Month: August 2005

This is such an unworthy thought, but I wonder how many international aid organizations are planning relief efforts in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. I think a lot of the people in the world expect the US to handle our disasters on our own. I expect that most of that has to do with our foreign policy moves of the past few years.
I don’t think the people in Mississippi or Louisiana care who helps them out at this point.

First day of preschool storytime today. I’m interested to see how many little people we get. We’ve been on hiatus since July. I kind of hope it starts slow and builds up, although I have the impression that there are a fair number of people who are interested in the program. A few of my regulars from last year are in Kindergarten this year. I’m excited to be starting. I like doing Storytime, but the weekly task of planning it, especially trying to think up a craft, gets old pretty quickly.

EDIT: We had 6 kids and 5 adults, a nice and very enthusiastic (read active) group. Two returning from last year and the rest were all new. We had fun and sang my two new songs I learned at camp this month, the Moose song and the Alligator song.

My husband Tom/Tiernen has finally broken down and joined the world of Livejournal. Check him out at tiernen. He’s a better writer than he gives himself credit for being. And I think he’s funny, but I’m biased.

I knew when I put it on this morning that the dress I am currently wearing was going to be trouble, but I was in a hurry and didn’t take the time to change. It keeps sliding down in the front and revealing my bra. Very irritating. I need to keep a sweater at work to cover for this. All I have is a suit jacket and it looks wrong.

Le sigh

I’m interested in putting together a wardrobe of Irish Celtic garb. Theoretically this means a “leine”, “brat” and possibly a “mantle” worn with a belt, ghille style shoes and pennanular brooch. The problem I’m having is conceptualizing the overall look. I expect a fair number of SCA folks do Irish clothing. There is a lot of textual research, but not much in the way of pictures. I like to look at the pictures to give my mind a pallette of colors, design types and especially the shape of the garments as worn. Maybe some of the clever SCA researcher types who look at my journal can point me in the right direction.

I do love cats, honest.  But how many cute cats can you look at before you need a palliative?  As an antidote to all the cuteness going ’round.  I present…http://www.mycathatesyou.com/

There.

I am used to the idea of the old folks in my life slipping away at some point. But it’s hard to watch the folks in my parents’ generation dealing with this whole mortality thing. My parents and my dad’s cousin are in Alaska on a trip and they get the call that my dad’s cousin’s wife’s mother (say that three times fast) has died. She was not well and had moved in with them this past year after giving up her home in New York, and they had placed her in care for the duration of the two week trip.

Despite my personal feelings about Boomers (and trust me they are not kind feelings), it is sobering to see the Boomer age friends and relatives coping with the death of their parents. Once the oldest relatives are gone, that makes MY parents’ generation the oldest. So far (on my dad’s side) there hasn’t been much activity on the new baby front. I’m the oldest of that generation and I’ve been thinking a lot about the whole baby thing lately. Maybe it’s hormonal.

Just musing.

My library gets all kind of catalogs, mostly for books and office supplies. Some weird stuff, but today was a complete WTF.

National Vanguard Books
A catalog of books for the discerning white supremacist. No joke. In addition to such sterling selections as Mein Kampf, The Turner Diaries (in Greek and German as well as English) and The Bell Curve, are selections for brainwashing your young Aryan.
Actual text for the entry promoting the Hardy Boys–The Mark on the Door:

“After a Mexican driving a hired motorboat almost collides with The Sleuth on Barmet Bay, Frank and Joe are drawn into a mystery. The Mexican, Pedro Vincenzo, has been selling worthless stock in a phony oil company to unsuspecting White Americans, and the key to putting him in prison is the testimony of a timid accountant, Elmer Tremmer. But the accountant has a Jew-like streak to his character. This excellent story highlights the differences between mestizos and Whites. It is the 13th book in the series, and it is a reprint of the original story published in 1927 not one of those liberal rewrites.”

Aaagh!
It’s not the blatant stuff that bothers me, it’s the racist spin put on books I’ve known and loved for years.

I know this is the unpleasant part of the job, watching people use the power of books for evil.

Where is Conan the Librarian when you need him?

“I don’t like Mondays”
(tell me why)

80’s music, the cure for what ails you.

Actually I don’t mind Mondays, except after working the weekend. Grrr.

I’m trying to get some weeding projects off the ground this week. I have a big collection of ERIC microfilm. I’d like to offer it to another institution, but I have to find out what our rules are on that front. I know I can give it to another Army library without any problem. I don’t know the protocol for giving it to an outside library. Time for some research.

The weather here is in the high 90’s with heat indices in the 105-110 range. We are hiding inside mostly, although Tom has decided to go out and fence today.

I had a nice time visiting the folks and attending my camp staff reunion. I saw quite a few people I haven’t seen for years and stewed quite adequately in the swamps of nostalgia. I was less homesick this time, I think that was because Tom had stayed in NC and I wanted to get back to him. I’d like to be closer to my family, but it’s just not going to work for right now. I’m enjoying my job and I like the friends we have made here.

Hopefully we’ll get back to see the family again for Thanksgiving.