REDONDOWRITER'S SACRED ORDINARY

Haiku My Heart Friday: Quinceañera

Quinceañera

Loving mother tends daughter

Womanhood is here.

Two weekends ago I was taking photos at a Peninsula Friends of the Library event at Malaga Cove Library and when I looked into the adjacent park, a photographer was taking the formal photos of this beautiful young girl's Quinceañera. It was just mom, daughter and photographer and I'm sure that later that day or perhaps sometimes later, a huge party marking her 15th year would follow. I popped out the door and shot this photo. Living in Southern California with a large Latino population, this milestone is often celebrated and my own granddaughter was in one when she lived with me. 

I keep my thousands of photos in iPhoto and I had to search for this photo of a young librarian patron I took at the Malaga Cove Library some years ago. I like to imagine that this little girl in her pink dress will somehow be that beautiful woman above. 

Be sure to visit Rebecca's Recuerda mi Corazon to see the posts of all our Haiku Friday participants. 

 

 

 

A Visit to the Rancho Mirage Public Library During Spring Break

I am the person who writes the content for the Palos Verdes Library District's Peninsula Friends of the Library website. As some of you know, I spent a few days in the Palm Springs area last week and visiting local libraries while traveling is a hobby of mine. 

"Last week my girlfriends and I spent a few days in Indian Wells, CA and one of the things I always do when traveling is to go visit one or more of the local libraries. Our Palos Verdes Library District is a wondrous place, but I’ve never met a library I didn’t like. I usually include my write-ups on the Peninsula Friends of the Library website, but I promised to share this write-up with Ellen November who is hosting a new blog for PVLD called  Ellen’s Go Libraries as well.

I had an ulterior motive for visiting in addition to looking all around the premises of this spectacular modernistic library carved right into the desert. I use a self-help art method called SoulCollage and I knew they had a used book library shop and I needed some old magazines to tear up.

 So, off we drove to the spectacular-looking Rancho Mirage Public Library located at  71-100 Hwy. 111, Rancho Mirage, CA 92270. Here are a few photos of the exterior.

 

The library was designed and built by MSR Ltd. and features shelving shelving for 125,000 books and recordings, and seating for 160 people in the library itself. Their public meeting room seats 350 and can be broken into three smaller rooms. A small conference room for 20 is adjacent. There is parking for 220 cars and a lovely outdoor garden space for special events. There is also a small gourmet café right next to the indoor Library Book Nook.

After a few stops to ooh and aah over some bookish bronze sculptures, we went right to the Library Book Nook. This room was staffed with friendly volunteers, many wonderful books and media of every ilk, and used magazines for 10 cents each. My friends were in a hurry and I didn’t have a car so a more leisurely visit will come on my next trip to the desert.

While we were there the community room had a movie playing for children—it was during spring break after all. They have a very ambitious schedule for the space in the library’s Spring Program’s brochure.  If I lived out there the library would undoubtedly be my home away from home, just like the Palos Verdes Libraries are.

One interesting fact I found in researching the Rancho Mirage Library was that the Friends of the Library group disbanded in 2010 and a foundation was established that oversees all library fund-raising including the Book Nook. In addition to funding special programs at the library, the Foundation also operates the Book Nook with over 3,000 volumes and a myriad of other items. The volunteers there were so friendly and helpful. My friends had to drag me out.

This is a library you won’t want to miss when you are visiting the Palm Spring area next time."

If you are a library visitor everywhere you go like I am, be sure to visit Ellen’s Go Libraries and send her your stories. What is your very favorite library in all the world? What has been the most unusual you have visited? 

 

 

 

 

The Joy of Children in a Library

This afternoon I poked my head into the elementary school library at Chadwick School where I work and there were all these mesmerized second graders lounging in the bean bag chairs reading their books. I kid you not; my heart leapt with joy! I'm a life-long reader and a lover of libraries--and it helped that my grandson Henry was one of the kids in the beanbags. Also, the heralding of spring always makes me more aware and appreciative of the "little" things going on around me. 

