Writer John D. MacDonald burst upon the literary scene in 1950 with his first book, THE BRASS CUPCAKE. And then a few years later his main character, Travis McGee was born. McGee has been described as a fighter against wrongs, a Knight Errant that somehow makes everything turn out positively; a man with an eye for the ladies, but one who tries to change the balance of good versus evil. He describes himself as a salvage expert; but as he denotes “salvage” is that which has become undeniably lost, whether it’s irreplaceable collector’s stamps or the money and time invested in a marina that has been been damaged beyond repair by the bad guys in Florida. But, somehow, through his efforts, the loss has been righted and monies obtained.
McGee appeals not just to male readers, but those of the fairer sex who now rejoice in their discovery of him as somehow their savior. Additionally, MacDonald’s research is impeccable whether he’s describing the pitfalls one encounters with dealing with corrupt county government or the dockage in Fort Lauderdale. But his description in FREEFALLS IN CRIMSON of the involvement in putting a hot air balloon ready for flight is unbelievable. As is the flight itself for a passenger in the basket hanging beneath the balloon. And, after seeing the Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque this October where 600 balloons took flight, made me fervently wish I had taken a ride.
Sadly, our Library system has only one of MacDonald’s books available starring Travis McGee, which is FREE FALL IN CHRIMSON published in 1981, five years before his death. But his book, BARRIER ISLAND as published in 1986, a short time prior to his death, is one that I strongly recommend everyone here in Port O’Connor read. It should make you extremely aware of the pitfalls of living in an area like this, and what can befall when a money hungry developer decides to do to the existing land to increase his egocentric life. In a way, this book really makes you wonder more than a little about the author; he was a strong anti-developer for the paving over with concrete of much of Florida, and he was not adverse to making his thoughts known. I can only hope that visiting that lovely state once again, we can see the results of his strong beliefs.
January means the start of the new year, 2016, and also the time to remove all of our decorations, both inside and outside our Library. Luckily, we had assistance from the very special people that joined with us in putting up those delightfully Christmasy welcoming ornaments. Hopefully, all those wonderful people will be with us in December on this coming year to put them up again.
And, if you didn’t get one of our unbelievably, wonderful small cookbooks of Holiday recipes from our Library, do plan to stop in and we’ll get you another copy. Many of our wonderful and thoughtful visitors to our Library have contributed recipes that bring back memories to them and to us of special times during the Christmas Season that helped to make this our very FIRST edition of, hopefully, an annual event; we do hope that you’ve had the opportunity and perhaps the fun of trying some of them. And, both Shirley and I are also wishing that, with your help and contributions, we can make this an annual affair. But our thanks go, to not only the wonderful cooks that helped us with their special recipes, but to Joyce Jordan for her incredible knowledge of helping us put this booklet together. Joyce, without your help, I’d have been totally lost! And down the tubes one more time! Thank you, and see you next year?
See you in our Library!
2016 is a remarkable year!
“When an old person dies, a Library burns down!”
Karin Gillespie
