She's not really fat, or angry. I think most cats end up this shape anyway. Those are her hind legs, not her stomach. She's still skinny and lithe and I'm doing my best to keep her that way. I've declared from the beginning that I won't have a fat indoor cat. Or one who poops indoors. So far so good.
The peace treaty has been signed and so far all is going well. Last night all 4 of us were sharing the couch. At first Tess refused to get on the couch as long as the cat was on it, and Chances would only be on it if she could lean on me. Finally everyone was just so tired they all curled up and went to sleep, dogs at one end and cat at the other. Boy does that cat purr a lot. Every once in a while she stops, then it's as if she suddenly remembers to and starts right up again. She brought her bedroom furniture and suitcases downstairs yesterday and moved right in. She still likes to sit above the living room, where she can spy on us: it's just that she now feels perhaps the downstairs is a better place to spend time. Closer to the food.
Monday, October 29, 2007
tail
This is the sort of thing you expect to see attached to a car antenna around here. Cat tails are just so strange.
squinty
It's not that I think this cat is so incredibly cute or pretty: it's just something different to take pictures of.
view
This is the view from my bedroom window these days. The window is huge--it takes up pretty much the top four feet of the wall, and the whole side. That's why I like to sleep downstairs in this bedroom. The view from upstairs is pretty, too, but the windows are higher so you don't get the view when you lie in bed.
Friday, October 26, 2007
Thursday, October 25, 2007
still colorful
This is the end of fall color at Silver Lake. It's really, really pretty. Just the poplars are left--the green is the conifers. I went to camp on Sunday afternoon to close up the boathouse. Can you believe I waited this long? I usually wait until it's really cold and I have to wear a jacket. This year, it was 70 and sunny and a wonderful day. It doesn't take long to do, maybe an hour--clean the kitchen part, empty the fridge, put towels & blankets away, move furniture inside, put stuff away, remove dirty dishes--DON'T FORGET TO DO THIS, the way I did last year.
Anyway, I had a good time sitting on the porch looking at the color. I like this last hurrah.
Anyway, I had a good time sitting on the porch looking at the color. I like this last hurrah.
last chance
The last look of the fall, very pretty but ok to let go of. I had a really nice time, sitting on the porch staring into space for a very long time. Bare feet, t-shirt--in mid October! It was really great.
last look
This has a funny quality to it, taken through the screen next to the Saranac chair. It's looking up the lake, along Molly's shoreline. The water and sky really have an October quality.
a mouthful
I couldn't capture the real Retrieving Tess. She's orally obsessed, like a true retriever. She has certain movements, a way of walking, holding her head and cocking her ears that accompany carrying things in her mouth. Hard to capture on film.
Something to look forward to
Every few years my elementary/junior high/high school friends get together for a long weekend. Last time there were 18 of us and we stayed at condos in Vail. This year we're renting a house near Wisconsin Dells. Check it out:
HomeAway Wisconsin Dells vacation lodge rental
Those Midwestern girls know how to do their homework!
Every few years my elementary/junior high/high school friends get together for a long weekend. Last time there were 18 of us and we stayed at condos in Vail. This year we're renting a house near Wisconsin Dells. Check it out:
HomeAway Wisconsin Dells vacation lodge rental
Those Midwestern girls know how to do their homework!
Monday, October 22, 2007
Libraries Shun Deals to Place Books on Web
Ann Johansson for The New York Times
Workers scan books for the Internet Archive. Its founder conceived the Open Content Alliance to distribute library books online.
Several major research libraries have rebuffed offers from Google and Microsoft to scan their books into computer databases, saying they are put off by restrictions these companies want to place on the new digital collections.
The research libraries, including a large consortium in the Boston area, are instead signing on with the Open Content Alliance, a nonprofit effort aimed at making their materials broadly available.
Libraries that agree to work with Google must agree to a set of terms, which include making the material unavailable to other commercial search services. Microsoft places a similar restriction on the books it converts to electronic form. The Open Content Alliance, by contrast, is making the material available to any search service.
Google pays to scan the books and does not directly profit from the resulting Web pages, although the books make its search engine more useful and more valuable. The libraries can have their books scanned again by another company or organization for dissemination more broadly.
It costs the Open Content Alliance as much as $30 to scan each book, a cost shared by the group’s members and benefactors, so there are obvious financial benefits to libraries of Google’s wide-ranging offer, started in 2004.
Many prominent libraries have accepted Google’s offer — including the New York Public Library and libraries at the University of Michigan, Harvard, Stanford and Oxford. Google expects to scan 15 million books from those collections over the next decade.
But the resistance from some libraries, like the Boston Public Library and the Smithsonian Institution, suggests that many in the academic and nonprofit world are intent on pursuing a vision of the Web as a global repository of knowledge that is free of business interests or restrictions.
