Misadventures of the Monster Librarian

Some days being a part-time Reference Librarian is a little like Seinfeld--a show about nothing...Most days it is at this library because since I am part-time I don't get to teach any of the computer classes (that is reserved for thee full-timers), and don't get to do any programing because our library just doesn't really do adult programing--programs are occasionally done by outside groups like the Friends of the Library--is that weird, or is it just me? Anyway, tonight was slow, but just thought I would share some fun stats: Recommended/searched for/ordered 23 books for patrons Aided patrons 9 times with computer or printers Had a lovely conversation with an eldery woman about downloading ebooks to her iPad. She was super cool! And very nice! Hooray! Assisted a college student in a hunt for 8 journal articles Talked to a middle schooler about books she loved (mostly listened) and helped her find a saucy looking vampire book which she couldn't wait to sink her t...

I am home sick today. I am not really sick in the traditional sense, but rather in the my-allergies-are-going-haywire way; I blame the summer-turned-fall-turned-summer-again weather. On this first lovely day after a couple rainy days, I have been stuck in bed resting and reading and napping and blowing my nose and drinking lots of tea and sneezing. And looking out the window and listening to music--I do that a lot when I don't feel well, which is what inspired this video. For the full version of Miles Davis' "It never entered my mind," check here .  More soon.

<br><br><br><br><br><br>funny <br> "Yes man," The Harry Potter scene, Jim Carrey and Zooey Deschanel I LOVED this movie Cynicism is a self-imposed blindness, a rejection of the world because we are afraid it will hurt us or disappoint us. Cynics always say no. But saying “yes” begins things. Saying “yes” is how things grow. Saying “yes” leads to knowledge. "Yes" is for young people. So for as long as you have the strength to, say "yes." ― Stephen Colbert

Sesame Street, "G" This is great.

"In Blackwater Woods" Look, the trees are turning their own bodies into pillars of light, are giving off the rich fragrance of cinnamon and fulfillment, the long tapers of cattails are bursting and floating away over the blue shoulders of the ponds, and every pond, no matter what its name is, is nameless now. Every year everything I have ever learned in my lifetime leads back to this: the fires and the black river of loss whose other side is salvation, whose meaning none of us will ever know. To live in this world you must be able to do three things: to love what is mortal; to hold it against your bones knowing your own life depends on it; and, when the time comes to let it go, to let it go. - Mary Oliver

I am at the library and somehow I am hungry, but as is my norm, I am hungry for particular things. Tonight it's: The Kitchen is being flooded with tomatoes these days, which I AM SO HAPPY ABOUT! Earlier this week I made roasted Farm tomato soup with garlic and dill. So good. I don't have a recipe really, I change it every time I make it, but Mollie Katzen has a great garlicy tomato soup recipe in Moosewood . Also, always wanting to support other bloggers, I would also recommend Smitten Kitchen's Roasted Tomato Soup with Broiled Cheddar --it looks A-MA-ZING! Can't wait to try it! Also craving a really, really juicy peach. I bought one from a street market in NYC last Thursday and just thinking about it is making my mouth water...mmm...drooling like Homer Simpson. I can't wait to go into the Kitchen tomorrow morning and do some cooking. Library be damned tonight. This is my favorite time of year; abundance rains, as M put it today, "the fridge is really full!...

...NO, not books, just suggestions. Today in the Kitchen we began talking about our backgrounds and education, which of course lead to people learning that I am also a librarian, which of course leads to the age old questions: "What's your favorite book? "Who's your favorite author?" "What are you reading right now?" "Can you recommend any books for me to read?" So, I told them: Too many to chose one, but some are: To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee;  Travels with Charley, John Steinbeck; Gone with the Wind , Margaret Mitchell; Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen; Angela's Ashes , Frank McCourt; Roots , Alex Haley Too many to chose one, but some are: Jane Austen, John Steinbeck, Ernest Hemingway, Mark Twain Right now, well, you can see those on my side bar. YES! I gave them  my list . And also what I always mention when books come up is how I am constantly stealing ideas for what to read from my patrons. For example, tonight ...

