Some Bits and Pieces While I Wait for Stories to Upload...

Life is quite hectic right now.  Summer Reading is in full swing at the library, which means we are busy, and my shifts, especially when on the Customer Service Desk, are often very hectic. 
We are getting new siding put on the house.  This was supposed to not happen until August, but the contractor had an opening pop up, so they plan to start next week.  Re-arranging budget allocations and cutting expenses so we can pay for it is very hectic.  It shall be done, but there will be sacrifices.  (I'll stop having my hair dyed at the salon, we'll give up our diet soda, stuff like that to keep some breathing room in the budget.)

Often I have planned to write something for this blog lately, only to find myself far too tired physically and emotionally to even begin to write.  So I sit and vegetate, or read, usually a fanfiction story, nothing substantial.  Brain can't handle that after a day of work in Summer.

There have been upsides.  I have learned to make a few new cocktails because the search for something to unwind me after work prompts me to take up my bar guide and experiment.
(Only once in a while.  Can't overdo things.  All things in Moderation.  Including Moderation.)

The fitness quest has been going very well.  I have gotten back below 140 pounds, in fact, I was down to 136.4 one day.  This and being able to walk farther and faster is helping keep me in a positive frame of mind.  The last two days, I have done a 3.2 mile walk in 44 minutes. That's a pretty good walking pace for a 55 year old lady who used to take 25 minutes to walk 3/4 of a mile!

There hasn't been a lot of poetry happening that I feel is finished or good enough to share lately.  Head's a big jumble right now, and the poetry reflects this.
Part of the jumble-ness is because we have lost a few really good people from work lately.  Our branch manager left for a great opportunity, my immediate boss has left, also for a good opportunity, but at least still in our library system, and one of my "library kids" is going to get a promotion and move to another branch.  Proud of her, extremely so, but sad for me because I'm gonna miss her.  I can handle change after all these years in library land, but not having people there day to day who made my job a joy is going to be difficult.  At least I'll still have Molly, Grace, Darrin and of course, Julie.  Wouldn't know what to do with myself without Jules.  She trained me, she's a good friend, and she keeps us all hopping.  She is also "Julie all-knowing and all-wise."  There's nothing about running Circulation that she doesn't know.

I have to call my Mom, and I keep forgetting to do so during the hours she would actually be able to spend a few minutes talking.  She's in the same time zone, but I have to work around her meal and sleep schedule, and my own commitments here.  I'm a bad daughter.  (But hey, I called her every single day for years, and I called her from Germany whenever I could.  I  also lived at home until I was 24, so Mom and I have had LOTS of together time during my life.  And I had her all to myself for most of my childhood.  The other kids were a lot older when I came along. )

There were three stories I was going to read tonight, but the second one was so long, and it still isn't done processing, so I only recorded two.  I'll be posting links to them in a separate blog post in few minutes.

We have a couple of fun things scheduled this weekend.  Matt and I are going to SoonerCon on Saturday.  It's a local fan-run convention and is being held in MidWest City this year.  We're going to watch the screening of Star Trek Continues, and hope to see one of our Twitter correspondents while we are there.  I also hope to score some more lanyard flair.  We'll see.
Sunday we are going with friends to see Inside Out at the Moore Warren.  We have  balcony seats.  It's gonna be WONDERFUL.  The Warren always is.  Love that we have such a great theater right here in Moore.  I can see it across the highway from the library parking lot when I go out to get the last bookdrop load on Thursday nights.  A sparkling, neon- trimmed oasis in the twilight gloom.

Must go.  The second video I recorded is almost done processing.  Will be ready by the time I get that post ready to link. 
Sorry for the dearth of good observations or poems, or wit lately.  I'll try harder.  No promises, though, it IS Summer Reading season!

A Little Library Tour in Two Parts

Just for my friends far away:  I made a couple of short videos at work tonight, so you can see where I work.  Sorry they were a bit noisy for having been made in a library, but Zumba class was underway, and also we had an unhappy kiddo in the Children's area at the time.

Here's the lobby, by the meeting rooms, and coming into the library:

Coming In To The Library Through the Lobby


There is also a little video to show you how our automated book drop works, even though we were pretty caught up tonight and didn't have many books to put through it.  Also shows the Circulation work area where I work when I am not out at the Customer Service Desk.

Automated book return and Circulation Work Area

I hope you enjoyed the little peek at the library where I work.  I really love my library.  It's a fun place to be, a happy place.  I hope your library is a fun and happy place to be, too.

Just Playing With Words

Rain
CKArmistead
May 2015

It fell first in drops,
Then in streaks,
Then sheets,
Then torrents,
And then a continuous
Deluge,
As if someone were
Spraying the world
With a giant fire hose.
I wish it would stop,
For the ground is squishy,
The plants are looking sickly,
There are mosquitoes everywhere,
Though for years we prayed for rain,
It occurs to me that
There CAN be too much
Of a good thing.

Rambling Thoughts
June 2015

I may wish I still looked young
But I know I don't.
So I leave my photos alone.
I put that saggy neck and those crepe-y arms out there
For the world to see.
Soon, I'll let my hair go gray
And find out how that will be.
On the inside
I am still the geeky fangirl
I was in my teens.
Maybe a bit more mature,
But still silly sometimes.
The older I get
The more I learn
That what's on the outside
Isn't who I am,
Except for the sparkle in my eye,
The dimples in my smile,
Put there by the brightness
In my heart.
Part of me has always felt older than my years
I feel like the rest of me is finally catching up.
There are times I feel I've heard an ancient song
Playing down the years
That nobody around me hears.
Places in my heart that bagpipes speak to,
When I've never been to Scotland,
Visions of mountains and lochs
That my eyes have never seen.
Fiddle tunes and banjo pickings
That stir my heart and set my feet to tapping.
When I have spent little time
In those places that my family lived
In this country.
Transplanted to California,
When the family was all from the South,
And the Appalachians.
Still, mariachis and flamenco guitar
Make me happy
Because they are the sounds I heard often
In my environment in my youth.
As well as Gospel songs,
Motown music,
And playground clapping chants.
Life has been so rich, so full of laughter, music, and friends
I've had the love of a good man
For many years now
We've seen good times and bad,
Been separated by thousands of miles
But still close
In our hearts. 
He's taught me to trust myself
Taken me to live in a foreign land
Vexed me something awful,
Made me laugh,
And loved me even when I was being completely unlovable.
Wherever my mind rambles,
It always wanders back to him.
My knight in smelly flightsuit,
My loadmaster,
My Matthew.

Summer
June 2015

Sticky, mosquito laden air
Makes me glad I cut off my hair
Busy, child filled library days
Make me glad I keep in shape
But the sun is so very welcome
After all the rain
Calm weather
After all the storms of May
In Oklahoma,
We are always glad to see the end of May
Too many sad anniversary days
Come around in May.
June is usually hot and dry
And that  is a blessing this year
That we are thankful for.