It's funny what you can find when you have a few minutes to root around a bookshelf.

The other day, for example, I found two treasures I forgot I even owned: books by Bill Bramah.

Don't remember Bill?

Well, he was this old guy who worked for Global Television for several years, a period spanning from the late 1970s and 1980s to the early 1990s.

He told lots of folksy-type stories about places all over Ontario, so he did.

In fact, Bill's show was called Bramah's Ontario.

Bill, wife Jenny and cameraman Terry Culbert would travel the province looking for neat yarns that usually appeared on the noon news, if memory serves.

Well, at some point, Bill started putting out books about his on the road adventures as well.

As Bill tells it in the introduction to one: "This book was written in restaurants, hotels, motels, truck stops and other assorted nooks and crannies around the province. The stories are mostly about the little places that dot the countryside and the people who live there."

Now, back when I wore short pants and even when I began wearing the longer style, Bill's television segment was one of the best things about the news.

I liked him for a combination of reasons: he had this great, deep but warm voice, talked to interesting, albeit sometimes quirky people and always delivered a story that made you smile.

Bill didn't do budget stories.

He didn't write about cops and robbers.

And I'm pretty sure he didn't write about murders - at least not when he was with Global.

That said, years before, Bill worked at such publications as the Oshawa Times, The Toronto Star, and the Financial Post and at Toronto radio stations CFRB and CKEY.

At any rate, it was the Global Television Bill Bramah that I really admired.

Bill was so good at telling a tale he made you want to go meet the people yourself.

For example, a Bill Bramah story might be about some little old lady who lived at the side of a lonely road in Western Ontario, where she made the best butter tarts in the whole world.

"Betty Jones' butter tarts are worth the long drive to Podunk in Central Ontario," Bill would likely begin the piece, the camera panning Betty's little bungalow.

A real story by Bill Bramah - lifted from one of the books - is the tale of Ann Eckhart.

"Ann Eckart makes duvets. Those cozy comforters with a solid country look. The kind Granny used to make. Granny knew what she was doing. She knew that the feathery down of geese is one of nature's wonder insulations. Ann Eckhart knows it too. She lives in the little village of Jerseyville..."

Yep, that's classic Bramah.

Gives me a nice, warm feeling just reading his prose.

Now you're probably wondering where I got two of Bill Bramah's books.

And if you're not - well, I'm going to tell you anyway.

It's like this: Back in March of 1990 I was at the funeral for my paternal grandmother, a salt-of-the-earth woman who I loved - and still do - very much.

Grandmother was the first person I really cared about that died. It was devastating to me.

Anyway, I was sitting in the downstairs lounge of the old Steckley-Gooderham Funeral Home in Barrie and my Great Aunt Mary - all the way from Creemore - showed up.

I don't recall why she gave me the books - she didn't know I was a fan of Bill's - but nonetheless she did. Bill Bramah's Ontario and Bill Bramah's Nooks and Crannies are the titles. The inside flap of each is inscribed "To Michael, From Great Aunt Mary, 1989."

Maybe a late Christmas present?

I don't remember.

Now, the books didn't make the funeral experience any better. But they helped. Reading Bill's stories in the days afterwards made me realize in a small way - I guess because of their upbeat nature - that things would be okay.

And, nearly 20 years later, they are a good memory that is associated with Grandmother's funeral.

I can still picture Aunt Mary - now long gone too  - reaching into the big purse she carried and handing me the books, a slight smile on her face.

Bill himself died in 1996, but if you scour the Internet - or bookshelves! - you can still find his books.

They are worth curling up with on the couch, while sipping a nice cuppa Early Grey.

Excellent cottage, sitting on the dock in a Muskoka chair, enjoying a beer, reading as well!

Ah Bill, you were a real storyteller.

One of the best in my opinion.

Michael Gennings is a reporter for The Stayner Sun. Feedback is welcome at mgennings@simcoe.com.