You Gotta Read This....

If you're interested in librarianship, that is, read this blog. Especially this essay about worshipping librarians.

25 Random Things About Me

FYI: A friend of mine on Facebook (actually, it was cousin Becca), "tagged" me and requested that I write 25 Random Things about Me. So, for those of you who are my friend on Facebook this is a repeat, and I apologize for that. Yes, it's not very original. But entertaining, nonetheless? The Silly Sisters are here to remind you not to take this too seriously.

A personal note: I normally hate doing these things but this time it was kind of fun. It's very random and whatever came to my mind I wrote down.

1. I'm thrilled we have a new president. I love hearing and listening to President Obama.
2. I love not having TV. Who needs it? Not me.
3. My body has its very own internal clock and wakes me up at the same time every morning.
4. I love my kitty.
5. I do have some regrets.
6. I wish I could sing like Ella Fitzgerald. But I have no rhythm, so there's very little hope.
7. I enjoy going to church but not any church, preferably a Swedenborgian church.
8. I'm lactose intolerant.
9. I would love to go to Paris and London.
10. I prefer warm to cold. I hate cold. I'd rather be dripping with sweat.
11. Yarn! I love yarn! I learned to crochet a year ago and love it.
12. My photographs have been published and exhibited.
13. I still have my teddy bear from childhood.
14. There are rocks and fossils all over my house and in my flower gardens.
15. I love sand!
16. I miss Trevor when he has to go to work.
17. My left foot is slightly larger than my right.
18. I have an entire drawer devoted to socks. Smartwool are my favorite.
19. Caffeine makes me all jittery.
20. My favorite junk food indulgence is White Cheddar Cheez-its. I only buy them from vending machines and NEVER keep a box at home.
21. I miss my grandmother, Hattie.
22. My favorite book of all time is Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck.
23. I saw the Grateful Dead 6 times.
24. My favorite colors are: orange, brown and all the ones in between.
25. I'm going to be a librarian! I'm beginning to take courses for a Masters in Library Science from Simmons College Graduate School of Library and Information Science.

Last Free Saturday until Mid-March

My classes at GSLIS West, as it's known, start next Saturday January 31st. I'm enjoying my last free Saturday until mid-March when I have my spring break. Not sure how one Saturday in March is really a spring break but we'll see when I get there. Then there's another one in April for Easter.

Are you curious how I've been spending my last free Saturday? First of all, I got up when I felt like it. This is not unusual at all. I've been getting up when I feel like since the middle of February 2008 when my former employer decided they could get by without a lab manager. I've been doing this with such regularity that I've forgotten how to work my alarm clock. I'll practice setting the alarm this week so that I'll be on time for my classes on Saturday.

So, I had one of my all-time favorite breakfasts that reminds me of my grandmother, Hattie. I made myself 2 soft-boiled eggs and a slice of my home-made 100% whole wheat bread toasted and smeared with butter. I served the eggs in one of Hattie's egg cups. The one that's large enough on the bottom to hold 2 eggs. And a cuppa Irish Breakfast tea sweetened with agave with dribble of milk. YUM! I love breakfast. It's my favorite meal.

After breakfast I got busy making lentil soup for Trevor. I don't eat lentil soup but he does. He's working at the Grand Summit Hotel at Mount Snow today stilt-walking in the lobby and playing games with kids.

And since it was Saturday, I did a very traditional Saturday chore: I WENT TO THE DUMP! Okay, it's really called the transfer station but I like to call it the dump. As usual, the old dudes that work at the Hatfield transfer station were listening to the polka show on WMUA 91.1.

I stopped in at the co-op on my way home and picked up some lunch. Had a nice chat with the cashier and the new marketing director and headed home.

This afternoon I did another traditional Saturday chore: I WENT TO THE PACKY! The returnables department was so swamped with people I decided to put my small bag of returnables in my trunk and pick up some wine.

