Can't Help Myself

Note:  If Suldog sent you, you are probably looking for Thanksgiving Comes First.  You are also more than welcome to read today's meanderings while you are here.

"Hey, mom, could you take me to the library?" Little Girl asked.  Usually, she asks her sister to take her on such errands, but Bigger Girl was busy.

When the children were younger, we were regulars at the public libraries.  There are amazing children's programs at our libraries, and i took full advantage of them, especially during the summers.

Lately, though, i've been mostly reading off of my computer, and reading books i've bought or have at home.  Only on occasion do i get to a library, and i miss it.

So when we walked in, i was overtaken by the nostalgia.

Some things have changed, and some have not.

The copy machines at this branch are still in the same place.  They are modern and up-to-date, but still run on coins.  So i showed her how to make the copies she wanted, and then she wandered off to find a particular book.  Not having anything specific in mind, i couldn't help myself, and i stepped into the children's area.

Three libarians were on duty, one was shelving some books, and the others were at their desks.  A family i recognized from rEcess came in, and we talked a bit.

Then i turned to the books.  Smiling, i ran my eyes over the shelves of books that have the unique binding that tells you it's a library book.  Familiar titles and new, i wandered and remembered, smelling the beautiful smell that i can only describe as cleanness and books mixed.

Walking toward the really young children's books, i grinned at the stack of Little Golden Books.  We still have some, but they are not often even looked at now.  Again, unable to help myself, i picked one up and laughed as i glanced at the familiar pages.

Little Golden Books are the best!

Little Girl came in and found me, and asked what i was doing.

Reliving good times, i told her, and she smirked and smiled at the same time, the way teens do when they are trying to be sophisticatedly too old for something, but like what you are saying or doing anyway.

In these days when libraries are endangered in many places, i'm glad to be able to say, not here.  We have a specially dedicated property tax that does nothing but fund our libraries, and it shows.  They are always clean, always well staffed with people who practically fall all over themselves to be helpful (as, indeed, the librarian who helped Little Girl find that book was this time), always busy, well stocked, have plenty of computers available for research, and, to me, always a joy to go into.

As we left, i remembered my favorite story about libraries.  It was told to me by my friend Grace, who lives in San Antonio.  Her husband was military, and she remembered a time during budget cuts when there was talk of closing base libraries.  They were considered by some as unnecessary expenditures.  Then the word came down from those above those bases.

Any base that closed its library, they were told, better not leave their golf course open, either.

No base libraries closed.



Today is:

Abu Simbel Festival -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (along with Feb. 22, the day when the sunlight fell perfectly on the statues of Ramses, Ra, and Amun at the temple complex)

Caps Lock Day -- celebrating life in screaming CAPITALS (i'd include a link to the promo site, but it's rather annoying)

Clean Up the Earth Day -- begun because having only one Earth Day a year doesn't give enough emphasis to the amount of work that needs to be done

Color Day -- a day to consider how color affects your life, health, and world

Eat a Pretzel Day -- unclaimed sponsorship; does anyone else suspect that pretzel makers know how to spread stuff around the internet, too?

International Stuttering Awareness Day -- information here

Jidai Matsuri -- Kyoto, Japan (Festival of the Eras or Festival of the Ages)

National Knee Day -- take care of your knees, and they will take care of you!

National Nut Day -- UK(urging everyone to swap a burger for delicious and nutritious nuts, at least on this one dayhttp://www.nationalnutday.com/)

Seeking of King Look Under Your Mattress -- Fairy Calendar

St. Mary Salome's Day (Patron of Veroli, Italy)


Birthdays Today:

Brian Boitano, 1963
Jeff Goldblum, 1952
Deepak Chopra, 1946
Catherine Deveuve, 1943
Annette Funicello, 1942
Tony Roberts, 1939
Christopher Lloyd, 1938
Timothy Leary, 1920
Joan Fontaine, 1917
Curly Howard, 1903
N. C. Wyeth, 1882
Sarah Bernhardt, 1844
Franz Liszt, 1811


Anniversaries Today:

Toastmasters International founded, 1924


Today in History:

The temple of Apollo at Daphne, outside of Antioch, is destroyed in a mysterious fire, 362
Emperor Kanmu relocates Japanese capital to Heiankyo (now Kyoto), 794
Battle of the Southern Fujian Sea, Ming Dynasty wins a victory against the Dutch East India Company, 1633
Princeton University is chartered, 1746
Andre-Jacques Trim becomes the first sky diver, parachuting over Paris from a balloon, 1797
Sam Houston is inaugurated as the first President of the Republic of Texas, 1836
First telegraph line linking US east and west coasts of the US is completed, 1861
First concert performance of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, 1881
World's first automobile dealer opens in London, 1897
President Hoover gives the "American system of rugged individualism" speech, 1928
The FBI ambushes Pretty Boy Floyd, 1934
First commercial flight from the mainland to Hawai'i, 1936
Jean-Paul Sartre is awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, but turns down the honor, 1964
A Multi-Party Parliamentary Committee selects the design which becomes the new official Flag of Canada, 1964
The Soviet unmanned space mission Venera 9 lands on Venus, 1975Red Dye No. 4 is banned by the US Food and Drug Administration after it
is discovered that it causes tumors in the bladders of dogs, although the dye is still used in Canada, 1976
Tropical Storm Alpha forms in the Atlantic Basin, making the 2005 Atlantic Hurricane Season the most active Atlantic hurricane season on record with 22 named storms, 2005
A Panama Canal expansion proposal is approved by 77.8% of voters in a National referendum held in Panama, 2006
India launches its first unmanned lunar mission Chandrayaan-1, 2008