Change Is Hard

…but change is certain.


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One last time?

So my grass is getting sort of green. My daffodils are up about 4 or 5 inches, some even have tiny little blossom buds on them. The birds are running around making nests, I’m starting to think about getting out the gardening stuff, planning the garden, looking for weeds.  You know, getting into the spring thing.

But they are predicting a big storm starting tonight. We’re supposed to get 4-6 inches of…dare I say it? SNOW!!! So it goes, springtime in Michigan. Doesn’t let a person get to complacent. Ever.

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This picture was taken April 13, 2008.  Hope what we have coming isn’t more than this, but I’m afraid it might be.


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Saturday at the library

It’s Saturday and the bad news was that I was stuck inside all day. The good news was that I was stuck inside all day at a library! Today seemed to be family day. Not every Saturday feels like that; a day filled with families that led me to my own memories of family and the libraries of my youth.

Lots of parents with their kids, and seemingly a lot of them were getting books to work on papers, or to read aloud. One set of sisters had two huge stacks of books. Their dad asked me, “Can they check out that many books?” The wonderful answer is “YES!” They were going on a road trip for spring break and wanted to make sure they had enough stuff to read. How great is that!  Sounded like me at their age.

Another mother had four or five books about sharks. I knew we had just received a brand new book with wonderful pictures of sharks, and even though the new book was over the reading level of the 8 year old that had to do the paper, she was thrilled to take it home.  I know her son will have a great time looking at the photos.  And there might be a bit of new information in there that he can tuck into that paper.  I don’t remember having to do papers when I was 8.  But that was so long ago I may have forgotten!

Another family came in, two kids, two parents, and sat down at our computers. Mom and Dad did email work while the kids played games. When they left they checked out a few family movies and some books to read aloud as well. Their experience just shows how multi-purpose today’s public libraries are.  In my day we took home books to read to each other, but there weren’t any movies to check out.  I am beginning to realize that it probably doesn’t matter if people check out movies, as long as they use our things to spend time together.  So this family will be watching movies together, where my family read together…it’s the together that matters.

An  older man was browsing in the DVD’s.  From behind he looked a lot like my Uncle R. who has been gone for over 15 years.  Even when he turned around he reminded me of my Uncle, one of the favorite people in my life when I was growing up.  Uncle R. was a big kidder, always had a joke, a laugh, a twinkle in his eye.  I smiled at my patron, the one who brought back all those memories, but he didn’t have a twinkle in his eye, in fact he seemed rather unhappy and abrupt.  Too bad.  But I still appreciated the moments remembering summer visits on the farm.  I wished my patron a good weekend, and he perked up a bit.  Maybe he just doesn’t have any adoring nieces at home!  That would certainly account for the grumpiness!

So it was a good day; and I brought some books home for me as well!  An added benefit of the work I do.

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Park! Got to go to the Park!!

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The weather gave us a break today, sunny, not so windy, highs in the 60’s. And I didn’t have to work! Can’t let an opportunity like this get by us, so Katie and I went to our small local park. It’s really just a couple of softball fields, a soccer field and some paths mowed in a big field with a couple of ponds sprinkled about, but it’s one of Katie’s favorite spots in the whole world. I like it because it’s close to home and still scenic.

In this picture Katie isn’t on her leash, but that was the only time I tried this.  She’s really good at sit and stay, and we were far far away from any cars.  But still…our trainers say the only time a dog should be off leash is when you’re 100% sure they are safe, and for Katie and me, that’s a good rule.  But I wanted a good portrait of her without the leash in the picture.  The rest of the time she was on one of two leashes I had with me.

There were lots of great things to sniff!

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We tried to do a self portrait of the two of us, but Katie wasn’t that into me and didn’t want to sit still.  After all we hadn’t been to the park all winter and there was SO MUCH to explore!  Silly Mom wanting to sit and take pictures!