I went to the car wash! My car was so gross! Now it's all shiny :-)

I decided to stop in at Webs and pick up some yarn (Plymouth Yarns Baby Alpaca Brush Paint) so that I can make myself another pair of fingerless mitts. While I was there I ran into my old house-mate, Jenny. It was so great to see her and hear about her and Jake's (another former house-mate) new baby. They live in Brattleboro, VT now.

A quick stop at the Forbes Library in Northampton to drop off books, movies, CDs and pick up some more and then I headed home.

It's been a pretty good day so far.

New Yarn

A skein of Malabrigo silky merino yarn (if you actually follow the link it's "Vienna") arrived in the mail yesterday. That and a new bra, which is also exciting but I won't write about the new bra. Don't think that it's because I can't write about a bra, because I certainly can. Believe me, I know a thing or two about bras.

It's all about the new yarn. Now, this skein (actually, technically, it's a hank, but let's not get all techy about yarn for the moment), is the most beautiful yarn in my stash. It's so soft and the colors are gorgeous. They're all "Nancy" colors if you know what that means. If you don't it means they're browns, oranges, tans, etc. Did I mention it's silky? The yarn is 50% silky and 50% merino. The yarn arrived in the middle of the afternoon right when I needed a break from the Technology Orientation Requirement that I'm attempting to complete before classes start on 1/31. Everything is due on 2/15 but I just want to get it out of the way so I can focus on my coursework.

Back to the yarn.... this is my second skein (well, technically, it's a hank) of Malabrigo and I have to say that Malabrigo makes the most beautiful yarn ever! I'm still in possession of the first skein (hank) I bought and look at it every once in a while to just admire its color and softness. I love Malabrigo yarn so much that I joined a group on Ravelry called "Malabrigo Junkies". Speaking of Ravelry, did you know that you can search for patterns by yarn and then use filters to narrow your search to type of project (knit or crochet), yardage, needle/hook size, etc? It's great! So I found a pattern for a scarf that is pretty simple and it turns out that I have the book it's in!

So, I wound my skein into a center pull ball with my handy-dandy ball winder and swift. (Thanks, Trevor.) Then I took out a hook and got to work! I'm completely in love with this yarn.

I'm thoroughly convinced that crocheting will help me maintain my sanity over the next couple or years or so while I work on my MLS from Simmons College GSLIS. I just hope I have time for it!

Whirlwind trip to Beantown

Trevor and I drove to Boston today so that I could drop my 3 photos at Simmons GSLIS tech lab on Palace Road in the Fenway. The trip wasn't as much fun as I was hoping it would be due to lack of parking. No, not lack of parking. NO parking. We found Palace Road pretty easily and then drove around blocks and blocks and up then up to the "hospital region", as I like to call it, and then back to 300 the Fenway where Simmons is and drove around and around back to Huntington Ave to Longwood Ave and back to Palace Road for at least 30 minutes, maybe more like 40. Finally we gave up and Trevor illegally parked on Palace Road while I went and made a phone call and got let into the building. If we'd actually found a place to park I would have liked to see the Simmons College library so that I could feel all nerdy inside. But, alas, no parking.

Then, to add to our (or my, still not sure at this point) frustration, I forgot to write down the directions to the Elephant Walk Restaurant at 900 Beacon St in Boston, which according to Google Maps is .9 mile from 300 the Fenway. And, me not being very quick map reader, we turned right onto the Fenway instead of left and before we knew it we were going the wrong way, away from our destination. To make matters worse, ended up on Soldiers Field Road going west.

At this point things were getting ugly in the truck cab. Full bladders and empty stomachs, did not help the situation. Being in the nagivators's (yes, I did spell that correctly) seat, I had to make a quick decision about what to do so that we wouldn't continue to spiral out of control. We got off Soldiers Field Road and went to Harvard Square. This I could handle. I'm very familiar with Harvard Square. I even know where to find an affordable meal. We found parking right on JFK Street and walked to Algiers on Brattle Street and things were looking up. Our parking meter, which only had an hour on it, was running out of time. No time for stopping in any shops. We got right back to the truck and headed back to the turnpike. We were back in Northampton by 3:15.

