A belated poetry friday for Stella...

and her parents. I found this poem today and thought of you and your new family.

And so you arrive,
ancient-faced houseguest,
like some relative out of a sepia-toned photograph,
surrounded by a thousand pounds
of duffel bags and steamer trunks,
the contents spilling loose down our front steps.

Read the entire poem by David Harris Ebenbach here.

Wobbly Walkers

My first program for the under two set was a success. The parents were all really great and despite my nervousness about singing everything went well. The only song I absolutely cannot sing is You Are My Sunshine. I had to sort of whisper along to it and let the parents do that one because I just can't hit the notes at all. I mean I butcher it to the point where it is not ever recognizable. If I ever have children that is one song I will not be singing to them!

If my camera were charged...

I'd post a picture of the hamentashen I made this weekend. But since the camera is out of commission you will just have to take my word for it that they were not only yummy but also pretty nice looking. I made half of them with poppy seed filling and half with nutella. Poppyseed being traditional and nutella being a delicious variation I picked up from the children's librarian at my old job. Poor Emerson sat by the oven wagging his tail the whole time they were baking and looked very dejected when he realized he wasn't going to get any yummy people food from me. Sorry Em, but they are mine...all mine!

Guess what, I'm real!

So yesterday I'm cleaning up the children's section right before closing when one of my darling story-time kids comes up to me.

Girl: Are going home now?
Me: Yep, the library is closing and I'm going home.
Girl: You're going home just like a real person. Wow.

So is it spring now?

When I left for Florida last week for Erin's wedding it was cold and then we came back to DC on Monday to flowers and sunshine. Is that here to stay? I'm sick of winter. Maybe that's because it was bright and sunny and like 90 degrees in Miami. I loved it. It's funny, every time we visit Miami Josh hates the heat and humidity and I relish it. Though it does make my hair a lot more frizzy!

Oh and the wedding was lovely. Everyone was walking around saying "oh this is so Erin" about the colors and the flowers. The bride looked beautiful. Just beautiful. And the music rocked! Now its back to the real world of planning story times and running around to meetings and filing taxes. I start an under 2 program next week that I feel totally unprepared for. Ugh, I hate the idea of just singing to parents while the babies crawl around. But oh well, the demand is there. My program is already full.

It's hard to cuddle up with a computer screen but...

I'm kind of facinated by digital libraries so this looks really cool to me.

What I'm reading this week....

Why is it that authors feel the need to state that their characters don't like the site of blood. As in "She couldn't stand the sight of blood, especially her own." Um, shouldn't that go without saying? Now if she loved the sight of blood, that would be something to write about maybe. That might be unusual. But not caring so much for the site of your own blood outside of your veins...not a shocker!

Ok, that said, I just finished City of Bones by Cassandra Clare and I want someone else to read it now so we can discuss. I've been reading some mixed reviews, with some valid points, but overall I liked this one. Clary Fray is living an ordinary existance when she witnesses three teenagers killing a demon and is drawn into the supernatural world of the Shadowhunters, rune tattooed warriors who hunt down demons . Soon it's clear that Clary is not so ordinary after all. Imagine Harry Potter and Star Wars all mashed up together in a good way and you have City of Bones. There is the dreaded mention of disliking the sight of blood which made me afraid Clary would end up being Bella-ish. Then there was the begining of a Jacob/Edward feud and I'm thinking uh oh, this is going to be Twilight all over again. But the book redeemed itself by the end. This is only book one, so we'll see, but so far Clary seems rather smart. (Well, she should have figured out who her father is MUCH sooner, but I'll let that slide.) In fact I found most of the characters really appealing which is why I didn't mind that the plot seemed to borrow heavily from other stories. I'm looking forward to the next book.