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Eventually we made it down to the big pond where we explored around the edges.  We startled three gartner snakes.  Well, let’s tell the truth.  They startled us! Can you see the snake in the photo below?

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We also startled a frog into jumping into the pond with a big PLOP!  Katie is a big wimp, all bark, no action.  She jumped just about as high as the frog all the while backing up!

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We settled in for a bit  just watching the water.  The wind was blowing toward us, making little waves wash up on the shore.  It was very relaxing!

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What a wonderful time at the park!  Hope you all had a great day too!

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Happy Gotchya Day Katie!

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Two years ago today Katie picked us to be her roommates!  She was ten weeks old and already had an attitude!  She wasn’t afraid of anything or anyone; she played the part of a tough girl, but she turned out to be a sweetie.   When she wasn’t being a devil girl!

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Notice the weather we had that day!

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In fact we had a lot of pretty days that spring.

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And this is Katie today, on this fine “spring” morning!

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Happy “Gotchya Day” baby girl!  We’re glad you chose us.

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Not predicting spring.

I know I said weeks ago that I was done predicting spring. After all, it keeps getting cold and wet around here after a few days of teaser warmth. I’ve lived in Michigan all my life; you’d think I know this. But each year I find myself pulled into the excitement, think that winter is over, get all happy and such. And then it snows. Or freezing cold drizzle descends. Disappointed again.

So this year I declare myself free from the whole spring anticipation frenzy. Free to enjoy each day for what it is, whatever it is. Not going to look forward or become disappointed if things don’t go exactly right.  Not going to be sucked in again. Not this year. No siree. Not me.

Hey! Did you see that the goldfinches are turning gold? In little bits and splotches the male feathers are turning from drab green to bright yellow. Must be it’s finally spring! WAIT! I didn’t say that!

Darn. Sucked in again.  🙂

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Extraordinarily ordinary

Last night on “The Tonight” show Leno had as his first guest Condoleezza Rice, former Secretary of State. What a gracious and well spoken woman! Regardless of your politics you just had to respect how she voiced her opinions as well as her honesty when she said she didn’t miss her old job. At all. She likes waking up in the morning, reading the paper and “not having to do anything about anything I read.” Imagine that!

She’s planning on writing two books. Of course every Secretary of State writes a book after they leave office, so she’ll be working on that one. But when that’s finished she is going to write a book about her parents. She grew up in Birmingham AL and was friends with one of the three school girls that died in the 1963 church bombing. She said her parents didn’t make much money, but gave her every opportunity because they believed in education. I sort of teared up when she called them extraordinarily ordinary, because that’s the way I view my own parents. They didn’t make much money either, but they gave us the best they had, and they did the best they could. Wish everyone could have  an extraordinarily ordinary childhood!

I’m looking forward to reading the book about her parents.  Somehow I think it will be a lot like reading a book about my own.

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And music filled the evening

Last night I had the pleasure of attending a concert put on by the University of Michigan’s Department of Musical Theatre. It was a 25th anniversary concert, with past graduates, many of whom have gone on to Broadway in New York City, both attending and performing. They also featured the soon to be graduating class of 2009 and others currently in the school.

The concert consisted of bits and pieces of the many musical productions the department has staged over the past 25 years. The voices were strong and the supporting University Symphonic Band was wonderful. There were funny moments from comic theater and poignant moments as well. Like when a large group was singing “What I Did for Love” and I realized how significant the lyrics were to their lives; that they didn’t regret anything in order to do the thing they loved, preform wonderful music to adoring audiences.

The concert was long, three and a half hours, but you could tell those past and present students that sat in the audience between their own brief appearances on the stage didn’t want to leave. It was a giant homecoming for them, a homecoming of such talent as was hard to believe. And it was a joy for those of us privileged to be able to sit and listen,  to watch them glow.

Sometime during the evening it was said that the state of the arts is a good way to measure the state of humanity.  Last night humanity soared.