Check it Out!

My old pal, Kathy Tafel, is going to the Presidential Inauguration (I always have trouble spelling that word.). She's blogging about here or you can just look for her blog to the right: You're the Decider.

I Love This Stuff...

From the National Weather Service Forecast Discussion:
(who reads this stuff besides me and meteorologists?)


.NEAR TERM /UNTIL 6 AM SATURDAY MORNING/...
SOME DIURNAL STRATOCUMULUS WILL LINGER INTO EARLY THIS EVENING.
OTHERWISE EXPECT ANOTHER MOSTLY CLEAR NIGHT WITH
DIMINISHING WINDSAND A VERY DRY AIRMASS.
THIS WILL LEAD TO ANOTHER NEARLY IDEAL
RADIATIONAL COOLING NIGHT WITH FRIGID
LOW TEMPERATURES EXPECTED.

ONLY FLY IN THE OINTMENT COULD BE A SHORT WAVE
DISTURBANCE SEEN ON THE INFRARED SATELLITE PICTURE
LOOP APPROACHING FROM JUST SOUTH OF HUDSONS BAY CANADA.
HOWEVER THIS SHORT WAVE IS EXPECTED TO PASS WELL
NORTH OF THE REGION WITH LIMITED MOISTURE.
LOWS TONIGHT SHOULD BE FAIRLY SIMILAR TO LAST NIGHTS.

"DIURNAL STRATOCUMULUS?" I love it!

They're talking about clouds, right?

"Only fly in the ointment"? Is that a technical phrase?

So, there's going to be some clouds sometime and it's going to get
wicked cold and then we might see some precipitation, likely snow.

I'm pretty good at this, don't you think?
One undergrad course in meteorology and I'm ready for the big time!

I think I'll keep my day job, though. Just in case things don't work out. 

And the Winners Are....

I submitted 3 photos for an exhibit in Boston at Simmons College in their technology lab. All 3 were accepted and will be on display beginning January 26th, ending sometime in May. Now I have to have them printed, matted and framed.

The above was taken at my brother's place in Island Pond, VT.

Sunset at Plum Cove, Annisquam, Cape Ann, MA.

January Raspberry Canes, Nourse Farms, Whately, MA.

Fingerless Mitts

I made a pair of fingerless mitts for my friend Beki to match her surfer chick cap. It's the same yarn, Plymouth Baby Alpaca. It's super soft! I love it so much I might have to go buy myself some in "Nancy" colors. Beki's tall and thin and seems to have extra long arms so I added a couple of inches onto the length.

So, are you asking yourself, "why fingerless mitts?" Well, they come in handy! You can dial your cell phone without taking your gloves off. If you're indoors somewhere and it's a bit chilly and your hands are cold you can just put your fingerless mitts on and you can still type on your computer, or knit or crochet. Can you see how they come in handy?

You may not to make snowballs wearing fingerless mitts but I'm sure you have a pair of mittens or gloves to do that!

Another Day at the Springfield City Library

While searching the stacks for missing books at the Springfield City Library today, I found that I was searching for Bibles and, guess what? They were not on the shelf! They're missing and likely have been for MONTHS. Those Bibles will probably never be returned. Which means those Bibles are stolen! Then I thought, isn't that a violation of the Ten Commandments? Or perhaps the reader hasn't gotten to Exodus Chapter 20 yet. Are they bogged down in Genesis?

No funny titles to report this week. Maybe next week. Keep your fingers crossed.

Snowshoeing with Friends

Yesterday, we drove up to our friends' house in Bellows Falls, VT and went for a snowshoe in the woods behind their house. This is Barb, she's our fearless guide.

