Dear Cheryl-Ann,
I have read everything you’ve written since I moved to Spokane in 2002. I especially love your pieces on antiques. I’m a true collector and find myself drawn to flea markets and thrift stores. I can spend hours looking and imagining how I would recreate a rusted piece and find a place of honor for it in my garden. Everything in my house has a story.
I loved your “Home” section especially your Treasure columns and I wish I had saved more of them. I recently discovered your blog was back and couldn’t wait to write you. Glad to see you back.
Who knows, maybe we will meet at a sale some time ~ Kathy.
 

Dear Kathy,
Thanks for the sweet note and the kind words. You made my day. Thanks for reading and for following the blog. I've decided to post several of my favorite Treasure Hunt columns from HOME. Hope you like seeing them again.
Let’s not wait for a happy coincidence. Let’s make a date to say hello at the next big sale. See you there!
CAM

Treasure Hunt

It's difficult to turn down a good read
By Cheryl-Anne Millsap
This piece was previously published in The Spokesman-Review.

    My books, some of which have been with me since childhood, are as beloved to me as a few of the people I know and care about. And I turn to them almost as often.
    There is comfort in the faded illustrations, the dog-eared pages and worn bindings. And the familiar words.
    I like to have those books nearby, on a shelf by a comfortable chair or stacked on a table beside a lamp, so that when the mood strikes, I can tuck into a book of poetry or a quaint reference volume on botany or birds or travel. Or, I can revisit a character from a favorite novel.
    I have a friend who uses old books to decorate every room of her house.
    "I could drown in old books," she once told me. "I love the way they look and the way they feel in your hand."
    Old cookbooks line the shelves in her big kitchen. Biographies and memoirs are stacked in the sitting room.
    Each time I go to her house, usually to have a meal, I am drawn to the books she has chosen to keep. Sometimes, I pick up one and sit down to read a bit. Eventually someone misses me and calls me back to the kitchen, but no one can blame me.
    The smell of good food, the sound of laughter and the warmth of books bound in cracked leather are the secret ingredients to her hospitality.
    I love books, but like everything else, I try to keep only the ones that mean the most to me. So, occasionally, I edit. I pick those I think my friends might like and send them along. Or, I drop off books at fundraisers and used bookstores. If we're having a garage sale, I always have a box of two of books to sell.
    Books come and go. But some stay forever.
    Those are the old friends I love the most

Cheryl-Anne Millsap is a freelance columnist for The Spokesman-Review. Her essays can be heard on Spokane Public Radio and on public radio stations across the country. She is the author of “Home Planet: A Life in Four Seasons” and can be reached at catmillsap@gmail.com

---

---