"There are many little ways to enlarge your child's world. Love of books is the best of all." — Jacqueline Kennedy

"Oh, magic hour, when a child first knows she can read printed words!" — A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, 1943

In this age of rapidly increasing technology there are huge changes taking place with reading and with libraries, but my school still places a high value on instilling the basics in all the students. And all the local libraries do the same. Sure, kids everywhere these days are familiar with computers, iPads and smart phones, but most I know still read three-dimensional books. I know that a tangible book is still my preference most times. 

How is a grandma to resist? The guy in the front in the Marmot hat with side flaps is my grandson Henry. His parents introduced their boys to books as soon as they were born and both of them love to read. 

I've been so preoccupied lately with finishing off 1Q84 in my personal time that I've gone underground with the Internet. Tonight I hope to finish this book. What an unusual head trip this book took me on. 

"To learn to read is to light a fire; every syllable that is spelled out is a spark." — Victor Hugo, Les Miserables

 

SoulCollage® Card - The Book Lover

 

 This past Monday our monthly SoulCollage® group met for the day and though usually a very prolific and quick-working card creator, I had a hard time coming up with one. But this is the one I made and I must admit that I really like it. The man may be a Rockwell character, but he is me! 

I am the one who became a book aficiando from the time I could first read and some very happy times were spent in the Sunland, CA library which was a really tiny place when I was a kid. The photo of my hometown library below is from the historical collection at Cal State Northridge. 

 

My mother was not a big reader personally although she read books to me all the time when I was little and my dad was a prolific reader of science books and magazines and science fiction. My four older sisters always gave me books for gifts. My favorite was "Poppy: The Story of a Fairy," which I still own today, but is now out of print. I am the one who undoubtedly was encouraged by early teachers to read although it was my mom who took me to get my first card at age six. I am the owner of way too many books; I'm the one who is obsessive about surrounding myself with books and though I use an e-reader to travel, I still crave the feel of the pages in my hand. I knew I wanted to be a writer myself and began to type short stories very young and was soon writing and editing a neighborhood newsletter. 

I did not become a librarian, but when tested in my 30s when I returned to college seriously, all indicators were that I should have been a librarian. When traveling I always seek out libraries and in earlier years I admit I often hung out there. Now I can be seen in Palos Verdes or Redondo Beach searching and checking out. I began volunteering at the used books sales at Malaga Cove Library about five years ago and for the past four years I am the one who sits on the Board of the Palos Verdes Library's Friends board and the Malaga Cove Advisory Committee. I did not become a fiction writer either, by the way, but have long been in a profession where writing plays a lion's share of my time spent. I have written a few novels, unpublished, and still write poetry, largely unpublished. 

And though I am not a professionally trained librarian, my part-time retirement job is as an archivist--and my office and collection are--you guessed it. In a school library. 

I am the one who has a large stack of books by her bedside and have always read one fiction and one non-fiction book at the same time. If my fiction stash from the library runs out, I'll admit that I get anxious.

In SoulCollage® we have learned to ask the card a question and then I usually write about that in my handwritten journal. What is it about hard copy books, about language, about words printed on a page, that has totally mesmerized me all these years? 

And how about all you book lovers. What drives you? 

Postcards From Paradise: A Rainbow

Rebecca at Postcards From Paradise asks, "Where did you find paradise in your closest world today?"

My definition for paradise are those places where I reminded about gratitude--for my life, for those of my family and friends, and places in nature. 

Yes, today was a rainy day in Southern California, which many people (including me) consider paradise in and of itself. Late this afternoon I volunteered at a reception at the Malaga Cove Library of the Peninsula Library District, my very favorite library in the whole world. I just had my point and shoot with me, but this view was captivating because nearby peacocks were strutting and I had to capture the rainbow over the spectacular greenery while rain showers baptized me. 

