after respite

It is hard to think of what I want to say after posting nothing of my own substance as of late. With the holidays over and programs at the Library back in full swing, I feel like my week spent out East in Massachusetts--at the Farm I used to work out--was eons ago.

Best friend K and I were set to leave for our roadtrip the Sunday after Christmas...which we did. However, we decided to leave at 1:30 a.m. instead of 5am, to be adventurers, in "true roadtrip fashion," and really because we had gone out with our friends that night and neither one of us were the least bit tired...So it began. A journey. A roadtrip. A homecoming (for me).

When my Dad died just over a year ago, we spent the next 6 months cleaning out our family home that we had lived in for over 20 years.
My Mom moved out.
The house was sold.

And in all that I really lost a sense of "home," in that Hallmark Card sense of the word; the "home" where family gathers for holidays, dinners, etc. etc. Since I lost the tangible home of my youth, I further latched onto the place where I feel happiest in the world. My "home" at the Farm.

So it is in each visit there that I am restored and re-centered in the way that you can only be after getting back to a place where so much of you has been deposited, where you have been altered, where you have felt joy, sadness, known tears and triumphs.

That said, we all had a good time. Best friend K and I picked up TSO in PA, and then the three of us journeyed on. We spent the Sunday-Friday catching up with friends, etc. etc. and generally having a great time.

Now that I am back at the Library things feel as though they will be a constant until Summer Reading begins and of course that in itself is nucking futs.

My winter/spring programs are as such:

• Baby Storytimes: Had 18 people at my last baby storytime! That is nuts. (8 babies, 9 parents and one sibling). Also a really cool crew of parents coming to this group! Yay for active parents in the Library!
• Toddler Storytimes: this semester (yes, I think like a student, though I am no longer one) we are doing a different theme each week (working with one theme for 5 weeks was soooo boring and I was totally out of un-lame ideas by the end). Today was Birds. The kids made these cute little crayon and feather birds today to take home. ADORABLE. Got a great group of parents/grandparents bringing the kids to this one
• Build Class: Kids bring in building materials (i.e. Legos, Lincoln Logs...not cement and lumber) and spend 45 creating (with their parents). Thought this would be a fun way to get parents to spend some time with their kids in the Library setting. I had heard this program is a great way to draw in reluctant boys (only had girls at my first program however)
• Baking Class: A monthly event for kids to come in and do some cooking on a Sunday afternoon. Only had four kids for the first one, but they were a great bunch of very energetic girls...so, suffice to say, I wanted a drink by the time they left ;)
• Game Night: Every couple weeks the kids gather and we play games; anything from Jenga to Chess
• Afternoon Elementary Group: We are focusing on the difference between kids of today and kids of days gone by. Each time we meet the kids will learn different things that people in the past were responsible for making, or things that people in the past used. This week we are making candles and candle holders. Should be interesting. Will have to post pics
• My four groups of Pre-K kids that come every Friday for storytime. They are wonderful

No better way then to end a long day at work then to hear this little boy cracking up insanely at the Children's computers. Some sounds are so wonderful!

Oh, also wanted to give a shout out to:
Eva from Eva, Entertained, and to RachMay of Shiny New Things
new followers of Misadventures. Welcome Eva!