Here's the snowy woods we went snowshoeing through. We saw lots of animal tracks. Barb says they were deer tracks. We also saw some smaller animal tracks, maybe rabbit.

Clockwise from the top, Barb, Don, Nancy and Trevor.

Left to Right: Barb, Don, Nancy and Trevor. Don is actually smiling in this photo after we were all done and back at the house. He says it's rare but I've seen him smile a few times before. Don wanted to stay in the house and cuddle with the crockpot while the rest of went out. Barb wouldn't let him. When we got in the house he admitted he had a good time! I had a fabulous time and so did Trevor. And Barb too! Thanks! Let's do it again.

Self Help Section

Today when I was working at the Springfield City Library, I came across this title:
Meditations for People who (may) Worry Too Much .

I chuckled to myself and thought that perhaps we don't want to suggest that people (may) worry too much. It's just a suggestion... you might, maybe, kinda, sorta, worry too much and maybe, kinda, sorta might find these meditations helpful... if you're worried, sorta, kinda... just sayin'.... but don't worry about it... especially when you're meditating... especially don't worry that you're doing it wrong....

Happy New Year!

Good-bye to 2008!
You weren't so great!

Okay, it wasn't that bad.

Some of the highlights of 2008 were:

Reuniting with old college and high school friends via Facebook. In May I met up with my friends Jon Brinkmann and Ken Corcoran. We were the majority of the Salem State College Department of Geological Sciences Class of '98. We were only missing 2 classmates. One is deceased and the other lives in Texas. We caught up with Amanda in November when she was in MA for her sister's wedding. Another college friend, Jocelyn Brotherton, came for a visit in July. We visited places of geologic interest in the Pioneer Valley. On one of my trips "out east" I attended Jocelyn's graduation party and got to see my old roomie, Stephanie Healey.

I attended our church's annual convention in Bridgewater, MA. I hadn't been to a church convention in a really long time, like 15 years or something like that. I had such a great time. I saw lots of people I hadn't seen in, well, a really long time. One of the things that happened at the convention was I got elected president of the National Alliance of New Church Women. I created a blog for them. I don't update it nearly as often as I do this one but it's there.

I applied to and was accepted at Simmons College Graduate School of Library and Information Science. Classes start on Jan 31st. I'm going to be a librarian!

I'm volunteering at the Springfield City Library one afternoon a week. So far, my responsibilities are: searching for missing books in the stacks; replacing updated call numbers on books; and handling a few Library in Your Mailbox clients; and searching microfilm for death notices. The Springfield City Library is a beautiful old building at the Quad in downtown Springfield.

In October Trevor and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary. We went on a little trip to Cape Ann, Gloucester to be specific. We had beautiful weather and a great time. We're really good at that, having a great time together.

A year ago on New Year's Day I taught myself how to crochet from a book, The Happy Hooker. I enjoyed it so much that I decided to take a class at Webs. I signed up for a 6 week class and had a really good time. I put down my yarn and hooks and didn't really do anything until August when Beki and I crocheted owelets while we were at camp. I put down my yarn and hooks again until November when Beki, Emily and I went to Webs. I decided to crochet Christmas gifts and I was off and making chains, single crochets, double, half double, triple. Anyway, I made several trips to Webs in November. I crocheted the following:

• 6 Surfer Chick quick caps (one for Amy, one for Wendy, one for Beki, two for me, and one "leftover")
• a pink hat and scarf for Ivy
• mittens for Chloe
• hat for Mom
• bookmark for Mom
• hat for Pete
• 2 pink organic cotton washcloths for Sarah
• a little pink piggy for Chloe

I haven't stopped crocheting, just slowing down a bit. Right now I'm working on a giant granny square blanket and a scarf.

Here's my resolution for 2009:

I resolve to reduce my carbon footprint by signing up for e-statements and eliminate paper statements from banks, phone company, etc.