Summer

Summer means many things to many people. Right now for me it means that it is almost too hot to ride my motorcycle. Notice I said almost. Last Saturday when the thermometer said 101 as we rode through town, my husband and I put 150 miles on our bikes. I liken it to riding into a giant blow dryer. There is enough wind to dry the sweat but not to cool you off enough to keep from sweating. It's a unique experience. Even my husband who is what I would call one step below hard core considering his years of experience and the two tropical storms he has rode through, said "I'm not doing this again." I called him a wuss under my breath. Of course I didn't do it out loud because I'm not even on the bottom rung of the hard core ladder. I would do it again though. The main reason being that if I don't I may not get to ride again until next September. That is unacceptable. There are too many stessors in life to not be able to enjoy my main stress reliever.

Which brings me to the next thing summer means for librarians everywhere. Summer reading programs! Yes, they are stressful. Especially when you are in a single person branch and you have to deal with about 20 or more people wanting to check out at the same time. And you have to remember that most of these people can't see over the desk and are used to my undivided attention when they come into the library. They can't possibly understand that there are other library children in my life. Sometimes the preschool ones look at me like I'm cheating on them when I use my silly, fun voice on another child. It is very interesting. But for all the stress there is so much joy. Every library should be filled with children at least a few times a year if not every time it is open. It breathes life into it. And with that breath of life, it leaves behind a whirlwind of unshelved and misshelved books. Oh well! At least they are using the books. That's what will keep our doors open for years to come.

I leave you with a video from our program this week. We had a bagpiper. In an effort to stay with the artsy theme "Be Creative" this summer I invited local musicians to do a couple of programs. I tried to find instruments they may not have heard played live before. I definitely succeeded this time. Our piper was Zoe Brumfield from Forest. She did a beautiful job explaining the instrument and her garb and what it all means and how it works. The children and adults were all fascinated. It was a big hit. And that my friends is what it's all about.