"So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Good-bye"

I’ve been singing a foreshortened version of the good-bye song from "The Sound of Music" at the end of many a story time for almost four years now as the Outreach Coordinator for Northfield Public Library. Tomorrow, sadly, is going to be the last refrain, because I have taken the position as Director of the not-yet-open Lonsdale Public Library.

I am very excited to be steering the ship out of the harbor on its maiden voyage. Not many people get the opportunity to bring a library to life. I am one of the lucky ones. The folks in Lonsdale are so ecstatic about getting a library that their enthusiasm is palpable. I am honored to be at the helm.

A reporter asked me the other day, “Why did you take the job?” It was a startling question and a good one. The answer is I am ready to stretch myself. It’s what I’m compelled to do and it has become a recurring theme in my life. Even though I love my job as Booker, love the people I have come to know through that outreach as well as the ones I have worked with, I know it is time to move on, to become more, to serve even more folks.

I cannot ever thank the great staff at Northfield Public Library and the incomparable Street Shop for their unfailing support, encouragement, patience and devotion to me and Booker. There are so many people who have lent a hand and cheered me on from almost every city department that just thinking about the scope of their commitment humbles me. The City of Northfield has my heart.

It also has my favorite bookmobile, so you can bet I’ll be back to visit her and everyone else who is near and dear to me. Come see me in Lonsdale once I get the library open - or sooner. I’m counting on it because I love you.

Where Did Summer Go?

It's good to be back in the saddle, so to speak, after a nice, long vacation. When it started near the end of September, we were having a stretch of Indian Summer. It was great, because we had such a slow-starting, cool one this year. But the seasons do roll and winter in Minnesota is inexorable. When I posted a note on my wall on Facebook about the snow we got just a few days into October, one of my friends who lives in Georgia had to tease me that he thought we should be shoveling paths through the snow banks by now. Another friend from Minnesota teased me about waxing poetic. She's a native and I'm not, so I had to defend my delight at the sight of the season's first offerings. Her comment jogged my memory about a poem I wrote almost four years ago now. I dug it out to share it with you. For my warm-blooded, southern friends, here's a glimpse of what it's like to be knee-deep in the powder. To my cold-blooded, "It ain't cold 'til it hits 40 below!" north star state friends - you know you love it, too. For the first month anyway....

The Vagaries of Snow

It comes down in giant flakes, sideways
It comes down as glitter, shiny
It comes down hard, blinding
It comes down
It piles up

We push it off the driveway with our shovels
The snowplow driver pushes it into the driveway with the plow
The wind pushes us around - the devil!
Doubling the cold
But helping us throw the snow

Booker at the Minnesota State Fair

Booker went to the Minnesota State Fair this week to be part of the Minnesota Reads Together parade. I admit I was a little nervous. What if she broke down on me on the way there or on the way home or (God forbid!) DURING the parade? I annoyed the city mechanic so much about whether she was fit to go that he actually left on vacation so as not to have to hear about it anymore. He did NOT come back in time to come rescue me. (Duly noted.)

I took our library's Children's Programming Librarian with me. I figured if I had to chance breaking down in front of a crowd of hundreds of thousands of people, I had to have moral support. She's a real trooper, and a pretty good navigator, too, and we were determined to have some fun. I proposed eating our way through the fair, but she was the voice of reason and only let me eat every other thing on a stick I could find.

Come parade time we lined up with the MELSA folks and the Radio Disney Dancers. What a great bunch of people! They were all happy to wait inside the bookmobile with the generator, and therefore the a/c, running full blast so they didn't have to endure the heat and dust of the parking lot. On the right are some pictures. Take note of the one of the kids in the bus. And look - they're reading!

The moment of truth arrived and the parade began. We had just pulled into the fairgrounds when lo and behold, one of my Lapsit dads with his 15 month old son on his shoulders, was standing a couple feet out in the parade route with a broad grin on his face making sure I would see them! I was so excited to see someone I knew in the massive crowd, I hollered, "Hey W---!" to the little dude as I waved, grinning madly. I'd give anything for a picture of W's face at that moment. His brow was furrowed and you could see the wheels turning in his little head as he pondered what in the world Ms. Diana was doing driving that bus in this place. Can't wait to see him and his dad at the next Lapsit and give 'em a big high five.

We saw the M's from Lonsdale next and my navigator screams at me, "There's the M's!" and got so excited she pushed the wrong button on the camera and missed getting their picture. I waved wildly at them and yelled, "Hey M's!" though I doubt they could see or hear me from their seats on the curb.

Well, you get the picture. We did NOT break down - Booker carried us valiantly all the way there and back without a hitch. Mechanic Man said to me when I saw him the next day, "I told you she would make it." (Yes, but he wasn't the one in the hot seat now was he?!?!) Next time - if there is a next time - I get that in writing. (I know you're reading this and I am not kidding!)

I sure hope we get invited back. The cool indoor comfort afforded by the generator and a/c alone should clinch it.

Singing the Babies to Sleep

One of my favorite things about my job is all the adorable babies I get to spend time with. This week Ellen fell asleep sitting up during story time! I saw her start to wobble and put my hands out to catch her. Her day care provider was right beside her and scooped her up as she drifted off.

The next day, Tristan, (aka Chunky Monkey), got fussy toward the end of story time. I started to sing, "Hush Little Baby," which is a lullaby my mom used to sing to me, and he immediately stopped crying, turned and looked at me with his wide blue eyes, laid his head against his day care provider's chest and listened intently while I sang the song. By the time I got to the end, his eyelids were getting heavy.

Music is my secret weapon. It soothes the fussy baby and captivates the raucous preschool crowd. If you want to get their attention - sing. It doesn't have to be perfectly on key as long as your heart is in it. Sing them a fun song and they will beg to hear it over and over again.

Some of the kids I go to see try to tell me they don't like to sing. I think they must have watched too much American Idol. Simon Cowell is wrong - everyone can sing and everyone should sing. Once I start singing to the kids who insist they don't like to sing, smiles begin to emerge from grumpy faces and laughter wells up and overflows. I can't explain the power music has to reach people, I just know it does.

Remember the song they used to sing on Sesame Street? It's called "Sing" and it was written by Joe Raposo. He says it better than me in this excerpt:

"Sing - sing a song,
Sing out loud,
Sing out strong!

Don't worry that it's not good enough
for anyone else to hear,
Just sing - sing a song!"

Trust me. Trust Joe. Sing!