It's that time of year again ...

... when traffic is heavy, tempers are short, and Hungry Ghost bread will not reserve 2 loaves of my husband's favorite bread so that I can pick it up at a time that is convenient for me. Instead, I had to be at their door when they opened at 9 a.m. yesterday to make sure it was not already sold out.

Then I hurried off to Chair Yoga class, then to work, where there are all sorts of cookies, candy and coffee cake in the staff room. After work, I made a second trip to Northampton Center to buy vitamins at Cornucopia Foods.

This is also the time of VERY little daylight, as yesterday was the first official day of winter. I prefer summer. When it's dark, I feel cold regardless of the temperature. At least the weather has been relatively warm.

For me, because my family met and exchanged gifts last Sunday, Christmas feels over and done with and I'm ready to do "normal" things. Instead, my schedule is all askew. I'm working 3 days in a row this week and next.

Besides enjoying the uncommonly warm weather, I'm really looking forward to having 4 days in a row to hang around the house, tidy up, loaf around and read.

And I do, very much, love to see all of the Christmas lights on people's houses. They make me smile. I suppose the advantage of driving home in the dark is that I can see them better.

So and So

So have you noticed how many comments and questions begin with the word "So"?

So is this something new, or have I just not noticed it until recently?

So is "So", like, the new "Like"?

So shall I stop putting quote marks around "So"? So it would be easier to compose this post.

So I understand that a "prologue" (there go those quotes again) of sorts alerts people that one is about to say something, sort of like "Excuse me". So that doesn't explain seeing "So" begin an email or FB post, which I frequently see.

So language evolves and different people develop they're own "oral crutches" as they say in Toastmasters. So while I've never used a lot of "ahs" or "ums", it was during my several years as a member of Toastmasters that I became hyper-aware of how often such fillers are used in conversation.

So I guess "So" as a beginning word has, like, penetrated our culture, you know?

Anniversaries and the Letter "F"

Last week was Thanksgiving. It marks a milestone in my life different from the traditional giving thanks and turkey dinner. On the Monday after Thanksgiving in 1967, I began my first full-time library job. It was at the UMass/Amherst library - then Goodell - typing the headings on the tops of catalog cards and then filing them into the card catalog. I'm so glad that those labor-intensive cards are gone.

Who would have thought that 48 years later I'd still be "wearing the sensible shoes" as they sometimes say on the AUTOCAT email list.

As I consider retirement, perhaps I should keep this date in mind. In two years it will be an even 50. Now that's something to celebrate.

On the MassCat front, I've finally cracked the letter "F" in my alphabetical list of possible duplicates. I've been working on F for a couple of weeks now. To put this in perspective, I briefly blogged about arriving at "E" in early May and "D" in June of 2014. Even though everything is automated, it's still pretty labor-intensive.

Chair Yoga and Tolerance

The Hatfield Senior Center offers Chair Yoga on Tuesday mornings. I've been going for a couple of years now. I'd prefer to practice "full-blown" mat Yoga, but this is free and convenient. It's also more of a workout than one might think.

Whether on a mat or chair, a Yoga practitioner is to remain focused on his/her own body and not watch what others are doing (or not doing). That's part of the discipline.

There is a woman named D. who often attends the class. She usually arrives a few minutes after we've begun, and I find it a little distracting. If there is not an empty chair, the instructor has to fetch two more. (We use two chairs for several of the postures.) D. has many physical limitations and cannot lift even a light chair.

D. also chooses to do a couple of the postures standing. She uses a neoprene knee support for some, but not all, of them. The knee support attaches with velcro which makes a distinctive sound as she puts it on and takes it off.

I have to admit to getting annoyed. Is D. oblivious to the multiple distractions she creates for the others in the group? Or am I the only person who feels this way?

I try to remember that D. is often in pain, that she comes to Chair Yoga to help mitigate that pain and to try to keep her body functioning as well as it can. I try to treat the distractions she causes as a challenge and keep focused on my own postures. After all, that's part of the discipline.

I do, however, wish she would arrive on time.

Resistance

I don't know why I have so much trouble posting to this blog on a regular basis. It's not as if I don't think about it. It's not as if I don't have (in my opinion) interesting posts to make.

