#libraries rock

So I’m at a library in a town I don’t live in to spend time with my nieces and I go to the bathroom and see this sign.

They turned their old card catalog into free supplies people can discretely take on their own.

1. The weather is absolutely lovely - 80s and bearable humidity. Looking forward to some time in the garden and reading outside.

2. Family rmember released from hospital. Still a long road to go and many appts and treatment still coming but after practically living at that hospital for over a week, I am thrilled to get them back home. Thanks to the overworked understaffed medical professionals on the care team staff - y’all were awesome and deserve so much more than the big bag of chocolate I left!

3. Coworkers, friends and family have been so supportive - helping where they can and sending kind thoughts and messages and coming to visit. Everyone was pulling for him! And I appreciated the reminder of how awesome my community is.

4. Autumn blooms - which are also end of summer blooms. The garden centers are filling with mums, rudbeckia, and other autumn flowers but we are still getting the sunflowers and other late summer bloomers - like the callas on the porch. It’s truly beautiful in nature right now as we wait for the leaf change and cooler weather. Gotta catch up on my Monty Don.

5. Mini art projects that contain all the pieces. Coloring books with attached markers, sticker mosaics, mini legos, I love all of you. When I wasn’t working full-time (thank you laptop), I used these to keep my busy mind from spinning to worst case scenarios. And because they were simple and self-contained I did not have to worry about making mess or too much cleanup in a hospital. These were great when my mind was too fried to read.

HM: Books and libraries - thanks to Libby I had books at my fingertips at any time even when it was not library hours. And I could do chair yoga, etc. from their available online offerings. Looking forward to being back in person but libraries always come in clutch.

HM2: PBS Passport. When i got home from the hospital at 10 PM every night, with anxious thoughts racing, you guys had new mysteries for me to explore or use as a bedtime story. Or sometimes Bob Ross to soothe me to sleep. And no commercials to jar one back awake (side eyeing YouTube extra hard). Best streaming service and best network ever! And thank you NPR for Peter Sagal and the crew managing to make me laugh as I listened to Wait Wait subscriber editions driving to the hospital in rush hour every morning - hoping to drop my line and wait patiently all day to find a doctor who would appear out of nowhere. In this time of stress and need, public broadcasting were superstars!

Little Free Library

(Shout-out to everyone who puts one of these up!)