Throw back weekend

I love summer simply because your free time is your own time and no one else's. No demands of sports, homework help, after school meetings, or work headaches (aside from the normal ones who might walk in the door).I am always searching for new experiences that are low cost on the weekends. I combed the Live section of the Sun..cover story was about the Baltimore Theater Project who were presenting a theater production with vegetable animals and people. At least I think that was what it was. i just could not wrap my head around this..do they use the veggies as puppets and move them with their hands? Is it a film? I knew this would be a hard sell on Maddie (hey, want to go watch vegetables in a ....uh.....production....?). Okay. No. Not many theaters are active in the summer, so I moved onto movies. We have been wanting to go to Benji's Drive In in Middle River forever and here was a great opportunity. The evening was an unusual cool one..perfect for a drive in.
Benji's drive in has been in existence since the 1950's, but some things have changed. Obviously, the speakers you used to hook onto your car no longer exist (but the poles are still there). The film quality is digital-not like those old reels we used to watch. But I think what has changed is the rules. I understand the need to set some boundaries to ensure the quality of your experience. But Benji's takes this to a new level. here is what we experienced in the first 10 minutes of arriving:

Box Office: How many?
Me: 2 of us.
BO: That is 18.00. Only cash, No credit cards.
Me: Okay.
BO: you have to turn off your lights.
Me: They are running lights. They are always on.
BO: We only allow yellow running lights. You need to turn off your car. press your foot on the parking break until it clicks once. then turn on your engine and continue to drive to your location with your brakes on.
Me: You want me to drive with my foot on the brake???
BO: No. you leave your parking break on until u park. Don't get out of your car. Don't walk back to the box office. Do you have any outside food? If you do, there are restrictions. You have to pay 10.00.
We inch forward. More signs with rules.
We are approached by another worker.
Worker: Welcome to benji's. You need to park in designated areas with yellow poles only or Row 10 or behind Benji's if there is room. (I never caught any of that).

We find our space with a yellow pole. We are asked to re=park the car..to squeeze another car in between 2 poles.
We go to the snack bar. One line for express. One for regular food. No eating your popcorn in line as you wait to pay. no butter allowed on personal food. no smoking 15 feet from snack bar....
Once the movie starts, the owner comes on 20 minutes before the film to share the house rules.
I counted 48 rules.
So, if you can follow house rules, you will enjoy yourself....

Saturday, my mother bought 5.00 tickets for us to see fluid movement perform at Druid Hill Park. They are an artistic synchronized swimming group of men and women all sixes, shapes, and ages. With a very low budget. They performed Moby Dick. They do take sychronization very seriously, despite the silliness of the costumes and production. Worth every penny...and perhaps entertaining the idea of joining them. They have lots of fun. They put Esther Williams to shame.

Time to top off the weekend with some Real Housewives and Princesses of Long island.

incidents reported

Yep..its summer at the library....

Several months ago, a man told me that he had lost his iPhone in the library. He could not, however, give a description or a color and was very vague about when he might have lost it. I told him I did not have an iPhone in Lost & Found, but he could leave his name and number and if it was turned in, I would phone him. He declined to give me any information. This morning, a man came in that I believe was the same man as before. This time he told me that he lost an iPhone, iPod, gold bracelet, gold ring and an iPad. I told him that I had none of those items in Lost & Found. Again, he was very vague and could not tell me when he thought he may have left this bounty of items here or a description of the items. I told him that he could call the police and make a report or leave his name and number with me. He declined to do either of those things. I believe this man is clearly "shopping" in the branch in the hopes that our Lost & Found will have some/all of the items and that we would simply hand them over



At approximately 12:55pm, Sandy pulled me aside to tell me about an issue a patron had just reported to her. The patron, was working on PC#19 when he noticed that the man seated next to him on PC#20 was "looking at young girls" on the computer and moving his hand under the table in a way that suggested he was engaging in masturbation.

