Fall is here!

My drive to work is breathtaking these days. I'd like to stop my car and take some photos but I think that would be hazardous! The morning light shines in such a way that the leaves look like they are painted. The colors are vibrant, lush, beautiful. I find myself slowing down to take it all in. I hope you have time to do the same!

Getting my foot stuck in the happy wheel!

Today, a patron helped me with this great description. I was mentioning how last Wed. night I had a great book group where my friend showed us her garden which will be on a garden walk and then we read the book "Garden Voices". We discussed it until 11:00 at night and we all had to go to work the next day! Then Thursday night, I went down to Summerfest to see Stevie Wonder and got home at 1:00 in the morning and had to go to work Friday. Friday night was an expedition to Chicago and up early Saturday for a trip to Elizabeth, Illinois. 4 of us went to participate in the "Gathering of Elizabeths". There were over 400 Elizabeths gathered! We were trying to make a Guinness Book of World's Records record! Then get back in the car Saturday night--drive up to Chicago. Drive back up here on Sunday. Yesterday, was our first day of summer reading at the library--much excitement and activity! This patron said to me today, "It sounds like your foot got stuck in the happy wheel." Perfect! Summer is just that way for me. I love every minute of it and live it to the hilt. Here's hoping your foot is stuck in the happy wheel, too!

The Library @ Night

I am enjoying this book very much: The Library at Night by Alberto Manguel. Some of the chapter headings are: The Library as Order; The Library as Power; The Library as Chance; The Library as Island; The Library as Oblivion; The Library as Imagination. Librarians and book lovers will love this book! :)

Patience & Perseverance

They work!

The North Wind and the Sun--an Aesop Fable

This version is from the book by Jerry Pinkney:
"Of everything in the sky--the sun and the stars, the rain and the snow--the North Wind boasted that he was the strongest. "There is nothing that can resist me! the North Wind cried, blowing such a blast that the roofs lost their shingles and streams turned to ice.
'Are you sure?' asked the Sun. 'The sky and the land are full of strong things. Why, it might even be that I am stronger than you!'
'You?' roared the North Wind, and laughed an icy laugh.
'Yes, why not? Let's put it to the test!' answered the Sun. 'Do you see that traveler down below us? I'm sure I can make him take off his cloak. Are you strong enough to do the same?'
'Of course!' blustered the North Wind. He sent howling blasts of frigid air to tear the cloak away from the traveler. But the man, shivering in the cold, only wrapped the cloak tighter around himself. No gust that the North Wind blew could rip it from his grasp.
'Now it is my turn,' said the Sun. And he sent warm beams of light down to where the traveler was walking. The man sighed with relief and pushed his cloak back off his shoulders. Steadily the Sun shone, until the traveler pulled off his hat, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and at last took the cloak and lay down to rest in the shade of a nearby tree."
"Gentle persuasion succeeds where force fails." I love this story! It holds such wisdom. It reminds me of the Yiddish proverb, "You can catch more flies with honey, than with vinegar."
This is my philosophy. Kindness will get us further than meanness.

James Schuyler, from Hymn to Life, May, 2008 Oprah Magazine

Unhibernate. Let the rain soak your hair, run down your
Face...
Then another day brings back the sun and
Violets in the grass. The pear tree thickens all its boughs and
Twigs into silver-white,a dimmed brilliance, and already at
Its base a circle of petals on the unmowed grass. Far away
Bust out into their dog mouth pink. Visitors gasp...
Thank you, May, for these warm stirrings.

Food for Thought from Seth Godin

I chuckle because my life is chock full of serendipitous moments! I was first introduced to Seth Godin by Mr. Billy! of all people. He turned me on to Seth's book, "All Marketers are Liars." I thought t/his video about curiosity was just great. These words stick with me, "The riskiest thing you can do is play it safe." Also, "How much of the mediocre 'stuff' of life have you led yourself to believe is great?" I think by nature I am curious but sometimes I stifle my own curiosity because I am tired or craving stability or I feel strange! I liked that he said that curiosity is about searching and he inferred that curiosity is about openness and awareness. I feel like much of my life I am in a high state of alertness (not calm) and by Godin's definition of curiosity that is probably okay! Sometimes I wish that I wasn't as "wired" as I am. I am still learning to be comfortable in my own skin! Ha!