Whatever happens to strike my fancy, but surely some sort of fiber content.
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| Like The Queen Whatever happens to strike my fancy, but surely some sort of fiber content. |
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0 Comments:Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom] Wednesday, December 31, 2003 So. The Haile family is moving on. Still a tad haltingly, but at least in a forward direction. Two days back on the job helped. LD gets off work before I do and often drops by the library; first to hug his mom, then to find something interesting to read. He's always done this, wherever he lived. Well, I don't suppose he hugged the library director, but certainly was a regular at his local public library. He told me he never found a library as good as mine (smirk) - though Portsmouth VA was "pretty good" and the Saratoga Springs library was "okay". He's the sort of person that makes librarians swoon - a male who doesn't insist on owning everything he reads. A real statistic, to bring gladness to their hearts. You see - most library patrons are female. Most librarians are female. In fact, more and more administrative staff in government, especially local government, is female. Most elected government officials are male. It's the elected guys who allocate the $$. It's the civil service staff who beg for $$. The elected guys don't even use the services they're providing $ for. Oh, now and then I'll find one who, say, wants to borrow a book, but for the most part, men tell me "I like to buy my books". I can't imagine why, since few people read a book more than once, but that's just the way it is. While at least half the people in Barnes & Nobel are guys, probably only 20% of those same guys ever use the library. Why don't more men use libraries? It's a topic of discussion at more library meetings than you'd ever like to attend. I asked BD for his opinion and he says it's because they are such feminine institutions - like beauty parlors, or elementary schools. Who wants to go someplace where he'll run into his sister-in-law. And there are just too many little kids in libraries - almost like a day care. That's what he says. He is right about there being lots of women and children in libraries, though I'd venture to say there are no more women in the library than there are in B&N. And with public access internet computers, there are sure lots of teens. I can't figure it out - but I kept it in mind when we decorated the new building and tried to give it a sober look, since high tech just won't fit into this little colonial port town with no high tech industry and 4 lawyers for every engineer. It's very elegant, but it's sober. Well, it's not sober - it's masculine looking. And more men do come in now than ever set foot in the old cramped dark gloomy looking former school building we used to be in. But since LD grew up spending afternoons in the library, he thinks that's the normal pattern of life. And he doesn't buy books unless he wants to read them over and over. And he loves to come in, pull some magazine off the racks, and settle down in the reading area for an hour or two. He is the perfectly trained library patron. Wherever the navy sent him, after he got his apartment, he'd go get a library card. How did I get onto this topic? (Bess, the ENFP, scrolls back up) Oh yeah. Anyway, Monday he still had that tragic look in his eyes. Yesterday they were a little calmer, though still soft and seeking and vulnerable. Today we drive off to visit my folks in the city. We've always enjoyed each other's company and talk pretty freely about all sorts of things. And he doesn’t mind shopping - which is good, since I plan to buy one of those big boxes of glass beads at Michael's and some more fine gauge wire. I'm going to look for some 34 gauge since I've been knitting with 26 and it's a bit tough on my hands. I have a copy of Nancie Wiseman's Wire Knitting and I'm enthralled. I'm having visions of bracelets! Treasure chests full of knitted and strung jewelry. Mmmmm. We will probably stop by the bead shop too - if there's time. More fuel for my crafty passions. Last night was WW. I am 1/3 through the passage between reaching my goal and becoming a lifetime member. It's a 6 week journey during which you have 2 lbs. of wiggle room. So far I've only wiggled 1/2 a lb. and that, during the worst food frenzy week of the year. I did have the oyster stew and while I only used half 'n half instead of whipping cream, I also used whole milk. And the roast beef - and all those little liqueur filled chocolates - and the Spanish cheeses from BD's brother. I will really be glad when the eating opportunities get back to normal. We had planned a party and there is a rather large store of snack foods in the cabinet - I think they shall move over to LD's house this weekend. More sketches, hmmm? Well - I'll have to dig out the sketchbooks too. Thank you, Chelle, for the lovely compliment. I shall comply. posted by Bess | 6:51 AM |
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