Tornado warning

Tornado: Violent, low-pressure storm, relatively small in diameter but with very rapidly rotating winds and an intense updraft near the centre.

The relatively low pressure at the centre of a tornado's funnel-like vortex causes cooling and condensation, making the storm visible as a revolving column of cloud, called the funnel. Tornadoes normally travel at 30–40 mph (50–65 kph). The winds around the vortex average nearly 300 mph (500 kph) and have been known to reach 500 mph (800 kph). Tornadoes often occur in groups. (Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise)

I don't know anything about tornadoes from experience, just stories that I keep hearing from others. I hear that the sky turns greenish, the air gets sort of thick, and as one librarian keeps telling me (in a very dramatic voice), "You can just feel something coming."

Thursday night I was working at the library and a tornado watch was in effect. The weather radio under the desk kept on going off, warning people in several Illinois and Indiana counties (including Champaign County) that a tornado may be coming our way. At about 6:45 the watch became a warning and we evacuated all library users to the "tunnel" -- an underground passage from the main library to the undergraduate library. It was crowded and hot down there, so I was glad that the warning expired after about twenty minutes and we were able to go about our business.

In other news, the Primary program today went really well. The kids performed their songs and spoken parts even better than I had hoped they would -- and all fourteen of them were there! I was so proud of them. They were adorable and earnest and very, very sweet. I'm trying to think of a favorite moment to share, but I'm afraid I can't. I just loved the whole program too much to pick a moment that stood out.

Franklin County is too, too small

Here's proof:

I was working at the library at the reference desk tonight and had forgotten to silence my cellphone. Since it was Dad calling, I answered: "Hi! I'm at work at the library!"

"I just have one question. I was sitting next to R.W. at county commissioner meeting today and he said congratulations on becoming a grandpa."

"What?! Are you kidding me?"

"He said his daughter read on your website that you're expecting, but I was just hoping that you'd tell us before you put it on a website."

"Well, of course I would tell you first! But don't expect any announcements! Don't expect anything!" (While logging on to Facebook and checking my blog for anything that might have been misconstrued . . . Also feeling some passing resentment towards persons who may have misread and misinformed . . .)

I got off the phone and told M., the librarian I was working with, what had just transpired. Laughed somewhat hysterically for a few minutes; resentment passed, disbelief set in.

In conclusion, in case anyone is wondering, I am certainly not "expecting." Thank you and good night.

How to talk to kids -- and how not to

I stole the above title from This American Life. Their show last week was all about how to talk to kids: how to entertain kids, how to answer questions about sex, how to instill fear into kids without using physical force. I'll admit that I was most interested in the final act, in which parents discussed why they yell at their kids and why it's an important disciplinary tool. One of my concerns about having children (not in the immediate future -- maybe 3 or 4 years down the road) is my lack of patience. It's a quality that I lack, to say the least. I've tried to work on it, but it seems to be just a part of my modus operandus to want things to happen really, really fast. I'm most impatient with myself. In fact, when I was in 5th grade (warning: this is a really pathetic story) if I wasn't the first kid done with my test or assignment, I'd get so angry at myself that I'd cry. It's a bit sick, I know. So one of my major concerns about childrearing is: What will I do with them when they don't do what I want them to do and/or they don't do it quickly enough? The answer: Probably scream like a banshee.

My current role at church is leading the children in their singing. Next week the kids are doing their yearly presentation to the whole congregation: they'll be speaking and singing for about 45 minutes. We practiced today and, although the practice went more smoothly than I expected, it was pretty exhausting. There are several older boys (9-12 range) who are a bit too cool to be up on the stand in front of everyone and they don't always pay attention when it's time to sing or to come to the microphone. There are three little three-year-old girls who also have a hard time paying attention. Do I scream at the kids? No. Because we're at church, I hold up a little stop sign on a popsicle stick and they know to stop whatever they're doing and look at me. Surprisingly, the stop sign on a popsicle stick works pretty well. But I can't help thinking that getting the kids' attention with volume might have a more lasting effect.

So, maybe the point is that I'm learning there is another way, besides yelling. But a good scream can be cathartic . . .

Food, Glorious Food

The new documentary The Hollywood Librarian was released last week to coincide with Banned Books Week. The film was released at libraries and library schools nationwide and Mike and I got to see it at GSLIS -- a fundraiser for the Library and Information Science Library at UIUC. The film juxtaposed images of librarians in movies (Party Girl, The Desk Set, It's a Wonderful Life, The Music Man, etc.) with real librarians talking about their work: what they do and why they do it. I really enjoyed the film -- it was more serious than I had expected and actually brought a couple of glistens to my eyes. The filmmaker spoke with very dedicated, very inspiring public librarians who work hard every day to keep their doors open to as many people as possible, to have storytime for children, to have literacy programs for prisoners, and more. It made me very proud to be a part of that community.


Before we went to the movie we tried a restaurant called Milo's that has been recommended to us several times, ever since we first visited town. It was magnificent. Really. If and when any of you come to visit us here, we'll take you to Milo's. I had apricot stuffed chicken breast and Michael had pan-seared scallops in a creamy pepper sauce -- so delicious.