"Giving Up," Ingrid Michaelson I heart Ingrid Michaelson SO MUCH. And whoever made this video--two thumbs up. Super cute. Hope your Monday morning finds you NOT giving up! YOU CAN DO IT!

 The town dump isn't far from the Farm. While that is nothing to get too excited over, the fact that our town dump has a "Swap shop," where people bring their old stuff and it's up for grabs--think "one man's trash is another man's treasure," think garage/tag sale without paying, think FREE! Anyway, Farmer Jay and I try and go down there Sunday afternoons before we milk and last week SCORE! I found a brand new French coffee press (I found a duplicate in town for around $30!) and Jay snagged an Italian garlic press for me. It was a good good day! My new French press by my favorite cow mug. My new garlic press--it even says Italy. How cool! And speaking of new additions, wanted to take the time to thank Lady Roisin and BlogCatalog for joining on as followers. I hope you enjoy reading the blog/listening the to the music/looking at the pictures (and feel free to comment). Thanks!

I was supposed to sit in bed all day and read, but nagging at me were the three flats of tomatillos, the pounds of tomatoes, the 4 (LAME!) squash and the bag of beets. Don't even get me started on the buckets upon buckets of Farm apples in our walk-in fridge (that is Sunday's project). So I: hunched over the sink and scrubbed tomatoes in cold water for what seemed like hours; roasted tomatoes with garlic, chipotle, chili pepper, green peppers, cumin and chili powder; cooled; blended with red onions, lemon juice, salt and red wine vinegar; canned salsa peeled and scrubbed tomatillos; pureed and drained off excess juices; mixed with garlic, chipotle, chili  cumin and chili powder, tons of red onions, lemon juice, salt and red wine vinegar; canned salsa washed, halved, oiled, salted, roasted, gutted seeds and salvaged stringy strands of spaghetti squash, bagged and froze boiled, cooled, skinned, sliced and pickled beets Then I pondered the one green tomato I left on the count...

Yesterday was day 2 of my 3 day weekend and I had almost no plans, and yet, I find that these are the kinds of days that fill up so quickly. I had a scheduled dental appointment and had arranged for my friend Yannick to come along in case they gave me laughing gas and I needed a designated driver; the procedure wound up being fast and gas-free, so we found ourselves with no agenda. "Have you ever been to Taft Farm ?" I asked. "NO?! Than we MUST go get doughnuts and cider...and birch beer!" (I must point out that when I have particular cravings, I MUST have that thing RIGHT THEN!--it was one of those mornings...I was feeling a little cavity-free giddiness). So we found ourselves at the lovely Taft Farm, oggling the squash being carried outside in huge crates; eyeing the cherry tomatoes; marveling at the many local products. We left with two birch beers, two doughnuts, a bag of beets and frozen portabella mushroom/carmelized onion ravioli for me and a little box ...

Josh Ritter, "The Curse"

See the rainbow I requested!? My ride home My ride home My ride home My ride home My ride home Remember when I asked for a rainbow instead of the rain ? Well, it did rain on us in NYC yesterday (and at the Farm and everywhere in between too!), but it was worth it. I DID get the rainbow and a lovely, very cool drive home!

View from the Battery Park ferry over to Liberty Island NYC from the ferry Heading toward the Statue of Liberty From the ferry Heading toward the museum and monument Looking up Looking up Ellis Island "Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame, With conquering limbs astride from land to land; Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name, Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame. "Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"  --Emma Lazarus

World Trade Center Memorial building budding up through Manhattan NY Stock Exchange remembers 9/11 View down Wall St. looking towards Trinity Church Washington watching over NY (Site of his Presidential Inauguration) "The Sphere," a sculpture by Fritz Koenig which stood at the World Trade Center as a symbol of world peace, was relocated to Battery Park on March 11, 2002, approx. six months after 9/11. The new memorial also includes an eternal flame (lit 9/11/0 2), "in honor of all those who were lost," says an explanatory plaque, "an icon of hope and the indestructible spirit of this country." View of the World Trade Center Memorial building from Battery Park, NYC View of the World Trade Center Memorial building from Battery Park, NYC I went into the City to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, to eat dumplings, maybe go to a museum, have good coffee; I did most of those things and in the process was overwhe...