Even though Google’s program could make millions of books available to hundreds of millions of Internet users for the first time, some libraries and researchers worry that if any one company comes to dominate the digital conversion of these works, it could exploit that dominance for commercial gain.
“There are two opposed pathways being mapped out,” said Paul Duguid, an adjunct professor at the School of Information at the University of California, Berkeley. “One is shaped by commercial concerns, the other by a commitment to openness, and which one will win is not clear.”
Last month, the Boston Library Consortium of 19 research and academic libraries in New England that includes the University of Connecticut and the University of Massachusetts, said it would work with the Open Content Alliance to begin digitizing the books among the libraries’ 34 million volumes whose copyright had expired.
“We understand the commercial value of what Google is doing, but we want to be able to distribute materials in a way where everyone benefits from it,” said Bernard A. Margolis, president of the Boston Public Library, which has in its collection roughly 3,700 volumes from the personal library of John Adams.
Mr. Margolis said his library had spoken with both Google and Microsoft, and had not shut the door entirely on the idea of working with them. And several libraries are working with both Google and the Open Content Alliance.
Adam Smith, project management director of Google Book Search, noted that the company’s deals with libraries were not exclusive. “We’re excited that the O.C.A. has signed more libraries, and we hope they sign many more,” Mr. Smith said.
“The powerful motivation is that we’re bringing more offline information online,” he said. “As a commercial company, we have the resources to do this, and we’re doing it in a way that benefits users, publishers, authors and libraries. And it benefits us because we provide an improved user experience, which then means users will come back to Google.”
The Library of Congress has a pilot program with Google to digitize some books. But in January, it announced a project with a more inclusive approach. With $2 million from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the library’s first mass digitization effort will make 136,000 books accessible to any search engine through the Open Content Alliance. The library declined to comment on its future digitization plans.
The Open Content Alliance is the brainchild of Brewster Kahle, the founder and director of the Internet Archive, which was created in 1996 with the aim of preserving copies of Web sites and other material. The group includes more than 80 libraries and research institutions, including the Smithsonian Institution.
Although Google is making public-domain books readily available to individuals who wish to download them, Mr. Kahle and others worry about the possible implications of having one company store and distribute so much public-domain content.
“Scanning the great libraries is a wonderful idea, but if only one corporation controls access to this digital collection, we’ll have handed too much control to a private entity,” Mr. Kahle said.
The Open Content Alliance, he said, “is fundamentally different, coming from a community project to build joint collections that can be used by everyone in different ways.”
Mr. Kahle’s group focuses on out-of-copyright books, mostly those published in 1922 or earlier. Google scans copyrighted works as well, but it does not allow users to read the full text of those books online, and it allows publishers to opt out of the program.
Microsoft joined the Open Content Alliance at its start in 2005, as did Yahoo, which also has a book search project. Google also spoke with Mr. Kahle about joining the group, but they did not reach an agreement.
A year after joining, Microsoft added a restriction that prohibits a book it has digitized from being included in commercial search engines other than Microsoft’s.
“Unlike Google, there are no restrictions on the distribution of these copies for academic purposes across institutions,” said Jay Girotto, group program manager for Live Book Search from Microsoft. Institutions working with Microsoft, he said, include the University of California and the New York Public Library.
Some in the research field view the issue as a matter of principle.
Doron Weber, a program director at the Sloan Foundation, which has made several grants to libraries for digital conversion of books, said that several institutions approached by Google have spoken to his organization about their reservations. “Many are hedging their bets,” he said, “taking Google money for now while realizing this is, at best, a short-term bridge to a truly open universal library of the future.”
The University of Michigan, a Google partner since 2004, does not seem to share this view. “We have not felt particularly restricted by our agreement with Google,” said Jack Bernard, a lawyer at the university.
The University of California, which started scanning books with the Open Content Alliance, Microsoft and Yahoo in 2005, has added Google. Robin Chandler, director of data acquisitions at the University of California’s digital library project, said working with everyone helps increase the volume of the scanning.
Some have found Google to be inflexible in its terms. Tom Garnett, director of the Biodiversity Heritage Library, a group of 10 prominent natural history and botanical libraries that have agreed to digitize their collections, said he had had discussions with various people at both Google and Microsoft.
“Google had a very restrictive agreement, and in all our discussions they were unwilling to yield,” he said. Among the terms was a requirement that libraries put their own technology in place to block commercial search services other than Google, he said.
Libraries that sign with the Open Content Alliance are obligated to pay the cost of scanning the books. Several have received grants from organizations like the Sloan Foundation.
The Boston Library Consortium’s project is self-funded, with $845,000 for the next two years. The consortium pays 10 cents a page to the Internet Archive, which has installed 10 scanners at the Boston Public LibraryOther members include the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Brown University.
The scans are stored at the Internet Archive in San Francisco and are available through its Web site. Search companies including Google are free to point users to the material.
On Wednesday the Internet Archive announced, together with the Boston Public Library and the library of the Marine Biological Laboratory and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, that it would start scanning out-of-print but in-copyright works to be distributed through a digital interlibrary loan system.
