L is for Librariies

My love affair with libraries began when I was very young. While reading was important in my family, there was no money to buy books, so naturally the library was the place where we got them. My first library was in an old storefront that had two rooms and was a short walk from our house. My sisters and I often walked there together.

I can remember going to the library before I was old enough to go to school when Mrs. Simon and Mrs. Garrett were the librarians. I thought they were about the nicest people I'd ever met. At that point in time, my signature was rather sprawling even for just my first name and they let me use the entire card to sign out a book. I felt very important when I did that.

The town library continued to be important after I went to school. Because of funding problems, my school did not have a library. Each teacher had a small bookcase in the back of their room and that's where we got our school library books. However by 8th grade, the school finally built a library and I got to help set it up and work in it. Handling all of those brand new books was great.

As time went on, I had less time for leisure reading. The high school teachers had books for us to read as part of the curriculum and those took up much of my time. However, the town library was still an important part of my high school years. Every Monday night kids would meet at the library to do their homework. The gathering was more social than academic and it was great for me because this was a place I could meet with the popular kids that was acceptable. (It seemed that the popular kids were not usually at the library, but at a drinking party somewhere--not something I was interested in.)

During my college years, I was consumed with classes, and libraries faded to the background except for an occasional study session or to find a book to read in the summer. During this time, a new library was built in my hometown. The building was beautiful with beamed ceilings and fireplaces and that's where Ward and I had our wedding reception. Decades later, that library is still the place for many events in the town.

In the years to follow, Ward and I spent a lot of time in libraries with Wally and Theo. They were always excited by the limitless supply of books as were Ward and I. Then one day at a soccer game, one of the moms said that she was leaving her job at the library and a couple of weeks later, I had taken her place. Twelve years later, I'm still there and I'm happy.

I Love Libraries.

Other Random Library Thoughts

Apparently, there is not a limitless supple of books in every library because Ward read every single book in his junior high library.

The hardest part of my job is not being able to spend all of the time I want to perusing books I come across. They are not paying me to browse the collection all day long. Sigh.

When I first started working at the library, Wally and Theo would quiz me about what was the most interesting book I had handled that day. Everyone concluded that there is a book about most everything.

K is for Kindness

Our neighbor is helping Ward install a new mailbox post. An act of kindness.

I think people are inherently kind. It's in our DNA because it helped our chances of survival at one point in time. If we were kind, we would be more likely to be included as part of the group that provided food, shelter, and protection.

Oh, there are times when someone is having a bad day when they aren't showing their kinder side, but I think that is more the exception than the rule. To prove this point, I asked a few people for examples of little acts of kindness that they had done or had had done for them recently. At first some weren't sure they had anything to say, but with more thought, they had a lot to say. I think this means that kind acts are so much a part of our everyday life that it takes a minute for us to remember them. Here are a few of the examples I got. (For consistency, I am writing all of these as if the person were the recipient of the kindness.)

--I was getting ready for my first high school dance and was having a problem tying my tie. My neighbor helped me tie it.

--I had been having some difficult days at work and one of my coworkers showed up with balloons to brighten my mood.

--I was stretching to reach something off the top shelf at the grocery store and a stranger helped me reach it.

--I had been to an auction and a stranger helped me carry my purchases to my car.

--I had my baby in a backpack and his shoes fell off. A stranger jumped in and helped me pick them up and then volunteered to carry some of my other things.

--I was having problems with my homework and my neighbor sat down with me and figured out the whole lesson.

--I hadn't been feeling well for a while and a friend brought a meal to me and did the errands I needed done.

--I had been feeling really down since my husband died, and a friend called.We had a long talk and I felt much better when we were done.

--I couldn't find a quarter to get a shopping cart at Aldi's one day and a stranger gave me one.

--I asked the neighbor to borrow a tool for some plumbing I was doing and he not only lent me the tool, he helped me with the whole job of installing the hot water heater.

--I got a book that I had mentioned once that I would like to have from a friend completely as a surprise.

--"I had been staying with friends for a couple of months while I was recovering from a knee operation. Yesterday I packed up all my stuff drove back to my house. One of the friends with whom I was staying, packed some cookies and raspberries in a container and hid it in my car. This morning when I was thinking, "Woe is me, I have no food in my house! What shall I eat for breakfast?" I discovered the wonderful gift. There has rarely been a finer breakfast than chocolate chip cookies with raspberries."

--There is a remarkable woman and her family who live on my street. The woman is battling an aggressive form of cancer. As a thank you to the neighbors for all of our support, they threw a block party. The party was an example of great cooperation and kindness for all involved.

--I was at a market with my mom and I was really bored. A big guy (teenager) organized a game of tag for us. It was a lot of fun.