Here is a quick video of NYC--looking in at Battery Park and the Financial District (if I'm not mistaken you can see the World Trade Center Memorial at 7 seconds?)--taken while I was riding over to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

Praying for rainbows tomorrow, but the weather report is calling for rain in the Big Apple. Heading into NYC EARLY for a day alone, spent wandering--never done it before, so excited at the possibilities. Just one day. Will be back at the Farm tomorrow night. Hoping for: Statue of Liberty sighting, Ellis Island, a museum, dumplings, good coffee. Wish me luck. Ahh...the start of a 3 day weekend. Pics to follow. Ingrid Michaelson - "Somewhere over the rainbow" cover

A returned book with an interesting story Tough times for MA libraries ALA info on Banned Books Week 2011 Library Media Box (think RedBox) Vintage posters revamped Learning to drive with the help of local libraries

After the grumblings of yesterday, I am humbled today in the memory of September 11th; nothing I write or say today in the remembering will be as profound as this video and this reflection. Under One Sky Isaiah 43: 18-19 "Did you not know? Have you not heard? I am doing a new thing. I am making a way when there was no way. I am making a road through the desert, rivers in the badlands." On this tenth anniversary of the invasion of American sky by attacking and suicidal airplanes, my congregation is putting up prayer flags. There will be hundreds of them across our grand interior sanctuary, each hand-calligraphed by artist Carla Shapiro on pillowcases. In the year after the attack, she wrote out 2,500 obituaries of those who died in the World Trade Towers on prayer flags. She then hung the flags over the Esopus Creek in upstate New York, where the printing weathered into what can only be called an ancient script. Now the words are blurred, like the ...

In this economy it is amazing that I not only have a GREAT job working at the Farm, but I also have a part-time job in a library, so I get to have my cake and eat it too. But, after nearly a year in BiggerCity Library I am feeling disinterested and craving library work like I did back in Michigan: I wasn't just a librarian, I was a children's librarian;  I planned activities that both the kids and I enjoyed; the Reference work was even more enjoyable because we weren't constantly having to deal with rude patrons and drunk homeless persons (I am not being nostalgic here, I really didn't deal with anything worse than someone occasionally looking at porn at my old library--and that was GREAT!); the library was a little smaller and more like a family; the city had a good school system and that small town feel. Maybe I am just too tired for it today. I didn't get enough sleep last night and I have been working my normal hours at the Farm and a ton of hours here to hel...

<br><br><br><br><br>ppets Movin' Right Along - The Muppet Movie

I love my morning walk up the hill to the Kitchen, the moments which belong to only me. We've replaced sweating in the Kitchen's heat with sweaters in the morning. The summer is ending. All the signs are there and obvious, if you're watching for them as eagerly as I am. First the trees, the weaker ones are already dropping off their leaves, or losing some to all of the rain. A blush of color has appeared in the mountains, so slight that I wondered that it hadn't been there all summer. Next the garden with this seasons' delayed tomatoes now fat and ripe and pungent and delicious in everything. A fridge stocked with purple peppers, cucumbers, the last of the deliciously sweet carrots, summer squash and zucchini, basil, broccoli boxes taking over everything, cauliflower, kale, chard, scallions, shallots, eggplants upon eggplants upon eggplants until I can't think of eating more eggplant parmesan! Falls' squashes are fattening themselves daily; delicata'...

