Libraries

Our local library closed the other day as they are tearing it down and building a new (bigger and better) one. There are 27 libraries in my county (all part of the same system). My local library has the 7th largest circulation but was one of the smallest. I am thrilled over the plans for the new library (which will actually be part of a town center...with Head Start and senior programs housed in the same building).

I just don't want to wait for a year and a half! Not only will the new one not be there, but my old one is now gone too. My library was so close to my house that my girls could ride their bikes there and it was located such that we often were passing by it on our way to or from somewhere else, which made "stopping by for a few minutes" very easy to do. I love libraries. I remember when I was 5th and 6th grade in living in Nebraska. I got a new bike for my birthday in May and I spent my summer riding to the library and picking out Nancy Drew books. I've always loved reading and never had a lot of spending money, so the idea that you could borrow books FOR FREE!!! was amazing and wonderful to me. I still feel that way. I love going to new libraries and exploring them. I so relate to the scene in "Beauty and the Beast" where Belle walks into the Beast's library and seems overwhelmed. In my dreams, I have a room just like that!! Books are wonderful and libraries are awesome providing them for free. During the summer I've taken my girls on library field trips as we've gone to visit other libraries in the county. They love going to the one in down-town Tampa which is in a 3 story building. The Imp and I hang out in a different library when the Singer has piano lessons and we've camped out in various other libraries when we have to travel to other parts of the county for various activities and end up with that 1/2 hour or hour of "dead time" (can't go home from school first...not enough time but going straight to the activity gets you there ahead of time). When the girls were little, I'd take them to story time and the puppet shows and the yo-yo man, etc that the library would host. Getting a library card was a right of passage in this house. At age 5, I allowed the girls to get their own card. We made it a huge production, discussing the responsibilities of taking care of books, knowing where they were and returning them on time. They were both so proud when they first got their cards. Until recently (when their extracurricular activities keep them so busy) we would stop at our local library at least once a week...just because. The girls often used that time to get books related to school work as well, but primarily it was for fun. For 2 years, I drove another girl home from school. I don't think she'd ever been in a library before carpooling with us. I took her with us when we'd stop after school. When I taught in middle school, I was amazed at how many students didn't have a library card. It was one of the things I brought up at parent-teacher conferences and sent home in my beginning of the year information (How to help your child succeed? Read. Free reading materials available at your local library, just get a card). I have 3 books on hold ready for pick-up. They're at my temporary library. So I'm off to the library tonight. Bringing the girls so they can acclimate themselves to our library for the next year or so.

Physics Horrors

The Singer has been working on a Physics group project at our house for a few months now. As the group is made up of 4 "A" students all taking Honors Physics, I figured I didn't need to provide much assistance (I provided refreshments and taught them how to use a drill and electric saw). I am shaking my head in disbelief at the calamity of the entire situation. The assignment was to build a contraption that had parts which set the next part in motion. For example, pop a balloon that has marbles in it. The popping of the balloon releases the marbles that then run down a track, fall into a cup and cause a lever to release a pendulum that swings and at the top of the arc of the swing it knocks over a stick attached to string the releases a cd to roll on a track that hits dominoes that fall into another cup that raises a flag. Lots of physics involved (the track has to have enough grade so the marbles continue rolling, dominoes need to be placed so even going up steps there will be enough force to continue to knock down the next domino and so on). Well...they really approached the whole thing haphazardly. Saturday and Sunday had the group working at our house for 6+ hours both days. Saturday had the Singer knocking a sawhorse over on her naked toe (I don't know why she wasn't wearing tennis shoes while working with power tools, but....). I really thought the toe was broken, but simply bandaged it up and told her we'd deal with it later. Sunday before the crew arrived, I took her to a walk-in-clinic. No broken bones, but the doctor did drill a small hole in her toenail to release the pressure from the blood so she wouldn't lose her toenail (it also made the pain more bearable). Sunday night at 8 PM I threw everyone out of the garage. The project still wasn't working, but I was assured it only needed a little "tweaking" to work. So one other girl came over Monday after school so she and the Singer could do that "tweaking". Well, after 4 more hours of work, it still wasn't working. The project was due today. Time was running out. So on Tuesday and Wednesday the Singer worked (about 5 hours each afternoon) fixing the project so it would work. I got to assist (some things needed 2 people to accomplish--a holder and a fixer). I kept making comments like "How did you think that was going to work...it doesn't make sense from a physics point of view...Did you even think about laws of physics while working on this?" The Singer was ready to kill me by the end. She kept telling me "Mom, we were just trying to get it to work." Like that excused their lack of logical thinking. Yesterday, I encouraged the Singer to re-read the directions to make sure everything was done to specifications. Low and behold, a table they had built stuck out beyond the acceptable size limit! Any item that was out of the limit would be disqualified (each working item earned points). Again...how do A students end up with something like that? I am still amazed that these 4 people do as well as they do in school, they seem to have very little common sense from where I'm standing. So the Singer had to dismantle the table (and the entire domino set up on top of it) and rebuild it and then adjust the item before and after the dominoes so everything still worked. We loaded the project into the van about 10 o'clock last night. We dropped it off this morning and we are so glad it's done!! The entire family!
I arrived back home from SC Friday afternoon, so the physics project has dominated the household since then, except for Friday night. We went to see "Wicked", the musical telling the story of the 2 witches from the Wizard of Oz before Dorothy came. The musical score is outstanding and we've had the soundtrack for quite a while, but the 2 actresses playing Galinda and Elphaba were phenomenal!!! They were the characters. Galinda is a flighty, over-the-top cheerleader type, and she played it sooo well. The costumes were spectacular. The whole thing was simply an indescribable event. And what made it even better was watching the Imp and the Singer's reactions. They were enthralled!! The tickets were the big Christmas gift to the family this year. We all wanted to return the next night to see it again. Alas, that wasn't possible! We hope it returns next year!
I enjoyed my trip to SC tremendously. John was able to converse better than at Christmas due to new meds. So we had lots of time talking and laughing. Illness makes many people uneasy, and some illnesses do effect the personality of a person, but spending time with John now is just like spending time with him before he got ill, only now he sits still instead of constantly doing things. He has always been a clown of sorts and has always had a great sense of humor. He still does! While it is heart-breaking to watch his physical body become paralyzed bit by bit, it is still just as much fun spending time with him as it always was.