Misadventures of the Monster Librarian

Happy Birthday Mummy Dearest- Life in Avalon ! You inspire me daily with the beautiful, graceful way that you tackle being a good wife and parent and working, and still find time to admire the beauty in every day all around you. I can’t wait until we are neighbors again! I dedicate this poem to you on your b-day Mummy Dearest! I love you! At Great Pond At Great Pond the sun, rising, scrapes his orange breast on the thick pines, and down tumble a few orange feathers into the dark water. On the far shore a white bird is standing like a white candle ---or a man, in the distance, in the clasp of some meditation ---while all around me the lilies are breaking open again from the black cave of the night. Later, I will consider what I have seen ---what it could signify ---what words of adoration I might make of it, and to do thisI will go indoors to my desk ---I will sit in my chair ---I will look back into the lost morning in which I am moving, now, like a swimmer, so smoothly, so peacefully...

Today has been such a bizarre day at the library and I attribute that to the fact that there will be a full moon tomorrow night. In the midst of all this madness, I had to pause and reflect on a year ago today when my nephew, Monster A, was born. On my lunch break I called my sister, who put me on speaker phone so that I could sing “Happy Birthday,” to Monster A, who promptly hung up on me when I was finished-I kid you not. I think the full moon has gotten a hold of him too. Back at the desk I began to notice signs of edginess (all full moon related as far as I am concerned): People complaining to me about cell phones, irritable patrons, and snappish students. Now don’t get me wrong, these are normal signs from day to day, but today it seemed that there were more cases than normal. Did you know that crime rates for certain violent offensives rise around the time of the full moon? And it has been noted that dog bites sometimes increase as well around this lunar cycle. I really believe t...

Memorial Day was a lovely day. The library was closed so I found myself with a whole day to be dedicated to homework, which in reality means a day that was wasted on having coffee with a friend; doing just enough homework to not feel too guilty; and then going home, at which point my brother A3 and friend Chris stopped by. The three of us along with my roomie M played two games of Euchre while we sat outside on the deck and enjoyed the perfect weather. It felt nice to sip cold beers and play cards and laugh. For a little while I forgot the homework and all the reading that was waiting in my backpack for me. Sometimes I feel like school is so engrossing that I forget to just relax sometimes. Yes, it was a lovely day, and I am always thankful for the days that end lazily and in the company of friends.

Sunday morning flew by because I didn’t want it to. Nathan was leaving for the farm and I wanted desperately to cram myself into his luggage, and I was dreading going back to work and the start of summer classes which were to begin the next day. It is always hard to part with good friends, no? Whenever I get sad I try and find a poem that makes me feel better, so without further ado, some lines from one of my favorite poets: “And on a day we meet to walk the line And set the wall between us once again. We keep the wall between us as we go. To each the boulders that have fallen to each. And some are loaves and some so nearly balls We have to use a spell to make them balance: 'Stay where you are until our backs are turned!' We wear our fingers rough with handling them. Oh, just another kind of out-door game, One on a side. It comes to little more: There where it is we do not need the wall…” ~ Mending Wall, Robert Frost Thanks for coming to visit Nathan-see you in June!

Saturday I was scheduled to work, so we woke up early and headed over to Rochester Hills to check out their farmers market. I will spare the details of that visit, as I already wrote about it in another blog called “ A Visit to the Rochester Hills Farmers Market .” From there we were headed to D-town. After a brief “go this way, go that way,” Nathan was off, headed for an afternoon skirting through the museum section of Detroit, while I got settled at the library. While I was answering reference questions, Nathan was visiting the Ansel Adams exhibit at the Detroit Institute of Arts and the "Our Body" exhibit at the Detroit Science Center. I would like to say that I was glad to be back at work-I do love my job, really-but, I would have rather been at the museums with Nathan. I am bummed, the Ansel Adams exhibit closed yesterday and I didn’t get over to see it…I guess I will just have to go to the museum in Boston that is letting it out. Nathan and I rendezvoused as the libra...

I was sad to have to go Friday morning. Time away never seems long enough does it? After the car was packed, and everything lost was found, we headed down to the dock to say goodbye to the Manistee River. I went to the cabin a few times as a kid and my ritual was to always run down and offer something to the water. It never seemed silly to me, but when there is someone else there it’s a lot harder to beieve as much in the philosophies we held as kids. I threw my pinecomb in the water and watched as it tried to make its way around the bend in the river that would take it out of sight. There is something sacred about that place Up North, so many good memories tie us to a place, don’t they? The car ride back was good, Nathan, cat-napped as I drove and enjoyed familiar music. I always loved driving, so many thoughts and ideas and stories come into my head. It felt funny to be driving South on a Friday when many people with cabins or cottages are would be heading North to spend the weekend ...

Thursday began as every Thursday begins, with a sunrise, in this case one that had already begun creeping in through the bedroom curtains. I love the spring and summer when the sun is out so much earlier in the morning. It was lovely to wake up and be able to look out of the window at woods and know that if I opened the window and let in the cool morning air I would hear the sound of a peacefully moving river not far away. We were in the car again for another adventure that morning, headed for the Sleeping Bear Dunes. Some history of the area: “The Sleeping Bear Dune is estimated to be about two thousand years old and has a fascinating history. It is classified as a perched dune because it is perched on top of a plateau, high above the lake. When the dune was forming, it was not at the edge of the bluff, but somewhat inland. Wind carried sand from the upper portion of the Lake Michigan bluff inland and deposited it to form the Sleeping Bear Dune.” ~ Sleeping Bear Dune Official Website...