Friday, October 19, 2007
Just keeping in touch
A quick entry before a book repair workshop I have to/am obligated to go to this morning from 9-12. Former director, the one who hired me in 1984, is doing the workshop. I'm forcing one of my clerks to go and she's all over it with resentment, but for some reason today is much more reasonable and amenable to the idea, realizes we have to go to support this man. This man has just been appointed director of the Platts. Pub. Library--at age 79. That library is next door to us and is our Central Library, so we channel more than $100,000 to them to offer extra services to our member libraries, hence we work very, very closely with them. No one in the whole world of North Country libraries can figure out a)why he wants this job and b)why they hired him. At least he's a very, very nice man. And he understands that the System matters.
Dinner with Fred last night. He was returning to Platts. after spending the afternoon closing his camp, saw me driving home, turned around and followed me until I finally noticed he was behind me. Flashed his lights, tried to get me to pull over, finally passed me and got me to stop so he could suggest we hit the diner for dinner. "We have to catch up." We turned around and drove the 10 or so miles back to Jingles, had diner food and caught up. He just spent 3 days in Quebec City, looking for a condo for his friend the millionairess to buy for her 3rd home. I needed to hear all the details, especially culinary experiences. Two dinners at good restaurants cost $500. Can't say "Canadian" as if it matters any more, now that our dollars match their loonies. Anyway, I love being with Fred and we had a great time. When I say things like "I have to spend time with Ken," or "I had to listen to this lady tell me her life story when I got coffee the other day" he ALWAYS tells me I don't have to, no one is making me. I finally told him that the lady who made me late for Saranac Lake put duct tape around my wrists and hobbled my ankles, so yes, I had to. Seriously, she (a complete stranger--is there an incomplete stranger?) spent 20 minutes telling me about the death of her ex-husband 2 days before (obese, a recent development, he grabbed his throat, dropped his head and BINGO! was dead--heart attack, yes, that's right, you guessed it), how she used to come here all the time, about the 400 acres her ex's family owns and blahblahblah. Twenty minutes, I timed it, standing by the coffee pots. And I was already late, made much later by this. But I'm a sociable person and a sympathetic listener.
Canine/feline relationships continue to make baby steps forward. Tess is always poised, ready to do something--I'm not sure what. Chances is only interested in the little metal bowl and what might be in it. Dottie Kittie is more relaxed and braver about walking around the dogs but still gives them a wide berth. I toss her outside each morning and she comes home after dark. Took her a long time to return last night, but sometimes she doesn't come when I call, but instead deposits herself between the screen door and the inside door, sitting there until I notice her. She looks very funny there. Anyway, she continues to be extreeeeemly affectionate and a bottomless pit of hunger. And without prey. What's up with that? Sometimes she sleeps downstairs, while the mice lick the peanut butter off of the traps without tripping them. Shhhh, don't wake the cat.
Payday today and I have a long list of things to spend money on, if there happens to be a dollar left after car payment, insurance payment, phone bill, electric bill, bill for privilege of living in America. I ordered some daffodil bulbs and iris corms to replace the ones that got dug up by recent "landscaping." Must get kittie supplies, am using borrowed litter box. Begrudgingly purchasing one, always swore I would NOT have one in my house. D's is for #1 only, no #2 allowed. Also must get carrier so I can carry her to kennel when I travel for Thanksgiving. I know, most people leave cats at home & have someone come to feed them, but I don't ask people to do favors for me, so there you go. No doubt this is why I have no money.
Peter continues to play with my land. Yesterday he scraped my driveway so it's now all dirt. Mud season will be a nightmare next spring, but I told him to do whatever he wanted to. He brought his dump truck over because he decided he wants my big rocks at his house. I love recycling, so I'm really happy he found a home for them. I'm used to the volleyball court that is my yard, but I don't think anyone else is.
Weather is great--warm. Slept with the bedroom window wide open last night. 50 degrees in the morning, supposed to get up to 70 on Monday. Would love to stay home and sun in the yard, but am taking Nov. 9 off to have stove pipe cleaned so will try to get work done. Am working on reports for member libs. (and us) comparing items in collections to number of circs by categories. Once again I've proven that our patrons don't read biographies. And that our non-fiction (even our cookbooks) don't circulate. The bookmobile stats are far more interesting, since that's our only direct service point. Anyway, the member library reports take forever to do--lots of manipulating cells and moving stuff around in Excel. I've pretty much got a rhythm going (although last night I thought of a way to tweak them to make them much more understandable, so will have to re-do the 12 I've already printed). Have to do 30 by the 29th. Plugging along.
I'm still going to Saranac Lake once a week to catalog their Adirondack Collection. Finding some really strange stuff, ask the curator why the books are included in the collection and sometimes even she doesn't know. I'm trying to give them subject headings to explain their relevance but it's not always easy. Like, how can you make it matter that they're from Robert Louis Stevenson's private collection but have nothing to do with the Adks?
