I sat by the river this morning.

The water was like glass.  Still.  A refection of the life around it.

A gaggle of Canadian geese grazed quietly. 

Were those the babies already grown or just the yearlings still afraid to leave home?

Who can tell?  It’s easier to tell with humans – maybe.

Perhaps it is easier to tell with geese if one is a goose.

Birdsong.

There was nothing else.

Not even traffic.

There is something restorative in that quiet.

Maybe that’s what my tears were -

my sobs -

restorative.

Maybe.

My reflection was in that river life too.

And my tears.

I got a phone call today….”Hi!  This is RM, you know J’s daughter.  It’s me!  I am the House of Representatives.  I didn’t mean to freak you out and make you think you were being stalked.  I like your blog and read it sometimes when things are slow or there is a completely crazed citizen on the phone.”  Oh.  OK.  Cool.  Nifty.  Come back anytime.

Thanks for the call.  I feel much better!

It’s not that I haven’t been writing.  I have. 

It’s not that I haven’t been reading.  I have.

I just haven’t been putting any of it in here.

Why?

Because the U.S. House of Representatives appears to be a regular visitor these days and I would love to know why.

If you guys want to know how I am going to vote I won’t tell you because it is the one illusion of secrecy and privacy I maintain.

Seriously – any one is free to ask me anything and I will answer or not as I see fit but these under the radar visits are flat ass annoying.

I’m a librarian for heaven’s sake.

I know we are the adamant upholders of the First Amendment but all that means is that we have McCain’s book AND Obama’s books AND Clinton’s book.  We got ‘em all, my friends because that is what the First Amendment means.  I don’t tell you what to read or think and you don’t tell me.  Somehow, with enough information we figure it out.  That’s what libraries are for – gathering information.  You may ask for help and you should get it and no one should ever tell anyone what you’ve asked or what you’ve read.  That’s the beauty of a free society – you get to know.

Hmmmm.  Could it be that this particular diatribe is why I get unannounced company?  So be it then.  It’s what I believe and I am allowed to believe it in this United States of America.

I’ll be back with regularly scheduled programming in June.  Just had to get this nonsense off my chest and decide that I really didn’t care why the good folks in D.C. are hanging out on my planet.  You’re all welcome here.

And so it goes.

I love alphabet books.  I haven’t always loved alphabet books because for the longest time they were rather pedestrian and boring.  The book that really started my passion for alphabet books was Chris Van Allsburg’s The Z Was Zapped.  I was teaching pre-school at the time and we had so much fun learning the alphabet to Van Allsburg’s surrealist and really rather macabre illustrations.  There was a video that went with it and it became a favorite as well. I tend to introduce the less that typical alphabet books – which I am sure comes as enormous shock to my faithful readers – so among my personal favorites is Mordecai Gerstein’s The Absolutely Awful Alphabet Book which is just so much fun to read aloud that I find any excuse to do it.  “D” is a dreadfully dangerous, drooling DEMON and “S” is a slimy, spineless SLOB who sneers.  It is grand, grand fun because I get to make weird faces and even weirder noises.  A new alphabet book sits on the desk now and it will join the ranks of my favorites.

Neil Gaiman (Yup!  The author of the acclaimed Sandman series.) and Gris Grimly (who has done some pretty nifty illustrations) have teamed up to create The Dangerous Alphabet which is, of all things a horror story.  It is a “…tale of adventure, piracy, danger and heroism told in twenty-six alphabetical lines…”  And for once, someone had the good sense to put the alphabet in the correct order.  Oh yes, this one is a favorite.  P.S.  The gazelle is pretty cool too.

And so it goes.

Honestly, I am too geeky for words.  Who would have thought that a five page paper for a high school sophomore English class would drive me to distraction.  Granted, it’s been a very long time since I have had to worry about transitions or actually paying attention to a thesis statement but jeezum crow, I am such a dork.  Twelve articles, one book of criticism in my hand and another three on order and only five pages.  And here’s the best part — I am having FUN!  Really – next to geek in the dictionary – my picture.  Not kidding.  Look it up.

And so it goes.