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Brad's Blog

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July 1

    Today I thinned the main crop of carrots.  With a large garden it's best to keep plugging away at something every day.  I'll have to pick strawberries tomorrow, but there are thunderstorms tonight with a fair amount of rain, so I think it will be later in the day when the picking will be enjoyable.  
    The thunderstorm is fairly rare around here, which is good since they frequently start forest fires.  At this time of year things are still so green that the fire danger is reduced.  Since the 4th is a time people around here let off large high flying fireworks, it's always best to have a good rain to make sure things are damp when that craziness gets going.
    For the Fourth I've usually done something silly for the parade, but this year I've been asked to be part of a library thing, riding my riding lawnmower with a couple girls leading with a banner, and having a banner about the summer reading program on the back of the mower, while I'm dressed as a bug.  So no more sillyness for me :-)
    Now that I'm settling in as a children's librarian, I've begun to wonder what my (and the library's) purpose really is.  It does promote literacy, but schools hopefully do that better.  I wanted to pass on the wonder of great children's literature, which is an end in itself, but I have no doubt a love of reading can be helpful in all life's endeavors.  I am seeing, and have participated in, libraries trying to keep up with the times, offering music, videos, and computer access to keep people coming in the door.   Amazon.com is pushing a new book reading screen called Kindle which makes getting the text of a book as easy as clicking a couple buttons.  If it doesn't succeed in toppling paper books, one of its successors will.  This will leave libraries for the poor and the Luddites (technology resisters).     
    Although some efforts are made to have book discussions, and other interest groups in the libraries,  reading is mostly an individual activity, and I've observed little interaction between patrons in the library.  Most people don't go there to be sociable, but to pursue whatever interest they came for.  So I'm always surprised to find strong community support for the library, such as the recent building of a new large showpiece library in Coeur D'Alene.
    I do think, for smart people, the library represents a life line, a connection to the collective wisdom of our civilization, at a price anyone can afford.
   
July 2
    It heated right up again after the storm (1/2 inch to help keep Idaho green), so I went swimming in the brief break between lunch and starting at the library.  The storm threw an identity crisis onto some new Internet computers at the library, from a power outage, so that they exchanged identities.  This wasn't too hard, since Station 1 and 2 share a central processor, but I was lucky to stumble on a way to fix them, by disconnecting the keyboards and switching them, so the keyboards matched up with their new Station 2 and Station 1 identities.  As our library leaders said a couple weeks ago, it's important to remember when dealing with computers that there is magic involved...

July 3
    Sales are heating up close to the 4th.  Usually, if you were to chart sales through the month of summer, it would resemble a big heartbeat, with the primary push at the 4th of July, and the second part of the beat peaking the first week in August.  It'll be nice to sort of have the day off tomorrow.   As usual, I plan to be in the parade, but representing the library instead of the pottery.  And I may or may not play music in the park, depending on whether the music people think it's a good idea.  And some relatives are coming for breakfast, and there are still a lot of strawberries to pick.  Could be worse...

July 4

    Turns out there was just a disc jockey at the park, playing patriotic songs and old country ones.  So I stayed with the library booth. and could often quickly locate the key they were playing in and play along with them, when I wasn't doing songs with little children or reading a story.  In the parade I had 4 young people, so someone else carried the 10 foot high banner I was going to try to carry on my bike, so I bicycled behind the children and played harmonica.  The weather today was the epitome of balminess, if you were wearing shorts...
    The photo today is how the flower garden is looking these days, with the peonies and irises just finishing, and the lilies looking good.

Books read and media of note:  CD Stay a While  Jody Stecher and Kate Brislin.   My favorite voices in Old Time music, with enchanting instrumental work as well.  Stecher's best work was probably Going up on the Mountain,  but all of his CD's are enjoyable.

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