Must look for broken book to use as example for workshop. This will not be hard to do.
A quick entry before a book repair workshop I have to/am obligated to go to this morning from 9-12. Former director, the one who hired me in 1984, is doing the workshop. I'm forcing one of my clerks to go and she's all over it with resentment, but for some reason today is much more reasonable and amenable to the idea, realizes we have to go to support this man. This man has just been appointed director of the Platts. Pub. Library--at age 79. That library is next door to us and is our Central Library, so we channel more than $100,000 to them to offer extra services to our member libraries, hence we work very, very closely with them. No one in the whole world of North Country libraries can figure out a)why he wants this job and b)why they hired him. At least he's a very, very nice man. And he understands that the System matters.
Dinner with Fred last night. He was returning to Platts. after spending the afternoon closing his camp, saw me driving home, turned around and followed me until I finally noticed he was behind me. Flashed his lights, tried to get me to pull over, finally passed me and got me to stop so he could suggest we hit the diner for dinner. "We have to catch up." We turned around and drove the 10 or so miles back to Jingles, had diner food and caught up. He just spent 3 days in Quebec City, looking for a condo for his friend the millionairess to buy for her 3rd home. I needed to hear all the details, especially culinary experiences. Two dinners at good restaurants cost $500. Can't say "Canadian" as if it matters any more, now that our dollars match their loonies. Anyway, I love being with Fred and we had a great time. When I say things like "I have to spend time with Ken," or "I had to listen to this lady tell me her life story when I got coffee the other day" he ALWAYS tells me I don't have to, no one is making me. I finally told him that the lady who made me late for Saranac Lake put duct tape around my wrists and hobbled my ankles, so yes, I had to. Seriously, she (a complete stranger--is there an incomplete stranger?) spent 20 minutes telling me about the death of her ex-husband 2 days before (obese, a recent development, he grabbed his throat, dropped his head and BINGO! was dead--heart attack, yes, that's right, you guessed it), how she used to come here all the time, about the 400 acres her ex's family owns and blahblahblah. Twenty minutes, I timed it, standing by the coffee pots. And I was already late, made much later by this. But I'm a sociable person and a sympathetic listener.
Canine/feline relationships continue to make baby steps forward. Tess is always poised, ready to do something--I'm not sure what. Chances is only interested in the little metal bowl and what might be in it. Dottie Kittie is more relaxed and braver about walking around the dogs but still gives them a wide berth. I toss her outside each morning and she comes home after dark. Took her a long time to return last night, but sometimes she doesn't come when I call, but instead deposits herself between the screen door and the inside door, sitting there until I notice her. She looks very funny there. Anyway, she continues to be extreeeeemly affectionate and a bottomless pit of hunger. And without prey. What's up with that? Sometimes she sleeps downstairs, while the mice lick the peanut butter off of the traps without tripping them. Shhhh, don't wake the cat.
Payday today and I have a long list of things to spend money on, if there happens to be a dollar left after car payment, insurance payment, phone bill, electric bill, bill for privilege of living in America. I ordered some daffodil bulbs and iris corms to replace the ones that got dug up by recent "landscaping." Must get kittie supplies, am using borrowed litter box. Begrudgingly purchasing one, always swore I would NOT have one in my house. D's is for #1 only, no #2 allowed. Also must get carrier so I can carry her to kennel when I travel for Thanksgiving. I know, most people leave cats at home & have someone come to feed them, but I don't ask people to do favors for me, so there you go. No doubt this is why I have no money.
Peter continues to play with my land. Yesterday he scraped my driveway so it's now all dirt. Mud season will be a nightmare next spring, but I told him to do whatever he wanted to. He brought his dump truck over because he decided he wants my big rocks at his house. I love recycling, so I'm really happy he found a home for them. I'm used to the volleyball court that is my yard, but I don't think anyone else is.
Weather is great--warm. Slept with the bedroom window wide open last night. 50 degrees in the morning, supposed to get up to 70 on Monday. Would love to stay home and sun in the yard, but am taking Nov. 9 off to have stove pipe cleaned so will try to get work done. Am working on reports for member libs. (and us) comparing items in collections to number of circs by categories. Once again I've proven that our patrons don't read biographies. And that our non-fiction (even our cookbooks) don't circulate. The bookmobile stats are far more interesting, since that's our only direct service point. Anyway, the member library reports take forever to do--lots of manipulating cells and moving stuff around in Excel. I've pretty much got a rhythm going (although last night I thought of a way to tweak them to make them much more understandable, so will have to re-do the 12 I've already printed). Have to do 30 by the 29th. Plugging along.
