Onward to O

Yes! On Friday, I finished with the letter N. That's the fastest yet for completing a letter. I was so close to the end I really wanted to get there. I did not start O because I had a lot of requests from libraries that had arrived on Thursday and I needed to attend to that task. I pride myself on MassCat's (my) turnaround time.

Since I only work in the office 3 days/week, it's not a good idea to let the requests sit around. Forty-eight hours is a reasonable limit. Also, the MLS-Northampton delivery days are Monday and Thursday. Some of the requests were sent to me in "person" on Thursday. I always try to get them done and back into the bin for Monday's pickup.

I have something to look forward to when I arrive in the office at 11. That letter O.

This will be a busy week.

Monday: a lecture at the Sci-Tech cafe on Future Foods, including 3-D printed foods (?). This is a series of very technical topics presented for the general public. They're usually way over my head and the people I know who attend them say the same thing. But the talks are still interesting. The research that's going on in universities is truly amazing.

Tuesday: a documentary on Hedy Lamarr, the actress who was also an inventor. Amherst Cinema has
been showing films of women who have made significant contributions in scientific research. Of course, being women, they tend to be ignored or not taken seriously.

Thursday: a meeting of all the Healthy Bones and Balance (HBB) Leaders. We have these meetings 3 times/year. It's a chance to meet some of the other leaders, learn about new exercises, and ask questions. I still think about becoming a personal trainer and/or wellness coach.

Friday: LaRK Jazz Trio is playing at Bread Euphoria. The L of LaRK is a friend of mine whom I met when she started to attend the HBB class at the Hatfield Senior Center. Now M and I socialize with her and her husband and have also become LaRK groupies. It's a pleasant night out and we often invite friends. We sit around, chat, drink wine and munch on pizza or soup and sandwiches. Very nice.

Saturday: M and I are hosting a dinner party. We haven't had one in a long time and are looking forward to this. Of course, there is some stress: what will I serve 8 people? What's easy to make so that I can still spend time with my guests? And I want to impress them with my culinary skills.

As spring continues its envelopment of New England, more signs pop up. Yesterday, a mother black bear and her yearling came onto the deck. No doubt, she was trying to get to the bird feeder, which is too far from the deck for her to reach. It's taken us a lot of years to place that feeder in a way bears and squirrels cannot get to it. That doesn't stop them from trying, though. The bear climbed a tree (which was still too far away) and then settled for picking up the seeds that had fallen to the ground. As fascinating as they are to watch, I don't want to encourage bears to spend time in my yard. After a few minutes, I stuck my head out the sliding glass door and told her to "go away".

She did.

Signs of Spring

The absolute definitive sign is that the date is March 21; Spring arrived yesterday at 5:58 p.m.

A few hours earlier, my newest great-niece, E.C., was born -  a harbinger if there ever was one.

The snow is melting (though there are still piles on the side of the road); the frost heaves are subsiding; and the pot holes are increasing to sink-hole proportions. Heavy trucks are leaving deep tire tracks in the mud of our gravel road. Ah, you've got to love it.

My geraniums are starting to bloom as well as my hibiscus. Oh, yes, I've spotted several ants.

On the work front, I'm zipping along. I've finished working on titles that begin with No, Not, Note and I'm part way through Nothing. I'll be done with the letter N in only a few weeks despite the tiny font I accidentally used for my list.

If work continues to progress this smoothly and quickly, I won't bother to reprint the list with a larger font.

This evening, I'm heading to Black Birch Vineyard to pick up my quarterly share of wine. Despite the difficult driving conditions on their gravel road (Hatfield does have paved roads, but also lots of gravel ones), it's such a pleasure to visit this vineyard. The setting is absolutely enchanting. I've attended a couple of fundraisers there and also gone just to sit and enjoy a glass of wine.

It's a pleasure to support a local industry, to support a hard-working, industrious couple, and enjoy a sipping wine all at the same time.

Navigating the letter N

It's March 1, a mere 3 weeks till spring according to the calendar. There's snow on the ground and more predicted for this weekend.

I'm always conflicted at this time of year: I don't want time to pass so fast but I want winter to be OVER! I want to put out my pots of geraniums that have been in my living room since October. I want to begin new pots of geraniums and put them in hanging planters. I want to plant impatiens and begonias in the shadier spots around the house. I want to be surrounded by sunshine and flowers. I want to open the pond and spend time with my fish.

In the meantime, I'll plow through my alphabetical list of potential duplicates looking for bib records to merge, enhance, correct and otherwise clean up. I've finally reached the letter N; I'm now officially on the second half of the alphabet.

My supervisor created a list based on a report he ran. I printed the letters N-Z of the spreadsheet. Unfortunately, I'm not that adept at managing Excel and printed a list with very tiny letters. It's 66 pages. I've been using a magnifying glass to read it.

I've been trying to decide if I should just reprint it - a few pages at a time to avoid the same mistake. But, being the parsimonious person I am, I'm just coping. It may get to the point I can't stand that minute font any longer and just reprint. I can always use the pages as scrap, though I have plenty of that.

In the list, I'm beyond the words Narrate, Navigate and Nazi and have begun Need.

Too bad I didn't see the word Narcissus in there. I'd like to see a few of them blooming.