Tuesday Slice: A royal apology

I'm sorry, beautiful Monarch

(you're the biggest I've ever seen, by the way)

I didn't realize you'd sense

the milkweed plant ensconced in a mesh tent

I knew, as you landed atop the synthetic barrier

yellow flowers muted by the white below your feet 

your abdomen curling, testing

 that you really wanted to lay that egg

but you see, I already have several

of your kin to feed

and I'm afraid there's not enough to go around.

I missed the photo opportunity, standing at my kitchen counter and watching the enormous butterfly land on the pop up tent protecting several caterpillars from would-be predators. I am seriously concerned that they will eat through the milkweed before I can procure more; we've been on the hunt for plants for three days with no success at nurseries nearby.  I may have to drive a bit to find more food for my voracious crawlers.

Looks big, but less than a half-inch in this photo.
One of four, possibly five in the tent.

 

Tuesday Slice: First week highs and lows

I felt rusty, out of practice, as the first class entered the Story Castle.  It helped to sing the familiar songs and read the stories used for library orientation, the back-and-forth chants and the nodding of heads knocking off the rust.  Library expectation lessons with the older students went well thanks to the helpful suggestion of using a Jamboard for each class, organizing our rules according to the school's safe-respectful-responsible guidelines.  The giggles happened on cue when I mentioned that all bets were off if a T-rex entered the library--screaming and running allowed then.  I saw smiling eyes above masks as our scholars walked or danced out of the library with their books in hand.

The week felt chaotic, though.  Some students are still struggling with adapting to in-person learning again.  The flow just isn't there yet, though I should hardly have expected it this first week back in the library.  The schedule will have to change again this week as the lunch schedules were tweaked last Friday, and we are all hitting the ground running after a three-day weekend.

I long for routine days, for the flexibility they allow within their framework.  In this pandemic, I think we could all benefit from some stability.  I'm hoping the dust will settle soon.    

Virtue? What virtue? --Spiritual Journey Thursday

Karen has given us the prompt of exploring a virtue(s) for this month's Spiritual Journey reflection. You can find her own post here.

I have perused the list of virtues that Karen provided several times now, trying to make a personal connection.  It is Thursday evening, past my intended bedtime, and I am tired to the bone.  I want to think of positive examples of those lovely virtues, but all my rumination leads to the lack of those qualities in myself and my surroundings. 

Virtue:  Energy                Chris:  Exhaustion

Virtue:  Orderliness          Chris:  Messy desks at work and at home

Virtue:  Acceptance          Chris:  Pouting in a corner

I have been operating in deficit mode this past week, fueled by envy.  Not the kind that Jay Shetty warns about in Think Like a Monk; I don't wish those whom I envy any less than what they have.  I am fully capable of co-celebrating others' successes.  I may not have been cheerleader material in high school, but I can do so in thoughts and prayers and affirming messages as an adult.  But when I turn from those spotlights to face some of my own challenges, the envy lurks in the shadows. 

My hope is that this unrest, this tiredness of the way things are, this envy of how things can be better...are the beginning pains of something great about to be birthed.  I can stop pouting, and instead take solace and rest in the dark.  I don't necessarily need to do anything about it; I can wait until opportunities arise, easing the way out.  Labor doesn't last forever. 

All I need is...patience.  Finally, a virtue with which I can connect.    

Tuesday Slice: Anticipation

Anticipation

This is the week.  Today is the day.

The shelves are full to overflowing

books lying horizontal on top of neat rows

Tables are rearranged and cleared

lessons at the ready in a digital file

Sitting dots placed in the Story Castle

orienting read-alouds at hand

Brand-new titles sit facing out in one case

proudly displayed on top of another

New shelf markers are itching to be used.

 

Tuesday Slice: The joy and the pain

I'll never forget the joy I felt ordering books for the first time as a librarian.  I can't forget it, because nine years later, I still feel that joy.  I start stocking my shopping carts even as the previous year's budget is spent, loading them up with award winners from spring announcements and recommendations from publishers, blogs, and other librarians.  There's always a series or three to fill, too.

This past spring was no different, except that I have the added challenge of spiffying up an older collection.  (Yes, I know I made a word up there.)  I have to balance out my wants--all those bright, shiny new publications--with my needs--updated nonfiction, replacing worn classics to increase their curb appeal.

After receiving my district book budget this year, I peeked at the shopping carts I'd started on my two favorite jobbers' sites...and the pain hit.  I am already just over my budget limit, and I need to keep some funds in reserve for next year's Bluebonnet Award nominees and books from the spring library conference.  

Do I start culling my list...or do I ask for more money from my campus?

I think it will be less painful to do the latter.  I have a feeling they love the joy of new books, too.

Tuesday Slice: Pare it down to three

After the dishwasher is emptied and my coffee is made, I started my morning brain dump. (Julia Cameron calls it "morning pages", but what I write isn't anywhere near as elegant as that term, nor the three page length she suggests--one page is all I have time for.)  

Since it is the beginning of the school year--students start tomorrow--my mind is racing with the multitude of tasks that must be completed to get the library up and running.  Clearing spaces, rearranging tables and materials and shelves, downloading and uploading Excel spreadsheets for ID badges--oh, and a schedule for the classes to come in for their pictures for those badges--cataloging materials, planning read-alouds, making the orientation lessons, finishing the bulletin board, reviewing the budget, working on required professional development, decorating the library (have to check with fire marshal regulations), and...and...and...

I look to the sticker I placed on my page.  "Things take time."

I look back to my brain dump.  What can reasonably be done today, knowing that my time will be punctuated with teacher requests and emails that will need answers?  What will bring me closer to being ready for tomorrow?

Clear the space and rearrange tables and shelves.

Catalog the most needed materials.

Prep for badge-making.

That's it.  If those three things get done, I can breathe a bit easier when students arrive tomorrow.  If I can shelve some books to clear even more space, that would be icing on the proverbial cake.  

I tell myself to breathe and keep breathing.  Things take time.  Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither will the 21-22 library program.

(On a related note...I am looking forward to ordering my 2022 Plum Paper Vertical Priorities planner with a space to list three must-do tasks each day.  I think it will be balm for my frazzled spirit.)

Tuesday Slice: Redux

 

Politicized to the point where

Anyone's opinion is accepted as fact

Nurses and

Doctors and scientists, the actual

Experts, shaking their heads--

Must we keep making the same

Ignorant mistakes?

COVID remains in the headlines.

We are entering another year of teaching in a pandemic, and it feels more dangerous to me this year than last.  We know more about mitigation, yet the government refuses to mandate those measures, pandering to their base instead of science.  The lack of mandates increases the risk for educators and students, especially those of us in elementary schools this fall.  

Once more, into the fray...