I'm still going to Saranac Lake once a week to catalog their Adirondack Collection. Finding some really strange stuff, ask the curator why the books are included in the collection and sometimes even she doesn't know. I'm trying to give them subject headings to explain their relevance but it's not always easy. Like, how can you make it matter that they're from Robert Louis Stevenson's private collection but have nothing to do with the Adks?
Must look for broken book to use as example for workshop. This will not be hard to do.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
She's back, for now
Some people have complained that I've cut down on the frequency of my blogging. I'm always surprised that anyone would miss these comments and reports on my life, but my friend M. said my blog is better than a phone call: you can take it any time you want to and you don't have to respond. Plus, I see how often I check blogs of the people whose lives I'm interested in, so I guess I should pay more attention.
Anyway, I mostly blog at work--pretty exclusively, given my dial-access toll call connection at home. Guess I've been busier at work, or maybe more motivated. There's not a lot of new or different or exciting stuff going on, just maybe some other cataloging things than normal. I've been going to Saranac Lake once a week, for half a day to catalog the Adirondack Collection there. They have a really extensive and special collection there and everyone's really excited to get it into the data base. I've never been welcomed with such enthusiasm, and certainly my cataloging has never been appreciated more. I can only do it for 4 hours, though, no earphones, no getting up to walk around, no soda to drink, no conversation. When I tried to do it for 7 hours I started to fall asleep. So I work here for a morning then drive the hour there, work and leave for home. The drive there and to home from there is beautiful.
Things at home are fine, not as peaceful as in the past. I'm not sure why I feel compelled to stir things up when they get settled down but that certainly is my pattern. Twice when I had harmony with two dogs I adopted another dog, both times with bad results. This time at least I only got a cat. And she's a sweet cat, but cats are more demanding than I thought and I'm still working out details of the Peace Talks between canines and feline. Dottie is really getting brave, but the dogs flex every muscle and are poised to pounce when she struts through the room. They get gold stars for restraint. I throw her outside every morning when I go to work and she has finally stopped trying to get back in the house, now trots away from the house. GOOD! I'll not have a fat indoor cat. She seems to be getting fat, too, but so far she's only pooped in the litter box once. NO POOPING IN THE HOUSE!!
Meanwhile I'm still the only one catching any mice. I caught numbers 16 and 17 last night. I assume I caught #17--the trap was missing, so I'm guessing mousie dragged it away somehow. Like the one that got its leg mangled but was otherwise free. Yucka-pucka that was really awful. I opened the kitchen drawer and KAZAM! there it was, eyes as big as, well, let's see, how big can mouse eyes get? Anyway, both of us had a big shock. Worst thing ever in mouse trap lines is not killing one. I put mouse & trap in a plastic bag, took it outside & opened the trap. Super icky. Mouse ran really, really fast (on 3 legs) and took a flying leap off the deck. No longer my problem. Some people stomp them, but I sure am not one of those people. No, I do not want to see them die, I can only deal with their already-dead bodies.
Summer people gone at last. I love everyone dearly but I really want my life back. Columbus Day it's huge social fest, as usual. This year's added bonus was M's son's wedding, a true highlight. Rain didn't really seem to make a difference, except the poor bride never really got a chance to show off her dress properly. I took a picture of the huge table of pies, which I'll give to M. Too fantastic to believe. Lin and I had a great time being social butterflies, even though we knew absolutely not another soul.
Have some issues to deal with but am handling as well as I can. Glad to be doing it on my own, privately. I feel as if I sometimes share too much of my stuff with too many people. Geez, a girl has to keep some parts of herself private, doesn't she? Where's the mystique? I like keeping this to myself, it feels good. My sister has always been good at keeping things to herself, and I've admired that. I've never, ever been capable of that, have always had to blat things, appropriate or not. Which is part of this problem. Well, if I don't want anyone to know about it, why did I bring it up? I guess so people will know a)why I've not blogged and b)if my behavior is different.
Autumn is here. We had our frost but it wasn't really convincing. I brought in some plants and had fires in the stove. I'm really pleased that the elbow of the stovepipe was NOT filled with creosote flakes the way it has been for years in the fall. Means I've been burning good wood at hot enough temps. Anyway I have an appointment to get it cleaned on the 9th of Nov. Am taking the day off, which gives me a 4-day weekend. Yahoo! Funny time to have 4 days, but I really enjoy mornings in my house. Lately I've been getting up at 5:30, which is truly not like me. I get up in total darkness and feel like being up. I have my really neat sunrise alarm clock that lights up the room gradually, like the sunrise. It's great and works, if I don't wake up first.
Am trying to adjust to my fall and winter life but need to get into the routine a little more convincingly. Slept nearly all weekend, recovering from the week and the weekend before. Linda and Erd. were here all week, plus I went out with Lin and Ralph Sat. night. Had a wonderful time, haven't been with them in months and months. It was so nice to have the three of us together again.