During the day, I'll see or hear something that provokes a thought that might be interesting to develop on this blog. After all, that's why I started it - as well as chronicling my journey through a possible career change. The career change, though, is slowly but surely morphing into retirement.

Perhaps impending retirement is a good post for today.

Over the last few months, I feel as if my interest in being a librarian is seeping away. Once upon a time it was all I wanted to do. I have opportunities to work, but I am totally uninterested. I could give more continuing education programs, but just don't want to put the effort into marketing.

At the moment, I am perfectly content working 18 hours/week at MassCat where I correct typos (see the Portuguese Picket Dictionary), upgrade incomplete records, merge duplicate records, find records when member libraries cannot, or create records if they do not exist. The work is very detailed and requires lots of concentration. Many would find it boring. I get into the Zen of it.

I still enjoy leading the senior exercise class twice each week (and attending a third time). I sometimes think that some area of exercise or health would be a good career for me. Recently, I saw an article in the local newspaper (I still read a newspaper every day) about wellness coaches and I had a burst of enthusiasm for becoming one. However, after reading information about the training and requirements, I began to realize it would be a major commitment. And I'm not very good at bossing people around; at insisting someone do something he/she doesn't want to do. I don't think I could be firm enough to be effective.

So, for the moment, I'll continue my current schedule, enjoy reading lots of books, and make resolutions (which I sometimes keep) to clean the house more often.

Loss

On the same weekend, two people I know died.

H. was in my exercise class. She had been ill for the last several months and her death was not unexpected. Until she became ill, she was an active member of several communities: church, historical society, and service organizations as well as attending exercise class. She was in her mid 80s, but still tough, smart and witty; always dressed nicely, had her hair done regularly, and wore make-up whenever I saw her. She was tiny, but a powerhouse. She will be missed.

The second person I didn't know very well; her husband and I serve together on a committee. He missed some meetings a few years ago because she had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer. They're both a few years younger and I am. I began to write brief messages to her on pretty note cards, wishing her well. I sent her postcards when I went on vacation and even just from home. Chemotherapy was successful and she recovered. I had a chance to meet her in person. She was delightful and charming and I thoroughly enjoyed our conversations.

Then, the cancer returned; she began treatments, I began sending cards. After a few weeks, she and the doctors decided the treatments just weren't working and they ceased. She died. I sent a card to her husband telling him that even though I had only met her a couple of times and didn't know her well, I liked her very much.

Death is all part of the life cycle. Still, when it happens to someone I know, I'm always a little shaken. My world, the entire world, changes a little bit.

Time or Money?

Which do I value more? Which do I need more?

It appears, time wins - at least for now. I'm perfectly content with my 3 partial days-per-week job at MassCat. There have been the sporadic continuing education workshops in Connecticut. And two partial days at Springfield City Library and that's plenty. I could be working more, but attending chair yoga, reading, and watching my fish seems to take up an awful lot of time.

Of course, I'm doing many other things. We managed a trip to the Clark Art Institute to see the Van Gogh and Nature exhibit (wonderful) and will be heading back to the Berkshires next week for a production of Comedy of Errors by Shakespeare & Company. Sunday, we did the annual "Vermont trip". We went to the flea market in Jacksonville where we spent money on things we do not need (although everyone can use 2 more beer glasses). Then visited the fun shops in Brattleboro where we managed not to buy anything except an excellent dinner on the deck of the Whetstone Brewery.

Friday, we're heading east to my hometown for my 50th High School reunion. I'm feeling a little odd about it. I have not seen any of these people since the 25th reunion. I didn't keep up with any of them for more than a couple of years, and even then, only a few.

Where did those 50 years go? I've spent much of them working. Now it's time for fun and relaxation.

June

June is my favorite month. Lots of good things happen in June.

June is when Summer officially begins. On June 21, 2015 at 12:38 p.m. it was Summer.

I was born in June which may be why I've always preferred warmer weather. I'm not a winter person. Why do I live in New England with snow and cold? I don't know. Maybe it's so I'll appreciate Summer.

June is M's an my anniversary - all three of them. We met, moved in together and got married on June 17. It kept things simple and we didn't have to remember a lot of different dates. This year, he was away on business on the 17th (it happens some times), so on the Sunday before, we booked a couple's massage at East Heaven and then went to dinner at East Side Grill where we renewed our relationship for another year. This process seems to work as we've been together now for 26 years - one year at a time.

