"Outside a dog a book is man's best friend, inside a dog it is too dark to read!" -Groucho Marx========="The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid." -Jane Austen========="I don’t believe in the kind of magic in my books. But I do believe something very magical can happen when you read a good book."-JK Rowling========"I spend a lot of time reading." -Bill Gates=========“Ahhh. Bed, book, kitten, sandwich. All one needed in life, really.” -Jacqueline Kelly=========

Sunday, April 30, 2017

Sunday Salon, April 30th


Weather: Can't tell. Will it be nice or will it rain? Some sun, some clouds.

Listening to: Soul Town on Sirius radio. Groups like Average White Band, The Spinners, The Temptations, Sly and the Family Stone, and this group, Booker T. and the MGs playing "Time is Tight." Listen while you read the blog. Gotta love the Hammond organ. Enjoy.



Retirement: I've decided it. I am retiring at the end of the school year. I decided for sure about two weeks ago but didn't tell anyone except my girls until Wednesday at book club, and then my school folks on Friday. Here is the blog post where I had a little help from poetry to make the announcement. Several years ago when I read the poem, "The God's Abandoned Anthony" I knew it was my retirement poem. In the poem Anthony is losing his city Alexandria and he is urged to accept it and to think back on what was good. For a while now I have felt that it was time for me to leave because things were changing so much in the library. More and more of  the job has become about the technology and less and less of it is about the books. But "as one long prepared and graced with courage" I will leave the library behind and go forward to new, and as of yet, undetermined adventures ahead. It has been good while it lasted but it it time after 37 years to let it go; "to say goodbye to the Alexandria [library] you are losing." 


Summer thinking: Yesterday Don and I were talking about summer plans and I was whining about how we didn't have many firm vacation plans in place for the summer. All the sudden I stopped because I realized that after September 1st my life will be like one long summer. First up, we will await the birth of our first grandchild, due September 7th. Second up, we will plan a vacation in October or November, sometime during the school year when we've never been able to take a vacation before. Wow. Breakthrough thinking.


Hydrangeas, part two: We were able to get outside to do more deadheading yesterday afternoon. I finished up all the hydrangea bushes (we have seven.) Don pruned the Hykuro Nishiki willow tree and worked a bit on the wisteria. The yard is shaping up.


Grunt: Friday night we attended the Pierce Reads! finale at Clover Park Technical college with the author of Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War, Mary Roach. If you haven't read anything by this remarkable writer, I highly recommend her books. All are nonfiction and, though they are informative, they are also funny. The event was also funny. We laughed a lot and really enjoyed it.

Books completed this week:
  • The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas. YA. I'll be very surprised if this book doesn't clean up on all the awards this next award season. Audio.
  • I Heard God Laughing: Poems of Hope and Joy by Hafiz, translated by Daniel Ladinsky. What a wonderful and inspiring collection of poems. E-Book.
  • Dear Bob and Sue by Karen and Matt Smith. A couple visits all 59 National Parks in America and writes about their experiences. This was a book club selection and though I like the idea of making a trip to every park, the writing wasn't spectacular. Print.
Currently reading: Nothing. Can you believe it? I finished The Hate U Give on the way home from school on Friday and the other two books on Saturday. I haven't started another book yet.

On deck: these books are likely my next reads:
  • Lab Girl by Hope Jahren. I just downloaded this book onto my iPod as my next audiobook.
  • The Girls from Ames: The Story of Women and a Forty-year Friendship by Jeff Zaslow. This is a book club selection. Print.
  • Dark Son by Nikki Grimes. This will be my last book for the Read all the YMA Winners Challenge. Print. Ms. Grimes won the Laura Ingalls Wilder Author award this past year.


8 comments:

  1. One of the actual girls from Ames is a dear friend of mine - we were roommates after we graduated college, and she was a bridesmaid in my wedding. I wonder if my enjoyment of the book was colored by the fact I know her? I look forward to seeing what you think about this male take on female friendship.

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  2. Happy Retirement! I am hoping you keep blogging even after you are done with the school year. I understand what you mean about the job changing. I have been in the library 12 years (20 years in education) and the enjoyment of reading and love of books definitely seems to be something that isn't a big concern anymore. But computers? That is pretty important to the people making the decisions in the district. I have a lot of years left, though, until I can retire.
    As for The Girls From Ames, my neighbor's sister-in-law is one of them. Small world!

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  3. I agree that The Hate U Give will do well in the awards; I thought it was so powerful. I read a bunch this weekend, which feels so good. I am so jealous that you will get to travel in October or November! :-)

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  4. I'm so glad we will retire together! I am reading several good (fun) books and finishing LaRose. :)

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  5. I am crazy about Lab Girl. I have cajoled my book club into reading it.

    Everyone loves retirement. I thought I might do it this year, but I think I'm hanging in there just a bit longer. I don't think our primary school library has changed as much as others.

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  6. Congratulations, Anne, on the retirement. With the grandchild and vacation, it sounds like you'll have plenty to keep you busy during it. Oh, and reading, but of course.

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  7. Congrats Anne! You will enjoy retirement & your travels! I think I should read Mary Roach.

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  8. Love Booker T & the MGs! They recorded at Stax Records in Memphis. 😀

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