Ah, Venice!

This NYTimes article on Venetian tapas, called cicheti, is making me very hungry, not just for food, but for a party. Unfortunately, our white peach tree has very serious peach leaf curl, so we may not have a great crop for making Bellinis. We may just have to buy peaches and then make some of these here cicheti. In our neighborhood, with our garden-conscious neighbors, the ailing peach tree is getting as much attention as a 3-foot high front lawn would. The tree is in the backyard too, so that's pretty serious. There's more of an investment for tree management than for weeding a flower bed, so that's where my energy is going. The tree is on my list though, and I do feel bad for it.

I was just rereading yesterday's post--golly, is that poorly written or what? I was going to edit it to make it better, but I won't. You get what I'm after....

What are you reading?

So, I went into a local eatery after a dentist appointment and started to read my library book while waiting for my food. The server who brought my food saw the book and asked "what are you reading?" It wasn't a novel, but a self-help book on a kind-of-sensitive topic (and one that she seemed to young to be interested in, frankly). So I just gave her a general answer--a self-help book to assist in one particular area of my life. I felt a bit intruded upon, even though I did pull out a book in a public place, so maybe I set myself up for the question. It's like if you're on a bus and pull out a book--you will get the same question.

This question can be a good question, and for book enthusiasts, it's a very important one. We want to know what other people are reading. We get some of our reading picks by asking folks that question. It should be a well-placed question, though. Is there a general etiquette rule about this? Should we ask Peggy Post or dear Prudence?

She also asked me if the book was good, and if I didn't tell her enough details about her first question, what would be the meaning of asking the second?

It's just idle chit-chat, and filler for folks who don't know what else to say, but I thought it was interesting as a social interaction.

The running theme....

And my dear husband also reminds me that we saw Rem Koolhaas speak for this event. He got quite exasperated with some A/V glitches, and when someone asked him to talk more about the Prada store, he just said no. Something like "a lecture takes a certain form and when it becomes other than that it's just time to stop, so 'no'." Hahahaha....

Library, continued

But I do have to say that a large part of my librarian-self is hugely excited and proud that a public library is getting so much wonderful press and buzz. I'm also very proud of Deborah Jacobs, City Librarian of Seattle, and all of the hard work that everyone involved did. Our family watched the progress on this thing very closely, seeing the tapes of the public presentations with Rem Koolhaas, reading all of the articles throughout the process, visiting the old library site on a public forum day, driving by the construction site on a regular basis, etc. This is the best thing to happen to "Library" writ large since, golly, I don't know--the new Bibliotheque Nationale? Other suggestions?

And, I couldn't say it better myself, this Seattle Times article describes how wonderful Deborah Jacobs is.... She is definitely one of my role-model librarians.

Altering the Time-Space Continuum....

Okay, so seeing this Seattle Times article on the new public library actually brought a tear to my eye. After the crowds died down a bit, this was going to be our branch library, and I have to say that makes me sad. As a librarian, of course, but also as a mom and reader. I love being closer to my mom, and other relatives here in California, but this would have been really cool.

On another front, this weekend saw us facing many toddler challenges. The boy is growing up and having the accompanying pains and frustrations. Mom is also adjusting to the end of the nursing era, and experiencing physiological/emotional changes. The end result is feeling stripped down, stripped of all of the baggage of a world that tells you you should look a certain way, eat certain foods, take certain actions, etc. At the end of all of the fatigue and struggle all I know is that I am His. That provides more than enough comfort to weather whatever comes our way.

Weekend preview

Yep, I took off the whole eDiets progress report from the left margin. I'm stabilizing, letting the lifestyle changes settle in, and keeping up with the working out among all of the other things in my life. Do you really care about all of that? I didn't think so....

What I will say is that I can tell a difference in my energy when I eat lots of fresh fish, especially salmon, along with a low carb, low-glycemic diet. This means eating protein first, with protein sources being from fish and poultry, plus lots of fresh vegetables, salads, nuts, and fruits like cantaloupe, grapefruit, kiwi, strawberry.

This weekend promises time to devote care to food, to move the body, and to work on the yard. I hope to get containers for the plants I got earlier this week, and to do much needed weeding in the backyard beds.

Back in the Saddle

Why is digging out of email after being away at a conference so hard? It takes just as much time to dig out as you were gone, maybe even more. This info management is a drag.

The conference was fantastic: learned lots, met new people, enjoyed beautiful scenery and food. Now it's taking action on that learning and new contacts to move the enterprise forward.

On the gardening front, my mom took me to an appointment with a guy who's clearing out all of his plants. He used to be in the nursery business, but has progressive AIDS. His backyard was amazing--completely covered with all sorts of plants. I bought some sea pinks, Korean rock fern, and some other stuff (I don't have the exact names on the tip of my tongue, but will detail later).

In a holding pattern on the body transformation front, but did pretty well at the conference, including a high-altitude walk and some swimming.

Is the thumb black, or do you just want to be somewhere else?