And, as I mentioned above, June is my birthday. On our birthdays, M. and I take each other out to dinner, sometimes with friends. This year, we went to Chez Albert, where I splurged (it was my birthday, after all) and ordered escargots.

June is also the month when I was laid off from a job I liked very much and was plunged into a new adventure which, as it turns out, I'm also liking very much. June 30, 2010 was my (and everyone else's) last day at the Central Massachusetts Regional Library System. State finances mandated that the 6 Regional Library Systems merge into one. Interestingly, I'm now working at that one and enjoying my limited responsibilities as MassCat cataloger. When I worked for CMRLS, I told my supervisor that the one thing I missed in that job was cataloging and I would like to do more. I got my wish.

So Many Books!

Lately, I've had the great fortune to be able to do a lot of reading and the reading has been quite eclectic.

First, through Wowbrary (new additions to the Hatfield Public Library sent to me in a weekly email) I learned about Hissing Cousins, the story of Eleanor Roosevelt and her first cousin Alice Longworth. U.S. politics and government is so much more interesting when it involves the lives of people. Eleanor and Alice were born the same year (1884). Alice was Teddy Roosevelt's daughter and Eleanor was his niece (as well as Franklin Roosevelt's wife). They spent much of their lives together, but were very different people. Both were quite influential in Washington politics, but in entirely different ways. While I can't be as effusive about Hissing Cousins as I am about Robert Caro's The Years of Lyndon Johnson, the story of Eleanor and Alice is very readable (and much shorter).


True history was followed by a thriller by one of my favorite authors, Lisa Scottoline. I love her Rosato and Associates series, but this was a standalone title, Every Fifteen Minutes. The opening chapter made me feel anxious, which kept me reading so that I could get to a resolution. Highly recommended if you like thrillers and don't mind feeling unsettled for several days.

On the lighter side, I learned about Arsenic and Old Books from an AUTOCAT post. It is written by a librarian and the mysteries all take place in a library. Charlie Harris is a librarian with a Maine coon cat named Diesel. While Diesel accompanies Charlie everywhere, he does not solve the mystery like Rita Mae Brown's Mrs. Murphy or Lilian Jackson Braun's Koko. Even though I'm a cat lover, I find having an animal so intimately involved a little silly. While Charlie talks to Diesel (and I've always talked to my cats), Charlie solves his mysteries without Diesel's input. The plot is definitely light, but there is an intriguing twist at the end.

Currently, I'm reading an oldie: The Edge by Dick Francis. Whenever I'm at a loss for what to read next, I can depend on Dick Francis. Even though he died in 2010, he was a prolific writer and I can always find something of his that I haven't read, or read such a long time ago that I can't remember the plot.

Happy reading!

Asparagus

This is asparagus season. It seems that everybody and his brother has a small asparagus stand in front of the house. As I drive to work, I pass several and I buy a lot of asparagus.

Like many vegetables, asparagus can be eaten raw. It can also be cooked. You can steam it, boil it, or grill it. A few years ago I discovered roasted asparagus which is my favorite way of cooking it. Here's the recipe:

Sesame Roasted Asparagus
36 asparagus spears
1 1/2 tsp. dark sesame oil
1 tsp. low-sodium soy sauce
1/8 tsp. black pepper
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Snap off the tough ends of the asparagus spears. Combine asparagus and remaining ingredients in a jelly roll pan turning asparagus to coat. Bake at 450 degrees for 5-7 minutes or until asparagus is crisp-tender. Turn once. Makes 4 servings.

Now what do you do with roasted asparagus? Well, you can just eat it with your favorite potatoes or rice and fish or meat. You can also make roasted asparagus quiche. Find a simple quiche recipe and add the asparagus. Sunday, we has roasted asparagus and cheddar cheese omelets for breakfast. I'm sure you can think of lots of other uses.

Eat lots of asparagus. The season will be over too soon.

At the Movies

Last month, M. and I spent a few days in NYC at the Tribeca Film Festival. Ever since he and I went to the Palm Springs Film Festival at the recommendation of some friends, he's become a Film Festival Fan.

We saw 3 films and one really stood out. I've been recommending it to anyone who likes movies. Being an indy film, I don't know if it will ever show up in theaters, but if it does, please take some time to see Virgin Mountain.