I approached the patron in question at #20, noticing that he was on YouTube but was now quickly shutting down his browser upon my appearance. One of his hands was below the desk but it was not clear if he was actually masturbating at that point. I told the patron that I had received reports that he was engaging in inappropriate activity at the computer. Appearing flustered and with a shaky voice, he denied the claim, saying he was just "doing Internet stuff." I then informed him that engaging in such activities would result in him being asked to leave the library. He acknowledged my comment but then quickly exited his computer session and left the building on the parking lot side before we could speak with him any further.


At about 11:45 Circulation Staffers observed an adult male patron at PC 24 filming the woman on PC 23 next to him. They saw him casually posture his phone against his face and then move the phone down her body. When the woman walked to the APM he turned the phone so he could film her moving.

At this point M. reported to me what she had seen. We quickly retrieved the PZ he used to log on to the computer, but were unable to get the woman's information since she had already logged off SAM. I called 911 to report the man's behavior and an Officer was dispatched to the branch.

M. approached the woman to let her know what she witnessed and got her name and phone number. While I was talking to the Officer outside Circulation Supervisor She reported that the man had just gotten into his car. P. was not able to note his complete tag number because the plate was dirty and a frame covered some of the plate. She did say that it appeared to be a newer silver VW. M. was able to positively identify the man using the name he logged on to SAM compared to his MVA information that Officer Teare showed her.

Officer Teare said that he would also speak to the patron, but that it was not illegal to film anyone unless it was under a door, etc. He agreed with staff that the patron's actions were unsettling and he thanked us for calling him.

meanwhile, at your local library...

Ah, the woes of leasing property to have a library. We have been housed in this location for 20 years and without problems. We had an absentee landlord who puts minimal effort into commercial properties and as you can see from the pic, we have paid the price.

Perhaps the biggest issue is our roof, which is flat and, I know this is surprizing, prone to leak. Finally, after dealing with leaks and damaged books for 18 years, they finally contracted a new roof in December of 2011. Pic says it all...we had torrential rains during the project and we lost 80 percent of ceiling tiles due to water pouring into the building. We had to close to 2 weeks. And to add insult to injury, a staff member reported the problem to Maryland Occupational and Safety Admin. Have to say, that might have been the closest I have come to retiring.
So here we are, 18 months alter and the rent for the next 6 months is due (we pay 6 months in advance). landlord's attorney has accused the county of not paying and plans to start the eviction process today. Now the county may do alot of questionable things, but rent payments is not one of them. However, this does beg the question..."how does one evict a library?" Throw all the books out on the sidewalk? Remove shelving? Good luck with that....
In any case, stay tuned....lease is still not signed. i may be looking for a basement to operate out of.

Summer reading!

My apologies to my loyal followers-all 6 of you! I have been so busy and not made many visits to my blog.
I HAVE been doing alot of reading however, and thought it would be the a good time to make some recommendations (as I have done before long ago). After all, that is what I do all day.....
Some of these titles I am currently reading, have read, or have it on my list to read this summer. I hope you enjoy. I have a much larger list on www.goodreads.com it is a great resource to locate good books....when you are not reading my blog, of course...

1. Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward:
This was a freebie and available through the library website for Kindle downloads, so I downloaded it. What an incredible find!
A beautifully written story involving a poverty stricken family living on the Mississippi coast spoken from the point of view of the 14 year old girl in the family after the loss their mother. The elements of the story make it compelling..it is just a few days before Hurricane Katrina is about the hit the coast, but the story is about everyday life..pit bull fighting, teen pregnancy,limited food funds, and living without their mother.
The author's prose is detailed, eloquent,colorful, and at times, somewhat disturbing, but these qualities transforms you to their world.
The author won a National Book Award for this..and I understand why.

2.The Dinner by Herman Koch
have you read Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn? If you haven't, IT IS A MUST BEACH READ! This title is has the same flavor..full of disfunctional people with many issues. The story takes place at a dinner one evening and as it goes on, more insanity is revealed. it is my kind of book..love to read about characters that are on the edge of evil and insanity.