My niece (Jamie's sister's daughter) has returned to Africa, where she spent some time several months ago, working at a school there. She's really religious and emails about god and His purpose and love for all of us, which I find really alienating and can't relate to at all. This week, though, she had a long email about two of the children she loves a whole, whole lot. Apparently she's never loved anyone as much as she loves them. I found this pretty sad, having missed out on such a deep and wonderful love until being in your 20's. I joked with Barb yesterday that, by the time I was 23 I'd already felt that about 3 times. Well, twice that really counted. Anyway, Keela is doing really well and certainly feels she's doing what she was meant to do, which is a rare thing. My sister is pondering this whole concept: doing what we were meant to do. Although I never, ever thought of myself becoming a librarian before I went to library school, and I totally fell into it serendipitously (my college advisor--who called me Betty, that's how well he knew me, said that, with my B.A. in history and an M.L.S. I could get any job I wanted. HUH?), I have felt that this was probably the best thing for me to have done with my life. Would I have felt that way if I'd chosen something else to do? Yes, I think so. Like, I argue so well that I might have been a really good lawyer, but when I look at it from here I think that's really depressing because arguing was one of the most pronounced symptoms of my bipolarism. Anyway, I've never thought of any other profession, wishing I'd chosen it instead. No regret about being a librarian. I've thought about being a school librarian, working with elementary kids and watching them discover the wonder of reading and information, plus having summers off, but then I think about public libraries, and here I am. Only it's better than a public library because there's no public! I get to help people who work in public libraries figure out how to help the public and how to run their libraries, plus I get to build a collection for the bookmobile (and the inmates, always the inmates). So I've got it made here. And I've been doing it for 23 years without regret. 30 years in the profession. Thank goodness for the Internet, is what I say. This profession is always changing and gets more interesting all the time.
Long-winded, no? Speaking of fascinating work, I just cataloged kits with things like checkers and beans in them, intended to teach children various things like counting, numbers, who knows--I just made up subject headings I thought might be remotely related to them. Now I have to catalog lucite boxes with seashells and rubber animals in them. I kid you not. I've been putting this off for at least 6 months. Subject headings, anyone?
Some people have complained that I've cut down on the frequency of my blogging. I'm always surprised that anyone would miss these comments and reports on my life, but my friend M. said my blog is better than a phone call: you can take it any time you want to and you don't have to respond. Plus, I see how often I check blogs of the people whose lives I'm interested in, so I guess I should pay more attention.
Anyway, I mostly blog at work--pretty exclusively, given my dial-access toll call connection at home. Guess I've been busier at work, or maybe more motivated. There's not a lot of new or different or exciting stuff going on, just maybe some other cataloging things than normal. I've been going to Saranac Lake once a week, for half a day to catalog the Adirondack Collection there. They have a really extensive and special collection there and everyone's really excited to get it into the data base. I've never been welcomed with such enthusiasm, and certainly my cataloging has never been appreciated more. I can only do it for 4 hours, though, no earphones, no getting up to walk around, no soda to drink, no conversation. When I tried to do it for 7 hours I started to fall asleep. So I work here for a morning then drive the hour there, work and leave for home. The drive there and to home from there is beautiful.
Things at home are fine, not as peaceful as in the past. I'm not sure why I feel compelled to stir things up when they get settled down but that certainly is my pattern. Twice when I had harmony with two dogs I adopted another dog, both times with bad results. This time at least I only got a cat. And she's a sweet cat, but cats are more demanding than I thought and I'm still working out details of the Peace Talks between canines and feline. Dottie is really getting brave, but the dogs flex every muscle and are poised to pounce when she struts through the room. They get gold stars for restraint. I throw her outside every morning when I go to work and she has finally stopped trying to get back in the house, now trots away from the house. GOOD! I'll not have a fat indoor cat. She seems to be getting fat, too, but so far she's only pooped in the litter box once. NO POOPING IN THE HOUSE!!
Meanwhile I'm still the only one catching any mice. I caught numbers 16 and 17 last night. I assume I caught #17--the trap was missing, so I'm guessing mousie dragged it away somehow. Like the one that got its leg mangled but was otherwise free. Yucka-pucka that was really awful. I opened the kitchen drawer and KAZAM! there it was, eyes as big as, well, let's see, how big can mouse eyes get? Anyway, both of us had a big shock. Worst thing ever in mouse trap lines is not killing one. I put mouse & trap in a plastic bag, took it outside & opened the trap. Super icky. Mouse ran really, really fast (on 3 legs) and took a flying leap off the deck. No longer my problem. Some people stomp them, but I sure am not one of those people. No, I do not want to see them die, I can only deal with their already-dead bodies.
Summer people gone at last. I love everyone dearly but I really want my life back. Columbus Day it's huge social fest, as usual. This year's added bonus was M's son's wedding, a true highlight. Rain didn't really seem to make a difference, except the poor bride never really got a chance to show off her dress properly. I took a picture of the huge table of pies, which I'll give to M. Too fantastic to believe. Lin and I had a great time being social butterflies, even though we knew absolutely not another soul.
