Sherlockian conference every other year. I am a consultant on all things related to SMU and the collection. Finally, the tax credit I was given has become a large part of my retirement planning. Overall, I would say it was a win-win situation for everyone involved.

Happy Collecting!!

PS.

After over a year of silence, I will begin blogging again on a more regular basis. Please enjoy responsibly.