I'm very pleased to report that I am once again a member of a knitting circle! A few library students decided to get together weekly on Saturday afternoons to knit and yesterday we were at Anna's house with a delicious quiche, apple bread, and a couple of hours of dedicated knitting. I'm working on a brown cabled cardigan for which I bought the yarn one year ago at a little-bitty store in Driggs, Idaho, where the yarn was on clearance. Now I'm just hoping that I have enough yarn to finish. If so, this will be a VERY cute sweater. :)

Speaking of knitting, I got the most exciting package in the mail this week. My dear sweet friend Wendy sent me a beautiful graduating/going away/getting married present that she made:

A lovely lacy pink wrap that I will wear as soon as it gets below 70 degrees. We're having unseasonably warm weather here and actually set a record this weekend with temperatures in the high 80s and low 90s. By mid-week, though, it's supposed to be "below normal temperatures" according to the guy on the morning radio. But what is normal?

We enjoyed staying home and watching General Conference this weekend. We were reminded and inspired to be a little kinder, more patient, and especially more grateful for all that we have.

The coming week should be calmer than last week was, for which I am grateful. On Friday I did a presentation in my reference class (on biographical resources) that went really well and tomorrow morning I'm doing a group presentation on research ethics. Now I don't have another really huge assignment due until November.

Still no sign of the handsome Dobler. I miss him very much.

Meet Me In St. Louis

We had a great day in St. Louis yesterday; we went to the temple for a session and then went to Forest Park and to the St. Louis zoo.


There were not many people at the temple at all. We couldn't even find anyone to take our photo!

Forest Park is a huge, lovely place with all kinds of (free) attractions. This is the Jewel Box, a giant greenhouse that was built in the 1930s:

The St. Louis Zoo is touted as America's #1 zoo. I don't know how they gathered their data, but I would rate the zoo pretty highly. We had a great time riding the train, seeing Big Cat Country, and just wandering around to see the different animals.

The ostriches

The tiger

On an entirely different topic, our old dryer gave up the ghost (it emitted sparks and a burning smell when operating for the last time) and we have a new dryer. Here's the old appliance, sitting out in our front yard in classic "white trash" fashion (it's been there for a whole week now):
And here's the new dryer:
And some sad news: Dobler has been missing since Tuesday morning. We've canvassed the neighborhood with his photo plus our phone number, but it seems that no one has seen him. We're sincerely hoping that he's just on a little kitty vacation and will be back soon. So if you're the praying type, please think of Dobler.

Mike took this picture of us last Sunday.

Autumn musings

It feels like an early autumn in Urbana now. Temperatures have been in the 70s during the day and the 40s at night. We're enjoying the cool temperatures and I've been using my bike more for transportation in addition to recreation. :)

We were very happy to have lunch this week with Mike's Grandma and Grandpa Brough. They were on their way from Washington, D.C. (where they've been on an LDS mission for the past 18 months) back home to St. George, Utah. We enjoyed chatting with them and only wish we could have spent more time with them. Don't roll your eyes at this and think that I've turned into one of those Mormon housewives who do all that self-sufficient stuff that M.H.'s do (I'm really not there yet), but I've started doing lots of baking on the weekends. We're eating nothing but homemade bread these days:


and I also make the granola that we eat for breakfast every morning. It's wonderfully therapeutic to not think about class and work for a few hours and make something delicious.

Me in our teeny-tiny kitchen

Classes are going well. I'm working on several projects that are all due in the first week of October. These projects are: redesigning a website for a public library (with a group), a group presentation and website on research ethics, a presentation on choosing biographical reference sources for a small academic library. It's sort of frustrating that all of these projects are due within the same week, but it will be nice to get it all done and not have to worry about it later in the semester. The project I'm most interested in is the biographical reference sources. There are lots of things to take into consideration, like scope, arrangement, cost, usability, and more. I'm finding that library science is theoretical and philosophical enough to satisfy my intellectual side and also practice-oriented enough that it satisfies my practical side in ways that the study of literature never did. So here's my love song to library science:

Library school
you satisfy me
in ways I've never
been satisfied before.
I love you for your
practicality
for your theoretical constructs
and for information theory.

Labor Day Weekend

Having a little cuddle with my Dobler.

We've had a relaxing Labor Day Weekend after a very busy week. The first week or two of school is always a bit stressful and very busy, but things should probably settle down in the near future.

On Friday night we had dinner and played games with our friends Heather and Devin. It was so fun! We played Rook, Clue, and Rummikub. (Don't worry -- I was a very good sport even though I didn't win at even one of the games.)

The weather was really nice over the whole weekend -- the temperature stayed below 90 and humidity was relatively low. Saturday morning Mike and I rode our bikes to the farmer's market in downtown Urbana, where we bought some lovely peaches and a squash. We're looking forward to some butternut squash lasagna this week.

Today we went to one of the county forest preserves: Lake of the Woods. We were pretty disappointed in what they call "hiking trails" out here. There were some gravel footpaths, but no real hiking. We did enjoy the botanical gardens and the historic one room school house.

We took a picnic lunch to the park, too!

Tonight we broke out the Whirly-Pop and made a delicious batch of caramel popcorn. Mike is very excited about the Whirly-Pop. He thinks it's a great kitchen toy.

Simone has been relaxing this weekend. Isn't she precious?

I just finished reading The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri and really loved it. It's an interesting portrait of life in the U.S. in an immigrant family. Also fraught with identity crises, the difficulties of growing up, figuring out how to get along on your own, etc. A fantastic read. Next up: Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver.