Sep 29
If you know me, you know that I nearly always have a cup of coffee nearby, at all times. I’m glad that coffee has its own day now 🙂
The date might not be marked on your calendar, but if you are like more than 50 percent of adults who drink coffee every day, maybe it should be. Thursday is National Coffee Day, which means you can find free or reduced priced coffee in many places.
Enjoy!
Sep 11
I originally wrote this on 9/11/01…
I, too, was stunned to hear the news this morning and continuing throughout the day.
It was just something unbelievable. My husband and I were on a Land Rover 4X4 tour of the off-road areas of Barbados when we first got the news.
At first, when we got the very first news, around 9:30 am, I thought that it was some tale that the driver was weaving…and that there would be a punchline. As the day wore on, more interest was on the radio than on the tour. Some of the people in our Land Rover were from New York City and they were terrified for friends and family.
What an awful day in history this is, one of those that we’ll always remember where we were when we got the news.
Like the rest of you, I am stunned, absolutely shocked that this could happen, using our own planes, no less. I cannot imagine the terror of the people on those planes, or in the World Trade Center…or the Pentagon.
The rest of the story:
The year of 911 my mom and my son had been with us for the first week. My son had to be back at college so on Sunday he shepherded my mom through the airport, customs and all and got her back home before he headed back to UMass/Amherst on Monday. Thank goodness they got back before the mayhem started!
On Tuesday we were out on a 4X4 from Island Safari with our favorite guide, Zario. Zario is a fun guy and and very knowledgeable about Barbados and world events. We were very happy to have him again because it was the “luck of the draw” which driver/guide we got.
I remember that morning being kind of stressed already – I was having trouble with one of my contacts and I was just grumpy.
Zario picked us up first, one of the benefits of staying at The Crane – everyone picks us first for everything and drops us off last. Then he picked up another couple from New York City who were staying at Bougainvillea.
The tour started off through the fields, down cliffs as usual. Zario had the radio on in the background. When we got to the first stop he told us that there was a “problem” in New York. That it seemed that a plane had hit a building. We thought that there was going to be a punch line somewhere. There wasn’t.
As the tour went on, the news got worse. The couple from NYC was very worried about relatives.
By the time we got to lunch and met up with the other 4x4s everyone had heard. We were in a little chattal house restaurant, the TV was on CNN and everyone was just watching in silence and horror. Usually this lunch is very festive and fun. Not a care in the world. Not today.
We left the New York people off at their hotel and went “home”. The TV was full of New York news, then Pentagon news. We know people who work at the Pentagon. The news just got worse as we went along.
We were basically stuck in Barbados. Phones to the US didn’t work well, email was slow to non-existent, all we knew was what we got on CNN, incessantly. My mother and son had been with us the week before and had just flown back the Saturday before. I was so glad that they had gotten back home ok, then my son off to college.
We were supposed to fly home on the next Saturday, but if was iffy if that would happen since the airports were closed for the longest time. We were flying into the DC area. The phone lines to the Barbados airport and to American Airlines were always busy.
Finally, we decided to give it a shot, packed up and went to the airport to see if we could fly out or not. They could only guarantee the flight as far as Puerto Rico.
The San Juan airport was crowded with Americans trying to get home, flights being canceled due to closed airports, people sleeping all around the airport, using backpacks for pillows. It was a very difficult time.
We did finally leave for home later that night. This is what I wrote the next day…
I flew on American Airlines last night (9/14/2001). We left Barbados on time but the connecting flight, originating out of Aruba was very late, and we waited for a long time in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
After that flight had arrived though, we were all sitting around, hoping they’d board the plane soon. All of a sudden, there was cheering in the hallway. We turned to look – our pilot and crew were marching up the hallway with a huge American flag. He stopped and talked to us. He explained that the copilot would hang that flag outside his window as we taxied out of Puerto Rico and into Dulles. The flag was making the rounds of American flights all over the country and that the yellow streamers hanging down were being signed by all the American crew members. He posed for lots of pictures (I have some I’ll post later, when my eyes are less bleary!), then, as they were going to get the plane ready, he asked us in a loud voice if we were ready to fly to Washington and everyone cheered.
