Happy November!

It's my favorite month, for many reasons. My birthday, for one. A bunch of holidays for another (Veteran's Day, which I never appreciated until I realized I was married to one, Thanksgiving Day, and this year, Election Day). The steely gray sky on a fall afternoon when the sun hits the yellow aspen leaves. Or the bright blue sky with golden wheat fields in the valley and the snowy mountain tops in the distance. It only seems to look like that in November.

Tom has already gone to Texas with more furniture for our house there - apparently the yard was completely overgrown with morning glory vines! But he's making headway. I will be there later this month, to rake the leaves (we have pecan trees!) and paint what used to be a closet and has now been transformed in to a bathroom.

It turns out the medical screening group that discovered my dad's aneurysm will be in a town nearby while I'm there, so we've signed up for our own sessions. That seems like a fortunate coincidence to me; an opportunity not to be ignored. While I'm away, Dad will have surgery in Billings to insert a stent - an overnight procedure. They tell him he'll be able to walk out of the hospital the next day, although it may take a few weeks to be totally recovered. He's very optimistic. And then Mom will probably let him drive again. As she said, she didn't want something to happen while he was driving - if she was going to lose him, she didn't want to lose the car too!

So, we'll be counting our blessings this Thanksgiving.

A little rain...

Sometimes things go along so smoothly, and then there come the bumps in the road. Just last weekend I was have a great time with librarians in Denver, at the MPLA board meeting, and at Chico Hot Springs for the ASLD/PLD retreat (in spite of the weather - that's a bump to be expected around here). The weather even cleared up this week and turned back into the gorgeous fall we love.

Then this weekend happened: Saturday my dad called me at work in a panic - at a health screening an aneurism was discovered on his aorta; he was told to go to the emergency room right away. The librarian in me did some research: it turns out this was exactly what my grandmother died from 25 years ago. So it would seem to be a serious condition, and possibly genetic. Dad will be seeing a vascular surgeon soon - hopefully surgery will fix this, and he'll be as good as new.

Sunday morning, making plans to spend the day with James-Philip, he says he has bad news. One never knows what this will bring when JP is involved, so I prepared for the worst, but never expected this: his friend, Joana, a girl I'd met once and heard a lot about, had died Thursday. No apparent reason. She was 32.

Sunday night, checking my email, I see a "Shocking news" message from my dad. I figured he was sending a message about his health news to the family, so began to read and was shocked to learn my mom's best friend, since childhood, had died in her sleep the night before. Her husband got up Sunday morning, made coffee as usual, came back to get Ann and found her dead. I can't even begin to imagine... My folks plan to go visit next month for the memorial service. She was 76, the same as my mom.

So this puts a lot of things into perspective. Really taking care of my health has to be a top priority - high cholesterol and blood pressure seem to be causes of aneurisms (and you can spell it both ways: aneurysm for those purists out there). As James-Philip said when talking about Joana, you can never tell, and when your time is up, it's up. My mom agreed, but said she'd like a little hint: 76? 80? But there are no hints, so make the most of your time.

I'm going for a nice long walk now, on this beautiful fall day.

Another Month

Suddenly it's October! How did that happen?

I'm trying to put together a presentation on Open Office with DeeAnn for next Sunday's retreat at Chico. It's so easy to use, it's almost too simple. I think we'll show the download and installation - maybe there will be a few laptop users who will volunteer to try it out? This is such a friendly group it's easy to be very casual about the whole thing.

Tuesday will see Tom heading south for the winter. A few days in Laramie (not south enough, but we have a friend there). Then on to Gainesville, TX - luckily we found the house keys! He'll be bringing a trailer full of furniture so eventually that house will be completely livable. Right now it's relatively empty, with a basic thrift-store decor. Check it out: http://teamhenley.net/5.html

But first there is Sunday brunch to celebrate Mom's birthday (Gourmet Gas Station) and Monday's annual Firemen's Breakfast at the fairgrounds.

Back to Normal

Back in Bozeman, and it feels like fall - almost. The trip back from Portland/Astoria was pleasant, and we stopped in Coeur d'Alene. Bette Ammon gave me a nice tour of their beautiful new building (what a view, right on the lake). So now it's back to work! But I have an MPLA board meeting in Denver, followed by the ASLD/PLD retreat at Chico Hot Springs, so there is plenty to look forward to and keep me busy.

Then it's on to November - my favorite month (so many holidays in such a short time, and my birthday!). But there is Halloween before that, and I see it's a Friday - sounds like a possible party...

Portland

Haven't seen a drop of rain in Portland - it's still summer here (although many locals seem to have checked the calendar and switched to their winter clothes: lots of sweaters and black). Today we visited the zoo.

Jon-Erik's apartment is nice - one last shopping trip tomorrow morning before we head off to Astoria. We were able to leave our car there and just use Portland's great transit system all this week. So much easier! And, one of the stops is right at the library so of course I dragged the boys along. Very busy! Lots of internet computers, and people waiting for reservations on those. We also stopped by Powell's (the book store).

Tom and I went to a performance of Phantom of the Opera last night. I've been waiting 12 years to see it (ever since we were in Germany and tried twice to get tickets to a London performance). So this was a real treat, and it was a great performance.

I hope to spend time in Coeur d'Alene on our way back - Bette Ammon has promised me a tour of their great new library too.

Preparing for Portland

We are planning a trip to Portland OR in September - Labor Day, to be exact. Jon-Erik thinks he has an apartment lined up, so we'll drive out with a U-Haul trailer filled with furniture and other stuff. We'll have a hotel - staying with Jon-Erik isn't an option! We'll be in Portland, while his apartment should be in Beaverton. I'm sure we can keep ourselves entertained (although I realized football season will start - guess I'll have to find a sports bar to watch the Giants and Colts opening games!). Then we'll go on to Astoria to a B&B for 2 nights. We haven't found anything for the return trip yet, so I'm not sure how that will end up. I'd like to see Couer d'Alene - maybe we can find a place to stay there. But it will be a nice vacation.

Summer moves along

The Sweet Pea Festival is over, a sure sign that summer is marching on! We're in to the thunderstorm season now - I love it, except when we lose power for extended periods (18 hours a few weeks ago - lots of trees down along the road to our house).

I think tourists are also moving along, and most of the foreign students too. It's almost back to a normal Saturday at the library!

I just spent 3 days at Boulder Hot Springs, at a Montana Library Association board retreat. It's been a few years since I've attended one of these - I enjoy being more involved in the association again (this time as the Montana rep to the Mountain Plains Library Association). It's fun to meet up with old friends and get to know some new faces. I'll travel to Denver in October for an MPLA board meeting - I don't know as many people on this board but am looking forward to making new friends!

Jon-Erik Update: the free wireless internet at his temporary residence is incredibly slow so he's pretty frustrated! I don't want to keep harping on the need for a job when we talk so don't know where he might be in that process. I guess I need to be a little more specific and find out what he plans to do if Aug. 31 comes along with no prospects!