3.Still Missing by Chevy Stevens
Here another genre I enjoy: abductions.
The book blurb spells it out: a young realtor abducted from an open house, held captive by a psychopath for over a year, her journey of recovery. Partly told as sessions with her shrink, how she dealt with the trauma of her captivity hooked me more than the actual abduction story. Escaping was one thing, getting her life back another. “Maybe I should put up my own flyers: Still Missing”
She was her first novel and she has a new one coming out shortly called "Always Watching".

4. Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman.
Out book club just read this and was well liked by most of the group. It is a story of a young couple (Tom and Isabel) who tend a lighthouse 100 miles off the coast of Australia on the island of Janus Rock. One afternoon, 3 weeks after Isabel's 3 miscarriage, a boat washes up to shore with a dead man and his very much alive baby of 2 months. And of course, Isabel sees this as a gift from God..bringing her a baby, which they keep and pass off as their own. As you can guess, it can't end well.

5. Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight.
I read reviews of this and am currently reading and can't put it down. Amelia is a 15 year old attending a private boarding school and her mother, a lawyer in Manhattan, receives a call that she has been suspended and she has to come immediately and pick her up. In the time it takes her to get to the school, Amelia (model student, well liked, field hockey player..actually a lot like Maddie) has allegedly jumped off a roof and killed herself. Or did she?
The story centers around her mother reconstructing her daughter's life through the only means she has...email, text messaging, and social media, to find out what really happened.

6.Ma, he Sold me for a few Cigarettes by Martha Long.
After my great visit to Dublin, I have been looking for a good memoir to read-and this one looks like it will fit the bill. Reviews have been stellar:
Born a bastard to a teenage mother in the slums of 1950s Dublin, Martha has to be a fighter from the very start.
As her mother moves from man to man, and more children follow, they live hand-to-mouth in squalid, freezing tenements, clothed in rags and forced to beg for food. But just when it seems things can't get any worse, her mother meets Jackser.
Despite her trials, Martha is a child with an irrepressible spirit and a wit beyond her years. She tells the story of her early life without an ounce of self-pity and manages to recreate a lost era in which the shadow of the Catholic Church loomed large and if you didn't work, you didn't eat.
Martha never stops believing she is worth more than the hand she has been dealt, and her remarkable voice will remain with you long after you've finished the last line.

7. Under the Dome by Stephen King
All I can say is that I am sucked into the TV series and now MUST read the book. Will I fit it into the summer? Not likely...it is 1150 pages. Jesus Stephen..can't you break it into a trilogy???

Happy Reading!!!!

July 1!

How can it be July 1 already?? The good news is that it is the height of fresh veggies and fruits. The down side is summer is moving too quickly. But closer to football season..such a ying/yang-
I went swimming at the Big Vanilla pool this morning and had some major flashbacks growing up in Bay Ridge in Annapolis. That was during the time where you could rent a 4 bedroom house on the bay for 150.00 a month. Granted, it was a bit primitive-no A/C, questionable septic system, but who cared-we lived at the beach and the Bay Ridge pool.
Which brought me to my memories. Being a family of 6 and living on limited funds-life involved what was free or low cost. The Bay Ridge pool was about a 1/2 mile walk from our house (barefoot of course) and required pool passes. There was always two major obstacles to overcome when we spent sun up to sun down at the pool-getting in for free was one of them. We scoped out holes in the fencing first-that was successful alot of the time. Somehow we managed to get all 4 of us in without ever purchasing that expensive pool pass.
The other obstacle was eating when we spent our entire day there. We never packed food (PB and J might have been the only choice) so after a 12 hours day at the pool, hunger sets in. We would make the rounds with the pin ball machines for change. Then we would scope out the bottom of the pool for loose change. Then we would move on to begging the lifeguards, who knew all of us by our first names. I lived on a fritoes and snowballs, and occasionally a hamburger if I was superlucky.
It was a coming of age time for me...preteen. I had my first shirley temple at the cabana bar with my parents listening to Sugar, Sugar by the Archies. I watched the men walk on the moon on the club house television. I jumped off the high dive-first and only time. I excelled at pin ball machines. And who knows how I found the money for that.
Good times...my brothers probably spent more time sitting on the edge of the pool that actually swimming-thanks to rowdy behavior. Never seemed to faze them. What a great place to grow up.