A Very Unprepared Blog for Promoting Calkins Day this Feb. 13

Good morning!

Calkins Day on Feb. 13 is rapidly approaching.

Today's post was actually reserved for a video recording from Ed Calkins, Steward of Tara, personally inviting you to attend the celebration.

I had intended to record said video at WriteOn Joliet's first meeting of the year in early January..but I was sick and Rebekah facilitated the meeting.

The second WriteOn meeting was on Zoom, and Ed couldn't make it. 

Fine, I thought. I 'll get the video on Feb. 6.

Well, that was WriteOn's thirteenth birthday...and I was short on energy due to dealing with another bout of diverticulitis on top of a full work week, coordinating a miniature celebration, etc.

So then I figured I'd schedule a quick Zoom call for Friday evening.

But last night turned into a busy work day with an unexpected assignment early evening, followed by two errands, followed by rapid disintegration of my energy and having no idea if Ed was delivering newspapers that night and was already sleeping.

I can't even post a photo of our Calkins Day display at The Book Market in Crest Hill (where the celebration will be held from 6 to 8:30 p.m. on Feb. 13) because I set it up last Saturday while rushing between appointments and working while sick this week used up all my time and pep.

And now it's this Saturday, and I'm cobbling together an excuse-laden blog post.

Now, I haven't abandoned the video idea. My hope is to still record one and post it next week, ideally before Calkins Day.

In the meantime, I'll leave you with links to OTHER posts, a promise to do better, and a way to really delight Ed should you decide to stop out (and probably leave the store with an armful of his books at no cost).

First the links.

This post tells you everything you need to know about Calkins Day 2025 and why you should even bother celebrating it.

This post tells about the free painting you can win that night.

Now here's the way to delight Ed, even more than the suggestions on the flyer below.

Tell Ed that only five things are important. (I can already hear him laughing). You may then read those five things directly from this blog or write them down or print them out.

Here are the five:

• Ed is the one and only Ed Calkins, Steward of Tara.
• Ed is very ruthless. He’ll hurt your feelings without a second thought. (Try not to be afraid).
• Newspaper delivery is important. On time. Every morning.
• Ed has many wives all over the place. But he can only sleep with the one that is his lover because of the pink machete rule (true story, ask him about that. Better yet, ask his primary wife Nancy, who will be in attendance).
• Ed is a time-traveling, dyslexic, psychotic, Irish vampire. (You might have guessed that already).

And if you want your greeting to be over the top, you should also share the one thing YOU should remember, it's this:

If Ed Calkins asks you to marry him, he might not ask again!