Have some issues to deal with but am handling as well as I can. Glad to be doing it on my own, privately. I feel as if I sometimes share too much of my stuff with too many people. Geez, a girl has to keep some parts of herself private, doesn't she? Where's the mystique? I like keeping this to myself, it feels good. My sister has always been good at keeping things to herself, and I've admired that. I've never, ever been capable of that, have always had to blat things, appropriate or not. Which is part of this problem. Well, if I don't want anyone to know about it, why did I bring it up? I guess so people will know a)why I've not blogged and b)if my behavior is different.
Autumn is here. We had our frost but it wasn't really convincing. I brought in some plants and had fires in the stove. I'm really pleased that the elbow of the stovepipe was NOT filled with creosote flakes the way it has been for years in the fall. Means I've been burning good wood at hot enough temps. Anyway I have an appointment to get it cleaned on the 9th of Nov. Am taking the day off, which gives me a 4-day weekend. Yahoo! Funny time to have 4 days, but I really enjoy mornings in my house. Lately I've been getting up at 5:30, which is truly not like me. I get up in total darkness and feel like being up. I have my really neat sunrise alarm clock that lights up the room gradually, like the sunrise. It's great and works, if I don't wake up first.
Am trying to adjust to my fall and winter life but need to get into the routine a little more convincingly. Slept nearly all weekend, recovering from the week and the weekend before. Linda and Erd. were here all week, plus I went out with Lin and Ralph Sat. night. Had a wonderful time, haven't been with them in months and months. It was so nice to have the three of us together again.
My niece (Jamie's sister's daughter) has returned to Africa, where she spent some time several months ago, working at a school there. She's really religious and emails about god and His purpose and love for all of us, which I find really alienating and can't relate to at all. This week, though, she had a long email about two of the children she loves a whole, whole lot. Apparently she's never loved anyone as much as she loves them. I found this pretty sad, having missed out on such a deep and wonderful love until being in your 20's. I joked with Barb yesterday that, by the time I was 23 I'd already felt that about 3 times. Well, twice that really counted. Anyway, Keela is doing really well and certainly feels she's doing what she was meant to do, which is a rare thing. My sister is pondering this whole concept: doing what we were meant to do. Although I never, ever thought of myself becoming a librarian before I went to library school, and I totally fell into it serendipitously (my college advisor--who called me Betty, that's how well he knew me, said that, with my B.A. in history and an M.L.S. I could get any job I wanted. HUH?), I have felt that this was probably the best thing for me to have done with my life. Would I have felt that way if I'd chosen something else to do? Yes, I think so. Like, I argue so well that I might have been a really good lawyer, but when I look at it from here I think that's really depressing because arguing was one of the most pronounced symptoms of my bipolarism. Anyway, I've never thought of any other profession, wishing I'd chosen it instead. No regret about being a librarian. I've thought about being a school librarian, working with elementary kids and watching them discover the wonder of reading and information, plus having summers off, but then I think about public libraries, and here I am. Only it's better than a public library because there's no public! I get to help people who work in public libraries figure out how to help the public and how to run their libraries, plus I get to build a collection for the bookmobile (and the inmates, always the inmates). So I've got it made here. And I've been doing it for 23 years without regret. 30 years in the profession. Thank goodness for the Internet, is what I say. This profession is always changing and gets more interesting all the time.
Long-winded, no? Speaking of fascinating work, I just cataloged kits with things like checkers and beans in them, intended to teach children various things like counting, numbers, who knows--I just made up subject headings I thought might be remotely related to them. Now I have to catalog lucite boxes with seashells and rubber animals in them. I kid you not. I've been putting this off for at least 6 months. Subject headings, anyone?
Thursday, October 11, 2007
laundry
Here's a picture of Bill, Ken and me in Ken's house, taken this summer after Sunday dinner. This was after Ken's accident so he looks frailer than usual, but not too much. What's up with my hand?
Wedding day
Here's the site of the wedding my friend Marylou had for her son on Saturday. I took some pictures inside the tent, of the group, showing the bride and groom as tiny little people off in the distance, but am not posting them.
The wedding was great. That's the river in the background. This is a beautiful spot and a perfect place for a wedding. It rained hard but there were tents for the ceremony and the food, and everyone was fine about the weather. Lin and I were there and had a great time. The food was wonderful and M. pulled it off with aplomb. A plum. Everyone there was so happy to share the occasion.
This is sort of a funny picture--it looks as if these people are at a festival of some sort. Well...I guess they were!
The wedding was great. That's the river in the background. This is a beautiful spot and a perfect place for a wedding. It rained hard but there were tents for the ceremony and the food, and everyone was fine about the weather. Lin and I were there and had a great time. The food was wonderful and M. pulled it off with aplomb. A plum. Everyone there was so happy to share the occasion.
