Round-up, Spring cleaning

More from the files, this time Library and Reference sites: The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database - from my Library school days, too interesting to not save somewhere. Dealing with difficult patrons training video - or why your public librarian looks tired when you ask her a question late afternoon...be gentle with us! Slideshow of some amazing libraries in the world.
Like languages? This is for you - languages (writing systems) of the world. A history of photography.
The National Archives.
Some clever silliness. I like the skootch day especially. Very cool extreme Science.
The Cotsen Children's Library in Princeton, NJ which I seriously need to make a trek to one of these days.
Ah, the dinner bell...which is, more accurately, the timer saying the rice is done.

more images from Tennessee and North Carolina

In my mind I've gone to Carolina

It was not a fun road trip, gone to see an ailing relative, but a road trip is an adventure nontheless...loved the guitar sticker in the back window of the Airstream trailer (would it not be fun to have one of those?), just Yankee enough to find the whole Sheriff thing way cool. Should have gone in that pawnshop (only because I have never) but we were rushing, very NC to me are those rather alarming runaway truck ramps all over, long stretches off the road where the out of control truck apparently does not slam into you but runs out of steam on the gravel runway... and of course, cow on a roof. Did not get bbq either. Who goes to North Carolina and does not eat bbq? People with partial root canal work who have to eat soft food on one side only. I mean, really. Just not right.

Tell me that you love me, Junie Spoon...

and some round ups since my faves have once again maxxed out...not all fairies live in the countryside - here's where urban fairies do their magic (and no jokes, y'all).
Feeling inclined to catalog? If you like things put in their proper place, this might be of interest - I haven't joined as of yet, but it's bookmarked.
A teacup herb garden appeals for the lovely use of teacups (I who have a number of mismatched) and the Alice in Wonderland feel of the idea of herbs in teacups...
It's on the telly - should I buy it? I have a soft spot for these things because I love the idea of someone coming up with inventions, that Eureika! moment they must have when they realize it works (on some level, one hopes...)
too late, too tired, too zonked from the second half of root canal work to continue...tomorrow another (working) day. Thank goodness for Advil.

puffs

A field in either Tennesee or North Carolina, bit of a blur from last week's road trip.

In Memory

In memory of my mother-in-law, Kay, who passed away this week. This is a song that meant a lot to her.

You who dwell in the shelter of the Lord,
Who abide in His shadow for life,
Say to the Lord, "My Refuge,
My Rock in Whom I trust."

And He will raise you up on eagle's wings,
Bear you on the breath of dawn,
Make you to shine like the sun,
And hold you in the palm of His Hand.

The snare of the fowler will never capture you,
And famine will bring you no fear;
Under His Wings your refuge,
His faithfulness your shield.

You need not fear the terror of the night,
Nor the arrow that flies by day,
Though thousands fall about you,
Near you it shall not come.

For to His angels He's given a command,
To guard you in all of your ways,
Upon their hands they will bear you up,
Lest you dash your foot against a stone.

And He will raise you up on eagle's wings,
Bear you on the breath of dawn,
Make you to shine like the sun,
And hold you in the palm of His Hand.

- Michael Joncas, On Eagle's Wings

Sunday Quote

No one imagines that symphony is supposed to improve as it goes along, or that the whole object of playing is to reach the finale. The point of music is discovered in every moment of playing and listening to it. It is the same, I feel, with the greater part of our lives, and if we are unduly absorbed in improving them we may forget altogether to live them.

- Alan Watts

Happy Birthday, Gladys Taber

We busy ourselves too much. Now and then the well of our spirit needs time to fill up so that we can draw from it again. And when someone says to me that he or she cannot bear to be alone, I always feel sad for it means the level in the well is so low that no bucket can reach it. Also the people who skim like waterbugs over the surface of life are in a bad way when they need spiritual depths to sustain them. But those who are able to have a quiet time for a small piece of day always find an armor against trouble...

- Gladys Taber, Stillmeadow Sampler.

Ah, literary ladies of yore that I love. Jean Kerr, Madeleine L'Engle, Julia Child, Peg Bracken, and in the last year or two since I was fortunate to discover her on Nan's Letters from a Hill Farm blog (thanks, Nan!). Gladys Taber. I love her life views, her common sense, her poetic yet clearheaded gaze.

Swan Song

Sunday Quote

It may be homesickness is a nostalgia for everything you have ever had. But I doubt whether I could be cured of it. I can get homesick at the drop of a cap for any place I have ever been and anybody I have ever known. Because every place and every person seems so special.

- Gladys Taber, Stillmeadow Sampler

Happy Anniversary among the stars

Hope they have a champagne toast in heaven - although you both were more the hot coffee or tea types - but happy anniversary to you both - and to Mom who always had to make my birthday cake on her anniversary.

Shells and swans and honey

For an early birthday lunch, we ran up to Connecticut to our old stomping grounds; tractor tracks on the beach and the long sleeve of shells, a visiting swan, my honey framed by a lifeguard chair, and a nice lunch out rounded out a good day off.

What a difference two weeks makes

Sunday Quote

Come live with me and be my love,
And we will all the pleasures prove
That valleys, groves, hills, and fields,
Woods, or steepy mountain yields.

- Christopher Marlowe, from The Passionate Shepherd to His Love.

I heart James Stevenson

Corn Chowder: Poems by James Stevenson

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I love his "corn" collection of poetry books - and I love the way his mind and heart work - as perfectly companionable as his ink and watercolors.



View all my reviews

Storm troopers, grandma, and a rainy day

The grandma in the library is on her tummy on the rug explaining to the fascinated little grandson stretched out beside her who Jabba the Hut is, who R2D2 is, and about the Ewoks and warriors and all the Star Wars people in great detail as they look through a Star Wars book...a rainy chilly day, the kind that is perfect for library visiting - and what better place to hang with the grandson? Grandma has an Annie Hall got older vibe and she knows all the details and can answer all the questions her companion asks and I think her young grandson thinks she is a rock star - I get a kick out of the boomers (of which I am one) and our strange mix of aging and forever young, our love of old school and whatever is coming down the road...