Yesterday I had the pleasure of volunteering for the afternoon at this same library which was built in 1929 and is utterly charming in every respect. How lucky I am, I thought to myself, to be able to be a customer and a volunteer at a library I love so much. 

 

 

Meet Aimee Bender: The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake

If you have not read Aimee Bender's best seller "The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake," I highly recommend it. Though I read it last year, I appreciate the book a lot more now that I've met Aimee Bender and heard her speak not only about the book and its characters, but her writing process in general. She teaches creative writing at USC and after hearing her speak, how I wish I could take her class. 

She was the featured speaker tonight at the Palos Verdes Library District's One Book, One Peninsula annual event and I had the pleasure of taking photos of her and members of the community prior to the event sponsored by the Peninsula Friends of the Library. Here are a few you might enjoy:

She is one of the most down-to-earth writers I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. 

Here she is with her fiancee Mark Miller--and a plate of? Lemon cake!

And here are the little lemon and chocolate cakes up close. Rose is the primary character in "The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake," and she has the blessing/curse of tasting the emotions of the person who cooks. The person who baked this batch must have been really happy. 

If you check the Peninsula Friends of the Library blog tomorrow, there will be a series of photos available to see, if you are interested.  

Haiku My Heart Friday: The Monthly Used Book Sale

One of my monthly volunteer gigs is cashiering at the monthly used book sale the Peninsula Friends of the Library sponsors at the Palos Verdes Library's Malaga Cove branch. I've done this for several years and our regular customers are like family. This includes my friend Vanya.

So, for Rebecca's Haiku My Heart Friday, I dreamed up this 5-7-5 ditty, in honor of Vanya. 

Vanya prays for books 

Are you sure you meant this much?

Ring me up, cashier. 

Does a Blog Post Always Have to Be Meaningful?

That's something all long-time bloggers deal with, I think. My life, all in all, is what I call "a little life" in the scheme of big things. I somehow feel more pressure to write "interesting" stuff on Sacred Ordinary, but on Facebook I just post, bing, bang, thank you mam. Who cares? No one is more judgmental about what I bring to the blogging world than I am, but I've always said Sacred Ordinary is part of my writing (and art) practice. It's a way I track my life for myself for more than for anyone who does visit here.

But, here are the stats, which is astounding even to judgmental me. I have been blogging here since Nov. 2003. I have written 2130 posts and received 7378 postable comments, although my stuff is not interesting or compelling enough to garner many comments. You also have to be a blog walker who leaves comments on others blogs to increase traffic, or write really controversial material. I do follow a half dozen or so blogs regularly but rarely do I post about controversial subjects.

So, here a few photos from my "little life" the past two weeks. You can enlarge them by double clicking.

A man was wearing this tee-shirt at a library event I recently photographed and since I am Episcopalian now, I got a big kick out of the words. 

I posted some of my Mother's Day photos on Facebook, but didn't here. This blog is linked to Facebook and Twitter, so what I say here also goes there. I call this Happy Cousins. That's Whitney, 23, Henry, 8, and Fritz, 7. Henry had just lost another tooth and the tooth fairy had visited. By the way, my granddaughter graduates with her RN from Harbor College on June 6. Proud grandma here!

For those of you who know me well, I am a faithful volunteer at the Peninsula Friends of the Library of the Palos Verdes Library District--and have been about five years. Why, you ask? You're still working a paying job three days a week. It's because of this woman, Pat, who has been a dear friend for a long time and is one of the queen volunteers for the district. She talked me into serving on the Malaga Cove Advisory Committee and then on the used book sales. Next thing I knew I was also the Communications Chair for the Friends of the Library. What a blessing it is to do community service at this library--and with Pat.

