quiet toys and discount books

I've started piling things to take to the site. It's just two and a half months away, I know.

I'm collecting quiet toys for toddlers and older kids. I'm washing the little wooden rocking horse. If you want to bring toys for kids to share in the playroom, which will be right next to the speakers, choose things that don't make noise if dropped on a table or floor. It will make a big difference in peace, happiness, and hearing what's going on.

(I know that horse would make a noise if dropped on a table; I know. On the back of that photo is this note: "Marty with 'the Turtle sword,' fall 1990. The horse came from a garage sale, $5. Keith fixed it up." Marty turned two in January 1991. He's 22 now. The horse is about the same.)


Also in my "take to hotel" collection is a box of books that have been shipped three times. Some are a little bent. There are a few books in there that were glued imperfectly when they were bound (too much glue, not too little; it's an aesthetic thing), and a few that were printed without the last blank pages and the "about the author" page. So I'm not happy to ship any of them to anyone who paid $25 plus shipping for their One Copy of the book. But they're fully good enough to

1) lend out
2) give away
3) use to take notes in, bend corners down, circle, cut-out-for-decoupage

So I'm going to sell those for $12.50, half price, to people in person at the conference. Not by mail, just right there.