The best seven months of my work life so far are the ones I’ve spent as a public librarian. Here are a few of my favorite moments librarying and some pictures of the reason I now describe myself as my library’s “Display Queen.” (Yes, I did use “library” as a verb. Thank you for noticing.) … Continue reading Great moments in librarying (yes, it’s a verb now), with illustrations
Category: lifestyle
2016 is in the rear-view mirror. Last night, we attended a New Year’s Eve party at a house we’ve been lucky enough to be invited to for the past several Dec. 31sts. The host (a guy about my age) remarked that, “We’re old enough that the people who influenced us are starting to die off.” The observation was … Continue reading Strange rites of passage and no bullshit: Welcome, 2017!
Last night, I had a work anxiety dream. I’d gotten a new job to which I was supposed to report virtually on my start date – it was a telecommuting setup. It was about 3:30 in the afternoon and I was happily thinking about June 23rd, my first day. Then I looked at a calendar … Continue reading A little post about a happy ending
So, it’s been a few months. I could make up a whole raft of reasons for the radio silence, but the truth is job-related. Last July, I was laid off from the job I loved, and not long after my last post in February, there were signs of a happy ending/soft landing. In a fit of … Continue reading Love, loss, hope and backup plans: Making now count
This holiday season, my sister got me a pair of socks that sprung a hole the first time I wore them and a pen my brother-in-law brought back from a trip to China whose individual components waged a civil war in my coat pocket. (The pieces are still in there.) She also got me a … Continue reading Reductio ad Essentialis:Diet time at The Landfill I Call Home
I will confess to not being terribly distressed to slam the door on 2015. Between the job layoff, sending my best non-human friend Tuki to the Rabbit Field in the Sky and my mother on a slow cruise to Dementia Island, it’s been – and continues to be – interesting times. Still, there have been … Continue reading New Business, Writer’s Block and Preventing Newborn Ignorance, One Baby at a Time
Dear Muslims who are terrified of being collateral damage because of yesterday and white men who are terrified of being collateral damage because of all the shootings and massacres. I do not think all of you are terrorists. Sincerely: Amy PS I still think all the legislators who are worshipping at the feet of Wayne LaPierre … Continue reading Dear Non-terrorist Muslims & White Men; Dear Impending Grandson: A pair of open letters
The house is so quiet. No one needs to go outside before we go to bed. There are no clacking feet in the middle of the night, the prelude to a trip down the stairs and outside into the dark. No one needs to go outside first thing in the morning. And no … Continue reading A bottle of wine and a cat: Surviving the first dogless days
Yesterday I reached the place where you decide that starting from scratch would be easier. Which was quickly followed by advice from the voice in my head. “You should have just burned the house down.” Then I thought about the logistics, and of saving my musical instruments (the dog and cat were already outside with … Continue reading Repo Week-Day 4: Burning Down the House would be easier
It doesn’t look different, but I’ve hauled about six bags of stuff out of the room, and am at a part where the sorting is getting hard. Or to paraphrase The Kinks, "I'm in a state of confusion." I want to get the floor emptied and the compact discs boxed and put with the rest … Continue reading Repo Week-Day 3: “State of Confusion”
the sentence factory 