This is sort of a funny picture--it looks as if these people are at a festival of some sort. Well...I guess they were!
proud friends
It's never reall ok to post someone's picture without their permission, but here's Marylou holding her Alaskan grandchild, posing with her good friend. I wish I had taken 12 pictures of M. with baby, she really has great joy when she's around that baby.
frozen pumpkin
Here's how ice sculpture is done in the North Country--with a chain saw. This is a very pretty pumpkin, which turned out well.
All jammed up
All of these boxes were full of jars of jelly, made by Marylou and Veronica. Each wedding guest got jelly, a beautiful and delicious jar of jelly.
My oh my pies
These are the pies that M's friends baked for the reception. I was really impressed by how beautiful (and numerous!) they were. Lin was itching to have a piece of pecan pie. No, she was obsessed with having a piece of pecan pie. I left before the pie cutting, but she was still there. I don't know if she got her pie or not. I was sorely tempted to stick around for pie, too.
And each layer different
Here's the cake, baked by the bride's father. He's a baker. This cake was really cool because the layers were suspended above each other. The frosting was done in the basket weave, which must have taken an incredibly long time for all of those cakes!
Friday, October 05, 2007
Can this be true?
A perfect picture of what is at my house these days. It's a loaner cat named Dottie (I'm working on changing her name to Spot). I got her from my friend Julie, who has 8 or 9 cats. Julie hand-picked her for me as a good mouser who's affectionate and has personality. She is affectionate and does indeed have personality, but I showed her a dead mouse in the trap yesterday and she wasn't at all inspired.
We're working out details at a rather slow pace, the dogs and I. Tess is mortally afraid of Dot, walks half a universe around her. Chances is intrigued by the hissing sound this black blob makes (I suppose that's how visually impaired quadrapeds react to things). Dot/Spot will walk up to the dogs, if the planets are lined up right. Mostly she finds them a huge annoyance, to be avoided and ignored. She mostly stays upstairs, where no one ever goes, looking out on the world from the windows there. Last night she didn't come home, causing me to dream that she came home (and that my house was falling apart). My worry, as was Julie's at her house, is that something in the forest will kill her.
This morning when I called her name I heard her soft answer and she came running for breakfast (I'm sure her pace was not caused by joy at being with me).
Anyway, she's fine and I don't think I'll ever become a true cat person, but she's a distraction right now. I'd sure appreciate it if she'd catch a mouse or two.
We're working out details at a rather slow pace, the dogs and I. Tess is mortally afraid of Dot, walks half a universe around her. Chances is intrigued by the hissing sound this black blob makes (I suppose that's how visually impaired quadrapeds react to things). Dot/Spot will walk up to the dogs, if the planets are lined up right. Mostly she finds them a huge annoyance, to be avoided and ignored. She mostly stays upstairs, where no one ever goes, looking out on the world from the windows there. Last night she didn't come home, causing me to dream that she came home (and that my house was falling apart). My worry, as was Julie's at her house, is that something in the forest will kill her.
This morning when I called her name I heard her soft answer and she came running for breakfast (I'm sure her pace was not caused by joy at being with me).
Anyway, she's fine and I don't think I'll ever become a true cat person, but she's a distraction right now. I'd sure appreciate it if she'd catch a mouse or two.
Thursday, October 04, 2007
So what is up, anyway?
Nothing, really, I've just been pre-occupied at work and tired at home.
These are pictures of what's been going on at home. My friend Peter got tired of having to back out of my driveway when he came to visit me, and he was working nearby with his bucket loader so he did some work for me. Fantastic! He moved my rock wall (which was all Jamie's doing anyway--I never particularly wanted it there) to the forest's edge, digging up the brambleberry mess in the process. Dug up some perennials as well, but I had enough advance notice so I could have moved them if I were devoted to them enough. Now the fun of planting new ones begins. I may buy some more daffodils this fall to put in somewhere around there, or just wait to let the landscape define itself a while. Anyway, I'm really happy with the result. He had me point out anything I didn't want messed with, so he left my 24-year-old baptisia and my 25-year-old rose bush alone. Everything in between is GONE.
Off to run errands. More later. maybe.
Nothing, really, I've just been pre-occupied at work and tired at home.
These are pictures of what's been going on at home. My friend Peter got tired of having to back out of my driveway when he came to visit me, and he was working nearby with his bucket loader so he did some work for me. Fantastic! He moved my rock wall (which was all Jamie's doing anyway--I never particularly wanted it there) to the forest's edge, digging up the brambleberry mess in the process. Dug up some perennials as well, but I had enough advance notice so I could have moved them if I were devoted to them enough. Now the fun of planting new ones begins. I may buy some more daffodils this fall to put in somewhere around there, or just wait to let the landscape define itself a while. Anyway, I'm really happy with the result. He had me point out anything I didn't want messed with, so he left my 24-year-old baptisia and my 25-year-old rose bush alone. Everything in between is GONE.
Off to run errands. More later. maybe.
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