Along the way, he thanked us so much for having faith and flying (like we had any choice!). The headphones for the movie and the drinks were all free on this flight! He also told us that there were a lot of fighter planes in the Washington to NY corridor and not to be surprised if we were intercepted by one, who would just be making sure that we were “who we said we were”. I thought that would be kind of neat to see, but I didn’t see them. We arrived in Dulles (Washington, DC) with a jet fighter escort. At the time, that sounded so comforting, but it turned out that they had been there to shoot us down, if we’d made any funny moves.
Then, when we arrived at the terminal, the captain said that we were back in “the land of the free, and the home of the brave” and got some more cheers.
It was a memorable flight for someone like me, who is terrified of flying under the best of circumstances.
Us, on 9/10/01. Who knew?
9/14, San Juan Puerto Rico:
After the crew marched down the hallway.
The captain, letting others have a chance to fly the flag.
This young woman lead us onto the plane.
Aug 19
Today is another of those “Who Knew” holidays.
I was recently talking to someone about our upcoming trip to Scotland and she reminded me to take lots of pictures. Then, she said to be sure to print them out so she could see them.
Um, no way! I haven’t printed out pictures since probably the 1980s – or earlier.
All the work that went into that. Taking the film somewhere, getting back to the store to pick up the prints, buying scrapbooks, and those little corner holders, sorting, writing the people’s names on the back, the place. Then, finding the right scrapbook to show people…
No, NO NO!
These days. I keep most of my photos online. There are 50,387 photos right now in my Flickr account and it’s so much easier to share online.
It’s interesting about photos. A couple of my first real jobs were working in photo processing.
When I was first out of college, I worked for Technicolor, processing negatives into photos.
Back then, the film had to be processed entirely in the dark.
When the door of the machine was open, the light-proof curtain of the cubicle was shut tight.
I learned how to thread huge, heavy rolls of photo paper into a machine – in total darkness. Over, under, around, over…
Neither the undeveloped paper nor the negatives could be exposed to any light – ever.
Someone else had cut the end of the roll of negatives square and stuck it to a “leader” using special tape which wouldn’t peel off during the developing process.
The leader featured small rectangle holes like old movie filmstrips. The holes catch onto sprockets which guide the leader card and film through the processing machine.
After being sure we had enough paper in the machine, we would feed the leader end of the negatives into the side and that automatically moved the leader card forward.
We’d be sure that the machine was set for the type (size) of film it was (mine were usually 110 or 35milimeter) and feed the roll of negatives through the machine, making minor corrections using a special keyboard. Different amounts of cyan, magenta and yellow were added or subtracted to each photo to ensure the color was correct.
Adjustments are also made for exposure to each individual photo, and sometimes we’d recenter the subject (or what we guessed was the subject). Sometimes, we had to choose between 2 or more photos to find the one that was “best”.
Then we’d (finally!) get the prints, package them up and start again.
The whole thing was on piecework so the faster, the better. The faster we worked, the more money we made.
The young women who had worked here longer than I had got really good/fast at this and they were able to work with newer machines that let them work in a large room out in the light and have others to talk with. As I recall, those machines only processed the 110 film, which was becoming more popular with amateur photographers.
It was a boring job, but it was a job. I worked there from late afternoon until midnight, so it gave me lots of time to hang out by Lake Metacomet where I was living with a roommate.
Somehow, my roommate had managed to get us an apartment right on the shore of the lake and it was much easier to hang out there in the sunshine than to drive to work and be in the dark all evening.
Sometimes, I’d call in “sick” LOL
Tom and I moved to Milwaukee so he could go to grad school. While I was there, I did substitute teaching for public school music classes around the Milwaukee area.
And, after school, in the evenings, I did photo processing for a small photo processing company.