Yellowstone National Park

And now an example of my own. A couple of years ago, Ward and I were vacationing in Yellowstone National Park. Besides enjoying the breathtaking scenery, we noted what a good mood everyone was in. Even in the crowded areas, there was no jostling for the best vantage point or annoyance with the line for the bathroom. This good mood extended to helping each other when people were trying to get a picture of their family or themselves with beautiful scenery behind them. In one of these spots, I was trying to get a picture of Ward with a waterfall behind him when a young man offered to take our picture together. We gladly agreed. After he had gotten a couple of pictures, a woman offered to take a picture of our whole family and insisted that the young man join us in the picture. At that point, it was just easier for him to join us than try to explain what was really going on. So we got a nice picture of ourselves with a kind young man who was our "son" for that time. We all smiled as one kind act led to another--with a twist.

Have you done any random acts of kindness recently or had any done for you?

This is an updated version of a post I did several years ago. Kindness seemed like a good topic to visit again.

J is for Jelly Beans

Every store these days has shelves lined with jelly beans screaming, "Pick me. Pick me. Pick me for your J post." Well, when candy talks, I listen.

Jelly Beans

The techniques for making jelly beans have been around for hundreds of years, but when they were first made is uncertain. One thing that people seem to agree on is the first time they were mentioned in writing in the US which was in 1861 by William Schrafft, candy maker, encouraging people to send jelly beans to the troops. In 1905 they were selling for 9 cents/pound in Chicago.

Did you know that jelly beans weren't associated with Easter until the 1930's when someone decided they looked like eggs, as well as beans? Before that, they were considered a Christmas candy and even today after Easter, Christmas is the next most popular time for jelly bean consumption. That is a fact that is broadening my horizons because I have never associated jelly beans with Christmas. However, a quick Google search showed that there are plenty of people out there who are happy to sell you red and green jelly beans, so there must be something to it.

And speaking of jelly beans looking like eggs, when I think of jelly beans, I always think of eggs. Never as beans which now seems curious since they are called jelly beans. However when I mentioned the Christmas and Easter facts about the candies to Ward, he said he guesses that they could look like eggs, but he always things of them as beans because after all, they are called beans. And after all of these years of marriage, who knew we had such differing ideas about jelly beans? :)

One of my thoughts for this post was maybe I could make some homemade jelly beans and share my experience. I had no idea how to make them, but it's the day of Google and YouTube, so I thought there would be some easy instructions to find. And I was right. There were several recipes involving gelatin, sugar, candy thermometers, and lots of time for drying. (Here's my favorite.) It would have been an interesting experiment, but I should have thought of it before last night.

I had a few more things to share on the subject, like Jelly Bellies were the first jelly beans to add the flavor to the inside instead of just in the coating, but I think this post has reached it's natural conclusion. I'm hungry now and I don't think anything will satisfy me except jelly beans. And I may not even wait until they are marked down after Easter to buy some.

I is for Idioms

or Interesting bits of Information

I find Idioms Intriguing and an Interesting part of a language. For your Illumination today, here are Intriguing Idioms and Insights onto their Inceptions.

In the limelight: means the center of attention. This comes from the 1840's when they heated lime to produce bright lights to illuminate acts on stage.

It takes to two tango: means it takes two people to accomplish something. Apparently, this expression became popular in the 1920's when the tango was popular in the U.S.

Ignorance is bliss: means you're a lot happier if you don't know the bad stuff going on. Sophocles wrote about it around 400 B. C., so it doesn't just apply to avoiding the news coverage of today.

In the bag: means a sure success.  This came from the 1600's when hunters put their small game into a bag after they shot it. So if they had a successful hunting trip, it was all in the bag.

That's only a few I idioms, but I think I'll stop there because the rest I'm considering using deal with death and mayhem.  I think In the bag was enough on that topic.

So instead of more interesting idioms, I'll leave with a few more words in honor of National Poetry Month that is be observed this April.

Big I

little i

i i i

Icabod is itchy.

So am I.

Dr. Seuss

H is for Hip, Hip Hooray!

Hip, Hip Hooray!

I Had a victory today!

It didn't start out as a battle. It all started as a bit of bureaucracy to work through. I needed a Social Security statement to do my mother's taxes and I couldn't find it. I tried online to get one but couldn't, of course, because her account closed when she died. I ran around in circles, for a while, (actually walked in circles while I was on hold several times for an hour), before I finally figured out that I had to go to a SSA office to do what needed to be done. My sister kindly went to the SSA office for me and got the necessary paperwork. A few more confusing times while I completed her taxes, but I finally waded through the bureaucracy to completion.

Completion, that is, for my mother, but not for me. Soon after my difficulties with my mother's SSA documents, I had some problems of my own. Ward and I were doing another look at our finances and looking into the best time to retire. This included examination of our SS benefits, but when I tried to log into my online account to get a statement, I got locked out--multiple times on multiple days. This included doing what was advised by two different phone calls to SSA for help. Finally, they said there was nothing to do except visit an office. Which I did. I waited about an hour in the crowded room for my turn during which the clerk at the office gave me a paper with instructions to fix things when I got home. And guess what? They didn't work.

Well, today was the day that I finally had a couple of hours to be on hold, so I called SSA again. And it was so simple. Eric, my helper, just canceled my old account and I set up a new one. And it worked!! I am one Happy person.

Hip, hip hooray!
I had a victory today!