Today was a good day. Among the better January 10ths on the list of all January 10ths.

Good coffee, great people, and even a sunny day.

May there be many more.

Thanks to all who said kind things on Facebook, email, Twitter, ESP and other forms of communication.

AT-A-GLANCE Recycled Desk Pad, 22 x 17 Inches, White, 2012 (SK24-00)

This is the 2012 calendar. The 2011 version looked much like it.

I cannot review 2012. Not yet. Today is the first day of year, and how can I say how a calendar will hold up 366 days of the year? We have, of course, the bonus Leap Year day thrown in, but, for this calendar, as a monthly, no extra product will exist.

Last year's calendar, though, I have expert knowledge. I was there all 365 days. From the time midnight hit January 1, 2011, until just a few hours ago at 11:59:59 p.m. December 31, 2011, I experienced all of it firsthand. This calendar recorded all of it. Most of it, anyway. The paper, recycled, is durable enough to withstand ink, coffee cups, and the pressure of books waiting to be read.

As a larger desk pad calendar, there is room enough to remember dental appointments and the other mundanities of life. So often, calendar makers do not see beyond Monday-Friday, giving those five days more than their fair share of paper. Not this publisher. They understand Saturday and Sunday are not days we do not exist, but exist as fully as any other.

Saturday needs room, not merely a number. So much life starts on Saturday. "6 am -- Meet -- at The Jupiter Cafe." Then, "Pick up dry cleaning before 10." The rest of the morning and early afternoon is given over to reading, as always, so scheduling it is not important. But at 3:00 p.m., there is transition. Early dinners with beautiful women whose charm lasts long after the moon has traveled over the Earth are noted, with an arrow to a day or two earlier: "Buy wine at --'s Winery and Fine Luxuries." Sundays might find, "Worship at -- Church at 10," and "Visit the gallery at 2. Pick up -- at 1:30 p.m." Thus calendar can, and has, handled all of this.

There is room in each entry for all of the day's events. In the case in which your life has more than a pleasant evening dining scheduled, perhaps this is not for you. There is software to accommodate the more complicated life. But, for the simpler lifestyle, one built around enjoying the people around you, this is a perfect addition to the home desk.

May your days be full with love, wine, and coffee, and people who prefer all.

--Brockeim

Buy a AT-A-GLANCE Recycled Desk Pad, 22 x 17 Inches, White, 2012 (SK24-00).

(in celebration of this darkest day of the year, I am reposting a parody of Robert Frist's famous poem. Stopping By Some Bookshelves on a Snowy Evening
(severe apologies to Robert Frost)
Robert Frost books on amazon.com

Whose shelves these are I think I know.
He is off at the bookstore though;
He will not see me stopping here
To read his books and quickly go.

My little friend must think me weird
To stop with a library near
At this home of a friend just left
This twentieth day of the year.

He questions if my brain's bereft
Asking about my conscience's theft
The only other sound's the sweep
Of flipping pages -- language heft.

The shelves are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have "To Be Reads" to keep,
And books to read before I sleep,
And books to read before I sleep.


Robert Frost was a learned man, a true man of letters. His poetry graced more than the shelves of grade school libraries, but of great thinkers, and even John F. Kennedy's presidential inauguration.

Frost had an accessibility not found in many poets. His vocabulary was not overbearing, and his images were not unlike ones anyone growing up in the country would see. You will not struggle to understand the essence of what he his saying as you might with Edna St. Vincent Millay, but his meaning is as layered. Like Emily Dickinson's poetry, his deeper meaning was beguiled by apparent simplicity.

Most of amazon.com's customers are readers who love books as much as they love reading them. We browse our best friend's shelves when we visit their home. We borrow their books, and sometimes, with their permission. Our TBR (To Be Read) list is longer than a child's Christmas letter to Santa, and as desirous.

Many of my guides are parodies of songs, and follow the tune of the original. This one is similar, except is based on Frost's most famous poem, "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening."

I hope you enjoy my look at Frost's poem.

--Brockeim

• Brockeim's Reviews on amazon.com
• Romance on amazon.com
• Robert Frost books on amazon.com

Spaghetti is nutritional string. Even better when slathered with nutritional paste.