This weekend I go to a regular acquisitions conference and will be gone for 4 days. A variety of my life areas are converging in this post because of this event. I'm venturing out as a no-longer-junior librarian as I'm kind of in charge of my own unit now. That's a cool development on the professional ambition side of things.

Also, it will be the first time that I'm away from my boy for an extended period of time. I've done a couple of overnighters away from him, and he did okay with that, but during this trip he will see the prolonged disappearance of his beloved "nana" and the body that is attached to them. I'm just glad I'll be out of town when he has meltdowns for hubby and grandparents. I hope it goes better than I imagine.

But the concern at the forefront of my thoughts is my newly-planted lavender, which, contrary to this articles advice, I did not plant in a container but in the ground in our front yard after pulling out some beyond-their-prime bulbed plants that were hanging out around the rose bush. Freesia, the neighbor thought it was. They'll come back. So, I'm adjusting the watering schedule for the lavender, but it just doesn't like it where it is. It might be that the soil is not porous enough, despite having a nice cushion of organic soil. Maybe I can replant in a container before I leave on the conference so it doesn't die off completely in my absence. And, of course, my buddy thinks to give me gardening advice the day after I "groomed" aforementioned rose bush. My cuts were at a 45 degree angle facing away from the center of the canes, so I hope I did okay.... My mom says roses are hardy, so we'll see....

Where's our sugar daddy?

We're nearing the end of a fiscal year here in the library. While money always figures somewhat prominently in acquisitions (we order, receive and pay for books and other materials), it looms large during this time of year. Or, rather, its absence looms large. Being in acquisitions, I'm just a spending agent, with growing (over my short career) yet mostly advisory influence over policies that govern how the money gets spent. That's Collection Development's job. Still, I fantasize about winning the lottery (even though I don't buy tickets), and after taking care of all of our needs (debt, house, family), kicking some out to fuel materials budgets at my alma maters and current institution. Maybe I should start buying those tickets.

So, my work brain is focussed on money management, not just for materials, but also for staff: how to arrange things so we get the best work in the most effective way possible (and diversifying over an increasing number of assignments), and also keeping staff morale up. Today is a staff appreciation day, with a big campus-sponsored luncheon. It doesn't pay rent, but it's something....

Newbie Gardener's Caveat

Bradford McKee has this great and very timely article in Slate about how not to prune. AsI've only started, I think I have avoided committing some of the awful pruning sins he illustrates. I've only done the morning glory and the ferns in front (oh, and one rose bush--probably not right). But I have avoided so far the bushier shrubs. I don't want gumdrops in my yard either.

The only other topic I have on my mind is nakedness. We're starting to enter a cooling trend, but around early April, clothes on campus started coming off. Not so much among the librarians, of course, in keeping with stereotype (although I have seen some scandalous open-toed shoes). One would generally think that skin revelation on campus is a good thing--we're talking co-eds, right? Yet, Seinfeld taught us that there is good naked and bad naked, and many students' diets are laden with carbs and sodas. Some folks just shouldn't wear crop tops with low-rise pants, that's all I'm saying. On the other hand, there are some students running around that are quite the inspiration to me on my quest for fitness. I know I'm not going to be 20 again, but it would be nice to have more muscle definition.

Oh, yeah, I'm getting lots of work done today too. Really.

Top-of-Week Review

Not a bad start to a Monday morning: decent breakfast, good weather, somewhat smooth commute (a little more traffic than usual). The boy didn't want to be left at Montessori, but the parting wasn't too painful. I'm looking ahead to the potential of the work week, hoping that I can succeed in overcoming my short-attention span ventures into non-work zones to an acceptable extent. What is that extent? I get plenty done and move many projects forward to the satisfaction of those I report to and reporting to me. There's still the gap between that and my expectations of myself, plus the words from Colossians 3:23: "Work hard and cheerfully at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people." (NLT). With that in mind, I think He would want me to work harder.

Brief book review: finished Sting's Broken Music, and haven't yet replaced it with anything noteworthy (motoring through magazines: Mom's subscription of Real Simple that she loans me--good household ideas, a Shape magazine for inspiration on the body refining front). I've been thinking for the next substantial read something by Simon Schama (choice number 1, which I picked up at a used bookstore a while ago, or choice number 2, after the BBC/PBS series, picked up at Powell's some time ago). Of course, I could always lighten things up with some "chick-lit", but perhaps I should save that for the summer. Anyway, I enjoyed Sting's memoir very much. It covers his boyhood and ends with details of the emergence of The Police. He has a better way with words in this format than one might expect from a songwriter, but then again, he's Sting. He isn't overly laborious with the details of his early life, following instead particular threads that run throughout, his family, musical developments. He could have been totally exhaustive, but isn't, and so is successful in holding the reader's attention. I played Regatta de Blanc while gardening yesterday, and certain aspects of it hit me in a way that hadn't before--I paid careful attention to Stewart's drumming and some of Sting's vocal quirks. I don't own Outlandos d'Amour but maybe should get it....

That's enough. Feeling lean and looking forward to a good week.