And this exquisite rose in my patio is one of many on my $1.99 miniature rose bush from Trader Joe's that I bought at least six years ago. Each year I sit in front of it in amazement. I love to garden and putter in the garden--and to write in the garden. When I am off work this summer, I will launch into "real" art projects in this beloved summer space where I keep an art table folded up for good weather. Art journals and collage are great indoors all year round but the larger collages and assemblages are better outside. By the way, my gardenia bush now has eight flowers, the star jasmine is dripping with pungent blossoms, the white lilies are blooming, and the bouganvillea has come back. Lordy, how I love my living space and garden. 

So, there's a few highlights from my "little life," which I am so grateful for. 

 

 

Memories of Chinese New Year at the Huntington Gardens

When I visited the Huntington Gardens on Saturday with my family, we were totally unaware a Chinese New Year Celebration was going on that weekend. Here are a few of my photos I thought you might enjoy. 

Incidentally, for those of you who may never have visited the Huntington Library and Gardens, their website has a wonderful set of online video and audio tours as well as many podcast lectures and virtual galleries. 

You can experience the inspiration behind Liu Fang Yuan, The Garden of Flowing Fragrance at The Huntington at this link as well as seeing other online tours and podcasts available. 

 

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Thinking About Circles of Friends

Once afternoon a month I volunteer at the Malaga Cove Library used book sale to benefit the Palos Verdes Library District. I have several circles of friends and acquaintances and my library circle is a wonderful one. I've been deeply connected with libraries all of my life and so four years ago a friend suggested I serve on an advisory board and volunteer at the book sales. I now serve on another library board, too, but it's being with people who love books and libraries that makes my heart sing. 

It was this friend, Pat, seen here with one of her grandsons, Daniel, that first got me involved. 

She is in charge of the silent auction for our big library gala coming up on Sat., March 12, 2011, among many other things that she does for the community. Friends groups at libraries play a huge role in the services a library can bring in this day of budgetary cuts in government. Themed “Around the World in an Evening,” this money hat was Pat's idea. It will be part of the silent auction. If I could elect a woman of the year in my life it would be Pat. She has a very sick husband at home but she still manages to juggle community service in her schedule. In the years I've known her, Pat has been a model of graceful aging. 

But, I realized today what sheer joy it is to cashier each month at the sales. Hundreds of people come through on book sale weekends and many of them are "regulars" so we see families grow, and hear people's stories. I've grown so fond of so many of our customers and it's like seeing a slice of life right here in our community. Our shared bond is the love of books and libraries. I just got friended on FaceBook by a young man I met only this afternoon; he came to the book sale for the first time. We have one regular who recently lost her second son and she didn't come today. That worries me. Upstairs at the library there was a talk going on about the history of Rancho Palos Verdes, as well as the chess club and the origami club. My favorite Scottish couple came with their new teacup puppy who baptized the floor in excitement, and another couple and their daughter visited and shopped and I remember how young the girls were when I first started volunteering. Peacocks were strutting in the drive way and Daniel, the young man above, came to visit his granny and became the carrier of books to people's cars. The upstairs librarians poked their heads in now and again; Pat has all kinds of home baked goodies in the kitchen on book sale weekends. 

Where am I going with all this? What should I write tonight, I asked myself? And I realized that tonight, even though I'm tired and had to do reading for a class tomorrow at church, I had a warm glow from all the interaction I had with several groups of people, including my hair dresser at 8 a.m. The beauty shop is another casual circle of friends I see every five weeks. And then there's church, my work friends, my ongoing friendship group of old friends, my art group friends, my Mac user group friends. And though I'm not with my family a lot, I do see the ones who live locally almost every week. 

Of the five sisters in my family, now only three including me, left, only two of us have continued to volunteer and stay active. The two of us are naturally gregarious--and Betty is 87. She is another role model of aging. 

And yet, I wonder if you are like this, too, I have a great need for solitude each day. As I age, I am so aware of how wonderful it is to feel relatively good and to mostly look forward to each day as it unfolds. 

But, I'm also aware of the serendipity of where one is plunked down in life and the paths so many people struggle down each day. God knows that my own paths have often been rocky. Today I am aware of how blessed I am and I am grateful about where I am in my life at age 73.