A definite benefit of working in a library is watching books come and go. Lots of times books coming in end up on my “to read” list. Sometimes, though, I’ll see a book coming back over the counter that instantly puts me back in time. Suddenly a faint memory will tug at the outer most reaches of my brain and I’ll recognize a favorite book from years ago. Most of them have been picture books my folks read to us over and over. For example, today I ran across Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey, copyrighted originally in 1948, the story of a mom and her daughter Sal picking blueberries on one side of the mountain while a mama bear and her cub were enjoying blueberries on the other side of the mountain. And then…jackpot! Someone turned in the Complete Poems of Winnie-the-Pooh by A. A. Miline. This book included two books I had as a kid and I’m pretty sure I still own; When We Were Very Young and Now We are Six. I immediately looked for my favorite poem, “Halfway Down the Stairs.” The book opened almost directly on that poem, must be it’s a favorite with youngsters even today. Or maybe their parents and grandparents are reading it! I’ll share it with you.
Halfway down the stairs
Is a stair
Where I sit
There isn’t any
Other stair
Quite like
It.
I’m not at the bottom,
I’m not at the top,
So this is the stair
Where
I always
Stop.
Halfway up the stairs
Isn’t up,
And isn’t down.
It isn’t in the nursery,
It isn’t in the town.
And all sorts of funny thoughts
Run round my head
It isn’t really
Anywhere!
It’s somewhere else
Instead!
This was my favorite poem, and I used to sit on a stair halfway up the stairs as a kid while I watched TV with the family, especially if we were watching something scary!
Today I think it describes me in other ways, working part time, halfway to a position as a librarian, still not quite there. Makes you think what funny thoughts are swirling around my head in these halfway times.
Listening to the lake sigh this evening as another perfect day winds down.
This morning I was looking at the calendar, checking to see when I need to be at work today. Katie was wandering around between my feet as usual, because…well…that’s what Katie does. Absentmindedly I picked her up while I studied my work schedule for next week. I shifted her in my arms and realized that she was staring intently at the picture attached to the calendar. Because of course my calendar would feature shelties. And she was very interested in the two representing September. I know that on occasion she will notice a dog on TV, but I mostly thought that was about the sound. But here she was very obviously studying the photo of two pretty shelties. It’s a cool calendar. A couple of months ago I thought the photo sort of looked like Ludo and Katie. 
We’ve had a series of really beautiful days, warm and sunny, makes a person (and a Sheltie) want to go camping again, even though all the camping equipment had been put away for the season. So on a whim I put up the little tent because it’s easier than the larger one to assemble. Of course this little tent doesn’t have a doggie window, and it’s too small to put my inflated mattress inside. So I dragged out a bunch of pillows and a couple of blankets and we settled in. The first night we made it until 6 a.m. when I woke up FREEZING cold. The temp outside was just under 50 degrees. I reached for my second blanket and found that it had been taken over by Katie who was curled up in a tiny little ball, her nose in her tail, sound asleep. I tried to go back to sleep but I was too cold, so I woke her up and we went inside. It was worth getting cold, though, because the stars at 6 a.m. were absolutely amazing.