Watching this film, I felt sad, happy, annoyed, excited, anxious and every emotion in between - just like life. As I was watching, I thought I knew what was about to happen. Sometimes it did and sometimes it didn't. Without giving anything away (I hope), I ultimately felt satisfied.

I'm fortunate to live near Amherst and the Amherst Cinema which often shows small and unusual films that you'd never see at the mall. I hope they show Virgin Mountain as I would very much like to see it again.

Another favorite of mine which I've seen twice (both times at the Amherst Cinema) is Caesar Must Die. It takes place in a maximum security prison in Rome  where the prisoners are going to give a presentation of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. It is not a documentary, but is filmed in the prison and most of the actors are prisoners. The story begins with casting the characters and is mostly about the rehearsals which take place in various parts of the prison because the theater is being renovated. This is an amazing movie and well worth an evening out. Dinner at Pasta e Basta down the street completes the Italian theme.

The Portuguese Picket Dictionary

I wonder if anyone has ever searched for a Portuguese Pocket Dictionary in the MassCat catalog. If so, they would not have found it. Whoever entered the data for that particular resource did so incorrectly.

This is the sort of situation I face every Monday, Wednesday and Friday as I pour over the catalog looking for problems like typos, incomplete words, and bibliographic records too skimpy to know what the item really is.

My first priority is hunting for duplicate (and triplicate and quadruplicate) records. Sometimes it's hard enough to navigate the catalog without being confronted with two of the exact same thing and several more variations. Which is which?

I have a printout, in alphabetical order, of potential duplicate records. A few weeks ago I reached the letter E. On June 25, 2014, I posted that I had arrived at the letter D. It's going slowly, but I'm doing a lot of other thing, too.

Since Friday was May 1, I totaled my statistics for the month of April. While I don't have the exact figures in front of me, I merged over 800 bibliographic records. That's a pretty typical month. I also replaced several hundred incomplete records with ones with more detailed information. And several hundred additional records received what I call "minor edits" like correcting typos and adding page numbers when I can find them.

As I look at all the work that needs to be done to this catalog, I know I'll have a job for a very long time. At least now anyone looking for a Portuguese Pocket Dictionary will be able to find one.

Rituals

It's May 1st. May Day. Regardless of April showers, I'm very much looking forward to May flowers. I planted some pansies in a pot in the front yard yesterday. I realize it's a little early to plant flowers, but pansies like cool weather (hence planting them in the front yard which is the north side of the house). And the pansies were a free gift from the food co-op to members in celebration of their anniversary on April 30.

I'm probably the least sentimental person you will ever meet, but I have seasonal rituals - like planting flowers once the warmer weather arrives. My other warm weather ritual is painting my toenails. It hasn't been quite warm enough to wear sandals, so that one will have to wait a few weeks.

My other rituals tend to be semi-annual. Since I wear hats, I change from warm to cold weather and back again. The off-season hats are stored in lovely hat boxes in my closet. The on-season hats are hung on hooks in the front hall. The warm weather hats have been on the hooks for a few weeks, though there were a few days in April when I thought about digging out a woolen beret to wear.

And then there is the changing of the linens on the bed from flannel to cotton. The flannel sheets are staying on for a while. That's the REAL sign of spring.

Songs Running Through My Head

A few weeks ago, a specific song began running through my head. If I wake up in the middle of the night, there it is. It's a song I haven't heard since I was a kid; it was one of the songs my mother used to sing to us when I was little. I don't know how many other people know about this song. Turns out, it was a big hit by country singer Kenny Roberts in 1949. The song? I Never See Maggie Alone.

My mother went into a nursing home in early October of last year. She had been getting more and more frail for the last several months and her dementia was increasing. My father couldn't care for her any longer, but was at the nursing home every day. My parents celebrated their 68th wedding anniversary on December 1, 2014. The day before, a Sunday, my siblings held a small celebration for them. While we were sitting around the table in the dining room of the nursing home eating cupcakes, my brother began singing. It was a good way to keep my mother, who tired easily, engaged. One of the songs was I Never See Maggie Alone, which I'm sure (not being a country music fan) I haven't heard since I left home to go to college at age 18. I definitely remembered the song and I remembered a lot of the words. My mother died the following Sunday. My last memory of her is having a good time singing with her kids.

