Got the day right at least

All week long my staff and I have been united in the "Who stopped the clocks?" routine. "Can it really only be 1:00?" "How can this day take so long to get through?" Each work day has been endless. Ah, but today is Friday. Payday too. I went to the drug store earlier to drop off prescriptions and bought what I thought was sugar free candy. WRONG-O. It had sugar but I craved it and ate a bunch anyway. Since I hardly ever eat sugar I had an extreme reaction and crashed so hard my forehead practically hit my desk. It would have been funny had I not wanted to remain upright, for show at least. Anyway now I'm caffeinated and better. But still not hustling. Have a few 1970-era travel videos to catalog for Tupper Lake. give me a break.

My nights at the boat house were really great this week. I came home Weds., though because it got cold. Lower 50's is too cold for me--wuss that I am. Besides, I like sleeping at home when I can have the window open and listen to the sounds of the woods. Even if all I can hear is rain these days. Anyway it's supposed to warm up so hopefully I'll get back down there. I love weekend mornings in the b.house--coffee, porch, water, reflections, restful dogs, no worries. And no relatives right now. Must take advantage of the cousin-free time while I have it. Only one more weekend, then I go to RI to see MY SISTER and MY NIECE and of course my mother and Mark. We have such a nice time together.

I need to tend to my plants this weekend--the flowers are so wet they're just sticking together and rotting. This happened last year too, we had a long wet spell. As I keep saying (ad nauseum) I'd rather have too much rain than a drought. I'm afraid of drought--forest fires, dry well, dead garden. This is a drag--I can't cut my grass or sit on my deck, but at least my house isn't burning down as the woods around it burn, and when I turn the faucet on water comes out.

Linda has been here all week and I've been having nice visits with her. Last night she built a camp fire and we sat together, talking and staring at the flames. I stayed for dinner and for dessert we had the best pie ever. She had no pecans so she made a walnut pie. I don't like pecans so this was fine by me. And MANOHMAN was it ever good! Must remember this plan.

Almost 2:00 now, perhaps I'll try to get something done. I've been running reports for member libraries all week, am almost to the W's--we have a lot of W libraries (Westport, Wadhams, Wilmington, Willsboro--maybe another one or so). I also need to get started on the infamous circulation policy. Last night I dreamed that my boss from 2 bosses ago walked past me and said "Get going on that circulation policy." Part of my dream was in Spanish, too, because Julie has been listening to a Pimleur Spanish book and said a few words in Spanish to me yesterday. Tres funny. We got a $12,000 grant to subscribe to a downloadable audiobooks service--you can download the books to an MP3 player. Not, of course an iPod, no, never an Apple product. Anyway, I'm planning to get an MP3 player and cable so I can dump books to listen to in my car because there are some good titles in this subscription. Hopefully member libraries will pool money to continue this after the grant runs out next year. We're also buying something called Playaways, which are tiny little things you listen to, contain a book each, and are disposable. I'm doing the selection of those titles and they should start coming in soon. I'm being really good as a selector of audio materials--Julie has turned selection over to me and I'm not buying just the stuff I want to listen to. GOOD GIRL. I get a lot of stuff I'm not at all interested in but know bookmobile patrons will truly want, yuck. Naturally each month I have to get a title or two I know people like me will want, too. Something to look forward to. I listen to books for an hour and a half every day, during my commute. I've had some great experiences and some that have been just awful. I listened to The shipping news, which was impossible for me to read, but was one of the best books I've ever heard/read. Same with Girl with a pearl earring. Now I'm listening to Richard Ford's latest, which isn't as good as I thought it would be, but what the hell. I like listening to Richard Russo too, like Empire Falls--that was great. Since I mostly read fiction written by women, listening to books is a good way for me to be exposed to books written by men. My, I am a strange creature, aren't I.