They hired me on the spot because I knew how to thread that machine. I didn’t have to do that for long, though. Somehow, I got promoted to wedding photos, those that took a lot of care, color corrections, perfect centering…and I was mostly in the light. No more piecework because I had to spend so much time on each photo, striving for perfection.
Fond memories, all of them. To this day, I am very good at telling if things are centered properly, level, and if the color matches.
In the greater scheme of things, World Photo Day is an international photography event on August 19th that celebrates the passion for photography in our communities.
Go out and get some pictures. Print them, if you want – or not 🙂
Jul 19
Take a Book, Leave a Book
by Angela D. Glascock, Editorial Writer
There has been a delightful bloom of Little Free Libraries in Greenbriar.
What is a Little Free Library, you ask? A Little Free Library is just what it sounds like: a small structure that houses books to borrow or trade. Books are provided by citizens, creating a continuous, all-hours book exchange.
The aim of Little Free Libraries, according to LittleFreeLibrary.org, is “To promote literacy and the love of reading by building free book exchanges worldwide and to build a sense of community as we share skills, creativity and wisdom across generations.”
Sounds like a wonderful idea to me.
Todd Bol, who wished to honor his mother, a teacher who loved to read, created the first Little Free Library in Wisconsin in 2009. This original library looks like a little red schoolhouse. Bol built it, painted it, attached it to a post in his front yard, filled it with books, and put up a sign that read “Free Books.”
It was an immediate success.
The idea of Little Free Libraries in communities has caught on and spread quickly throughout the world. By June 2016, there were an estimated 40,000 registered Little Free Libraries — but that figure does not include thousands of unregistered little libraries, like three of those in Greenbriar. It is a brilliant way to share and find an eclectic variety of books while promoting literacy and community.
An internet search for “Little Free Library” brings up hundreds of photos of libraries in an amazing array of designs. The most common design is of a house, but these little house shaped libraries are far from common: there are wee cottages, Victorians, lighthouses, even a motorhome. People have recycled phone booths, newspaper dispensers and wooden barrels to make libraries. Some designs are simple, some are complex, but they are all remarkable.
In Greenbriar, the Little Free Libraries look like small houses with glass doors, but again, they are far from plain.
So where are these delightful structures located? You’ve probably seen the one by the pool, at the intersection of Point Pleasant and Middle Ridge. That was the first one I noticed. It’s called the “Tiny Free Library,” and a sign invites you to “Take a book * leave a book.”
At Point Pleasant and Maylock is the “Scrapwood Library,” so named because it was built from recycled wood: “scraps from our new kitchen …,” according to the sign, which also invites you to “take a book, leave a book.”
Toward Stringfellow at the intersection of Point Pleasant and Peekskill is a cheerful, bright yellow and blue library; this is the Greenbriar Little Free Library #33664.
Finally, at the Cale Community Center, there is a white library accented with green trefoils, compliments of Girl Scout Troop
6396.
When I visited each library, I found that they were full of an assortment of books.
The Tiny Free Library contained a lot of popular fiction, such as Charlaine Harris, James Patterson, Janet Evanovich and David Baldacci. This one is likely the most visited because of its central location.
The Scrapwood Library housed a mix of popular fiction, classics (such as Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn), non-fiction, anthologies, textbooks, well-loved books, old books, new books and cookbooks. There were also audiobooks on CD.
The Greenbriar Little Free Library #33664, owned by Mary and Tom O’Connor, contained mostly children’s books, which, Tom said cheerfully when I interrupted his mowing to inquire, was their aim.
The Girl Scout library at the Cale Community Center was chock full of picture books, chapter books and young adult selections. Perfect for kids.
So, Greenbriar, whether you take a book, leave a book, or borrow a book and return it later, the four little libraries in Greenbriar offer bountiful choices for reading this summer.
To everyone who installed little libraries, and to everyone who supports them, thank you for supporting literacy in our community!
Little Free Library information and the locations of registered libraries can be found at www.LittleFreeLibrary.org.
Download this newspaper here: Greenbriar_flyer_2016_07
Jul 10
 |
| This week’s Library of Distinction is charter #39388 in Rush, New York!
