Happy Halloween

E.T. jack-o-lantern, compete with Reeses Pieces trail, by Girl-child.

Family History and History

I discovered a box of stuff from the Irish side of the family down in the basement today.

Among the newspaper clippings was a First Families of Ireland map from the Minneapolis Morning Tribune, March 17, 1953 (Minneapolis has a morning and an evening paper then, for those of you who don't remember)

A map of Minnesota pre-interstate highway system:

And my grandparents divorce documents from the 1920s, which has the address of the house my father was living in at the time (he was two). It's still there!

Craft Night at MIA

Minneapolis Instititue od Art sponsored a craft night for the Third Thursday event in October, so I went with Girl-child and her BFF

It was lots of fun

There were lots of people there.

Project tables were sponsored by Crafty Planet, I Like You, Art Scraps and one other that I cannot remember at the moment.

Old Clothes

I went to a vintage store the other day with a few things

1940s suit from Young Quinlan

Awesome faux jacket with (possibly) rabbit collar

wedding dress from 1954

smells excessively of moth balls

ARC, here I come. Again

Knitted Skeleton

Boy-child found this and asked if I could make it:

http://26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lt6hhqzYPw1r4j93ho1_500.jpg

I told him: Could, yes. Would, not.

Actually, I think it may be crocheted. At any rate, I offered to teach him how to knit so he could make one himself. Haven't heard back.

Random Tuesday

I found this on the sidewalk outside of Boy-child's high school the other day.

This is my souvenier yarn from Rapid City. A lot of people are bothered by the spelling of the color but I couldn't care less.

And who do you suppose has the rights to Frida's image that they sold to a brewery?

Autumn

Don't you love fall color?

and old buildings?

and when old and new coexist?

The (Un)Importance of Things

Last summer I had a student who mentioned that when he moved to Minnesota he noticed that people here found great importance in things. After having the garage sale, which required that I go through.a house full of things including a lot of my mother's things, I began (hopefully) to detach myself from it all.

Then I stumbled upon a photo Girl-child took at said garage sale and a flood of memories hit me. This was a box of little dolls that I kept over the years. The box was significant too; I had received a corsage from Michael McDonough for a dance I went to in ninth grade - he had written a note on it with good wishes. The brunette doll in the (formerly) white dress was a gift from my brother Joe; I remember how special I felt that he found something just for me. So everything, even the box, was significant. I took it to ARC after the sale. I suppose the photo hit me because I'd finally liberated myself from what was pictured.

Perhaps I mentioned that recently I helped a hoarder move. Or maybe I didn't mention it. But I did. And there was a lady at the garage sale who said, "my daughter better not ever get rid of my Barbie - I'd kill her!" She was obviously just like my mom; saddling her kids with the importance of every little thing. And yesterday, while volunteering at ARC, there was not enough space on the shelves for all the stuff.

It's easier to get rid of things every day.

A Clarification

Just taking a moment to clarify the comments of the previous post...

I will officially add to the pet peeves list that I do not like the image of librarian as cat lady. One of the librarians at the conference showed up first thing in the morning covered in pet hair. Mind you, this was coming fresh out of a hotel room. I understand how it is having pets and all, just please pack a lint brush.

In my defense, I would also like to point out that in my self-description in Blogger, I admit to wearing the cardigans and clogs, so I obviously do not reject all the librarian stereotypes. Smart, sassy and quirky are all ok, but dirty and social misfit not so much :-P

At the same time, a (non-librarian) person at the conference referred to us as, "The Diabolical Librarians" which, after the initial surprise, we all embraced enthusiastically.

Likes and Dislikes

I decided to put together a post of pet peeves, but decided that in the interest of balance, I will have to make a list of things I like too...

First, pet peeves:

• Theorists who have no concept of practical application
• Women who wear bras that fit so badly their breasts bulge out over the tops of their bra cups
• People who order excessively for lunch because someone else is paying, and then don't eat what they ordered
• Mothers who threaten their ill-behaved children non-stop on flights, making everyone's trip miserable
• Eighty degree days in October (it's unnatural)
• Acres of stockinette
• Waiting to hear if you got the job

Next, things that are awesome:

• Autumn colors
• Leaves that drift up around parked cars like snow
• Knit night
• Hand-knitted goods
• Leffe beer
• Criterion movies
• Blog comments
• Students who participate in class
• Clean sheets
• Piles of pillows
• Mealtime at a restaurant with one or both of my kids
• Yarn
• Books
• My (new) iPad

South Dakota Images

Another Hotel, Another Pile of Pillows

I'm I Rapid City without the cable to upload photos from my camera so the rest will come later in the week.

Happy Red Shoes

Some red shoes are great.

(happy shoes provided by Girl-child).

Red Shoes

Many years ago, when Boy-child was an infant, a friend of mine - someone I worked with and thought I knew well - committed suicide. Her name was Lori.

Not long after that, I was reading the book, Women Who Run With the Wolves. I was reading it while on vacation in Paris and I happened to see the movie "The Piano" while I was in the middle of the Bluebeard chapter of the book.

You know how sometimes things click in such a way that it creates a shift in your universe? That book and that movie at that time after that tragic event was just such a moment in my life.

As I continued to read the book, I began to see Lori and myself and every woman I had ever known in the archetypes described through the fairy tales. It was amazing.

Toward the end of the book I discovered The Red Shoes, which is a dark fairy tale I had not been familiar with before. It disturbed me deeply because I saw my mother in the story.

By now you're probably wondering where this is going. Well, I took my mother a new pair of slippers today. After marking them with her name and getting them on her feet I looked at her and said, "Look at your new red shoes!"