A 'novel' bookstore and the naturalist proprietor....

Caution...there may be adult photos on this page!!

We continued exploring the intricacies of Quartzsite, shopping with the vendors, and stopping at a local used bookstore, The Reader's Oasis. We were amazed at the vast collection of books contained in this store and the orderly and pleasant way they were catalogued and displayed.
Now, we had heard that there was a bookseller in Q that was a "naturalist" but we assumed it was in the flea market vendor area. We spent some time selecting books to purchase and enjoying the store...and out walked Paul Winer, the proprietor, to assist us with our purchases. What a kind and soft spoken gentleman he was.....but he was wearing only three red socks! Now we girls got quite a giggle out of this, as we have never seen such a thing before! So of course, we asked if we could have a photo taken.....I know, I know.....but I'm sure we'll never have the chance again! (You don't have to look if you don't want to!)


We were most impressed with Paul's knowledge and helpfulness. There are over 150,000 titles in his store and he can locate every one of them instantly for you! He has many old and collectible books, games, sheet music and videos, maps, puzzles...just about anything you might desire to study. We were most impressed with him and his operation. He is also an accomplished pianist and a published poet.

We later discovered that there is a garden in Quartzsite called Celia's Rainbow Gardens. She died in 1994 at the age of 8 years of a heart complication. The garden was established in her memory by her family. Her name was Celia Winer, and her father is none other than Paul Winer, the pleasant naturalist and bookstore owner.
We are daily reminded that we should never judge a book by it's cover (or lack thereof).

We started our morning with Bob's creamed chipped beef for breakfast. He had some of the Applewood smoked beef left from our trip to Lancaster, PA, which had been in the freezer. With sourdough bread toasted on the outdoor grill, then topped with the chipped beef we all had a tasty and filling start to our morning. Bob has become a great outdoor cook!

We finished the day with a Baked Potato Dinner....everyone brings a baked potato and a topping to share. We had Bacon, mushroom sauce, a wonderful beef stroganoff topping, meatballs, broccoli and cheese...this was a simple and tasty dinner that we all enjoyed. No campfire as the wind had picked up and was blowing a little dust so we retired to our rigs early for the evening.

Tomorrow Bobbie and Jim make sausage gravy and biscuits and we'll head to Blythe, CA to do a little grocery shopping!