Misadventures of the Monster Librarian

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.

Yesterday at work I wanted nothing more than to be in Buffalo, hanging out with B1 & B2. After an uneventful day at work, part of it spent working on the church's library (more on that later), I headed out excited and ready, for my mini road trip, at 5pm. Stopped at the gas station to put a little air in my tire and oil in my engine. This is when the trouble happened. Somehow I managed, while taking the oil cap off, to drop the cap down under the engine, and onto this shelf-thingy. I took off my rings (safety first) and forced my arm down as far as I could, waving my fingers wildly to get the oil cap. The coiling around the engine, which I had to slide my arm past were still warm from the drive to the gas station, so with each swipe of my arm (looking like a monkey in a mad comedy to get the banana-I am sure!) I would rub my arm against hot coils, eventually burning the top layer of skin off. So, now I am burned, and frustrated to the point of tears. Nothing is working: not my ...

After a whirlwind week last week, driving around the Northern Lower Peninsula of Michigan; around the Traverse City and Bay area, and a visit to Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes, I was glad to get back home. I loved the time away; the way that I felt that we were very alone and desolate in the woodsy area where the cabin is located; the memories from childhood that flooded back just by looking at the fire pit, walking the stairs down to the dock that overlooks the Manistee River, even the smell of the pine needles-all this was able to return me to my 11 year old self and the summer that I thought I saw a glimpse of the world for the first time. Saturday after our arrival back I had to work at the library, so I sent Nathan off to explore the cultural area of Detroit, which is the area around Wayne State University that includes the Detroit Public Library’s Main Branch, C.C.S. (Center for Creative Studies), the African American Museum, the Detroit Institute of Arts (D.I.A.), the Detroit Science ...