The story: “I absolutely loved the idea of Little Free Libraries but unfortunately had no skills to actually build one! After much searching, I found a giant used mailbox at a yard sale that I thought would make a great base for a Library. A school bus seemed to be the perfect choice. I attached a plastic kid’s toolbox to the front so there would be a place for a notebook and some bookmarks, then I spray painted the entire thing yellow. All of the other details just fell into place…wheels, sign, license plate etc. I decided to put it on a cart so the whole thing would be mobile. The kids seem to love it and nothing makes me happier!” – Steward Karen Tabor |
Jun 26
We have a huge box of children’s books ready for the Greenbriar Little Free Library #33664. Many thanks to Beth!
Children’s books are currently the most popular. We just got this adorable thank you note over the weekend:
Also, check us out at https://www.facebook.com/GreenbriarLittleFreeLibrary/
Jun 23
Have you ever walked past a Little Free Library, those house-shaped boxes along sidewalks filled with books? If so, did you look inside?
They’re often filled with books, and if you look at enough of them, you’ll see some of the same kinds of books start to repeat: romance novels, detective fiction, used children’s books, an odd cookbook. The libraries seem to fill with surplus. And most people walk right by.
But Steven McCarthy, a graphic design professor at the University of Minnesota who lives in Falcon Heights, rarely lets a Little Free Library go un-inspected.
For the last year, McCarthy has been working on a project of turning miscellaneous Little Free Library books into works of art. He calls it the Wee Go Library, and it’s his mobile collection of bizarre and whimsical books where pages have been turned upside-down or rearranged, bindings unbound and re-bound, and illustrations displaced and replaced into new and fantastical collages.
The project is housed in a beautiful mobile display case, and poring through its drawers and pages you find a “library” of creativity that seems to reveal the potential of the book itself.
Read more at http://www.parkbugle.org/take-a-book-leave-a-book-remake-a-book/
Jun 15
You should feel very balanced this week. Why? Because it’s palindrome week!
A palindrome exists when letters, numbers, or phrases are the same forward and backward. For example, the words “racecar” and “kayak” are palindromes along with the phrase “Was it a car or a cat I saw?”
The dates this week are all five-digit palindromes. Today is 6-15-16; it’s the same if you read it forward and backward.
Palindrome week will take place in July next year.
From last year:
May 30
Tom’s youngest brother, Bill, died, which was a major shock to all of us. He’d had Polycystic Kidney Disease and decided to go for a kidney transplant.
William T. O’Connor
(January 19, 1949 – May 29, 2016)
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O’CONNOR, William T. of Burlington, formerly of Everett, entered into rest on Sunday, May 29, 2016 in the Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston. Born in Boston, Bill lived in Everett for many years before moving to Burlington. Bill had a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering and a MBA. He worked for Walsh Brothers as a construction superintendent before his retirement. Beloved husband of Sandra (Fusco) for over 45 years. Dear and devoted father of Thomas O’Connor and his wife, Janet of Peabody and Erin Simione and her husband, Kurt of Windham, NH. Brother of Mary O’Connor of Quincy, Tom O’Connor and his wife, Mary of VA, James O’Connor of Everett, John O’Connor of Revere and Robert O’Connor of London, England. Loving grandfather of Olivia and Matthew O’Connor and Mason, Dante, and Slater Simione. Uncle of Michael O’Connor of NYC. Relatives and friends are respectfully invited to attend Bill’s visiting hours in the Cafasso & Sons Funeral Home, 65 Clark St. (Corner of Main St.) EVERETT, Saturday, June 4 from 8-10:30 a.m. followed by a funeral Mass in St. Anthony’s Church, 38 Oakes St., Everett, at 11 a.m. Interment private. In lieu of flowers, contributions in Bill’s memory to the National Kidney Foundation, 85 Astor Ave., Ste. 2, Norwood, MA 02062, www.kidney.org would be sincerely appreciated. Parking with attendants on duty.
From the funeral:
and
There will be more about the funeral on my Travel blog
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