Suddenly, last week, that song began running through my head.

The other song that has been competing with Maggie is Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most. I know where that one came from: Tom Reney has been playing it a lot on Jazz à la Mode - being that it's spring and all. I've been spending some time on YouTube listening to the various artists sing this song. Ella Fitzgerald's version is definitely my favorite, but there are some good instrumental versions, also.

When a song that I don't like gets stuck in my head, I have a remedy. I have a favorite Cole Porter song, You Do Something To Me, that I sing. What a great song. It sometime even pops up on its own.

Cataloging, Computers and Cars, or, I can now relax (I think)

It's been a stressful couple of months, but I think things are settling down. I hope this post is not a jinx.

Last fall, I agreed to lead an intensive RDA training. It was a good opportunity for me to delve into the new cataloging rules and finally learn them. It's that thing about teaching what we need to learn, and it works. I've been teaching cataloging and related subjects for close to 30 years, but was very nervous about this workshop. It haunted me. I kept thinking I could learn more and include more. I agonized over the best way to present the material. It was a difficult time for me.

I gave the workshop and it all went well. However, that was not the end of my stress. The night before the workshop, my computer died. All my (and my husband's) material is backed up on Carbonite, so that wasn't the problem. Neither of us could get to any of it, though. I was about to be tied up for two days with the workshop and I couldn't attend to the computer. (I'm the IT person at my house.)

As I said, the workshop went well, but on the way home, my car died. I was about halfway home when I lost my power steering and the battery light came on. I tried to make it to the Subaru dealership, but the battery ran out of charge about 4 miles away. I called AAA and my car was towed to the dealership - Friday evening just as they were closing.

Interestingly, the car is the least of my stress. Though it cost me a good portion of my workshop fee, I knew the car could be fixed. It wasn't much more than an inconvenience.

The computer, however, is a more difficult issue. After agonizing over my options, I bought a new computer. I set aside an entire day to get it set up, install software and download files. After a few glitches (Carbonite tech support is EXCELLENT) things seem to be working, though I kind of hold my breath every time I turn on the computer. I feel vulnerable when it comes to these things. So far, everything seems to be where it's supposed to be.

Saturday and Sunday I got to stay home and just relax. I know it'll be a short one, but I'm very much enjoying this plateau.

Winter 2015

This winter has really taken a toll on me. The snow, the cold, the extent of both. I'm functioning okay, but I'm certainly not at peak performance. My lack of postings is one of the results.

M. and I had an early January vacation in southern California. It was great. One entire week where the most we had to wear to keep warm was a sweater or light jacket. We heard others complaining about the cold, but it was like heaven to us. I thought that when we came back home, the worst of winter would be over and we could begin anticipating spring, which, despite the mud, makes me happy because the days are getting longer and the weather is getting warmer.

Ha! That week in January when we were away was just practice for the artic conditions in New England. That week in California is such a distant sensory memory even though it was just 6 weeks ago. At least the days are getting longer.

I have a lot of work to do. I agreed to give some cataloging workshops. Since I'm not teaching at Simmons SLIS-west this semester, I have more time and less money. I like giving CE classes. In, out, and no papers to grade. Of course, there are no relationships that build over the course of 12-14 weeks, but some of these people in CE programs I see 2 or 3 times.

I'm headed off for a chair Yoga class in a few minutes. After that, I have errands to run. When I get back home, I'll hunker down and get some serious planning done on those workshops. Now that I've put my intentions into print, I have to follow through.

And Another Thing ...

... I don't like about the "Holiday Season" is that people feel compelled to make or bake or buy cookies, cake and candy and share them with others. It's good to share, but too tempting to overindulge on empty calories. In past years I've been known to consume all of those edible gifts as quickly as possible so that I can be rid of them and begin eating more healthfully again. I've managed a more sane approach lately and don't bring any "leftovers" home.

But I remember two things I like about this time of year.

1) It's a reminder to communicate with people I know and like but rarely see. Every December I sit down at the kitchen counter and write personal notes to my friends who now live in Maine, Buffalo, California, Dallas, Minnesota, Washington state and other far-flung places. I let them know what I've been doing and inquire about them and their families. Most of them also send a card to me with an update of their lives

2) We sometimes get to leave work early with a full day's pay. No Bah-Humbug there!