The Postal Service - "Against All Odds" (cover of the Phil Collins song) I am not sure what brought it on, but I have been missing my Dad a lot this week. I can't believe that this October will mark 4 years since my Dad died, since it all still feels so fresh at times. When my Dad died I spent hours pouring over the same CDs. When nothing that my friends said or did made me feel better, I somehow felt comforted by Ray Lamontagne, The Weepies, and this Postal Service cover which I played about a thousand times that first week. This song came on my iPod shuffle today while I was driving and tears came into my eyes--funny how songs can carry such an imprint.

1. What is your most memorable meal that you ate in your life & why? So many great great meals shared around the dining room table at my parents house.  I am thinking also of a r eally excellent meal that I shared with some friends at this little, wonderful restaurant called Rouge .   2. Why did you started blogging? My friend recommended that I write a blog so that he and some other friends' back in the Mitten could better follow my life at the Farm. It took me two years after that to finally sit down and start blogging, but by this time I was just the Monster Library student. I guess I finally did it because I love writing and I thought it would be fun to cast my voice out into the ocean of the internet and see what came back.   3. What is your favorite restaurant, where & why? The French Laundry . I love that it's in my hometown. I love that I have never had anything that I didn't enjoy. I love that I have eaten there with all my besties at some point or ...

"Rain" I opened my eyes And looked up at the rain, And it dripped in my head And flowed into my brain, And all that I hear as I lie in my bed Is the slishity-slosh of the rain in my head. I step very softly, I walk very slow, I can't do a handstand-- I might overflow, So pardon the wild crazy thing I just said-- I'm just not the same since there's rain in my head.   -- Shel Silverstein

Long before Mumford &Sons, it was the Beatles. I have been listening to and loving the Beatles since I was a little kid and still when it's too rainy, or I am too angsty, or I need to lose myself something fierce, I put on the Beatles and I slide back into feeling good. And understood.

YUCKO! Not the baby bringing kind. I am tired. Worked all day, and then some, staying extra to help out the kitchen closers. Somehow everything took so much longer today...maybe it was the humidity...maybe it was the gloomy day...maybe it was just because we were trying to do too much. Did I really need to wip up that batch of Farm broccoli pesto--no, no, I didn't, but sometimes when an idea hits I do it, even though I am already running around and roasting veggies, making potato salad, grilling 100 hot dogs and 50 soy pups, making sure that things are going in the oven for lunch, thinking ahead at what needs to be done for the next two days. Yesterday I envisioned an easier day. A so-we-have-to-work-the-holiday-let's-take-it-a-little-easier day, but I don't think it happened. I was just so glad to finally go home, shower and crawl back into bed for an hour nap--falling asleep to the pounding of rain on the roof and the downed tree outside my window; to hear it slap int...

 Pigasus , the flying pig, used by John Steinbeck throughout his life; used as a symbol of himself, "earthbound but aspiring." I love HuffingtonPost. I love the bizarre articles. I love the good articles. I love everything. I enjoyed the doodles by famous people today. I enjoy that it also links to other websites too. Somehow I made Somehow, I made my way to this article, a list of the Highest Paying Jobs with the Most Time Off , Librarians made #6, "Librarians Hours worked/year: 1,819 Median hourly earnings: $27.35 No. employed: 148,240 Hours worked/week: 38.3 Median annual income: $54,500 Top annual income: $83,510 There are several different types of librarians, and depending on the position, workloads can either be demanding or much lighter than the national average. According to the BLS, those working at colleges can work full-time, and even weekends and some holidays. However, nearly half of librarians (63,000 out of the 148...

...but I didn't.

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Standing in one of Irene's gifts. “Lord, it is time. The summer was very big. Lay thy shadow on the sundials, and on the meadows let the winds go loose. Command the last fruits that they shall be full; give them another two more southerly days, press them on to fulfillment and drive the last sweetness into the heavenly wine." --Rainer Maria Rilke