With the purchase agreement signed and two-days to deposit the earnest money, we are one step closer to owning the “villa” on Solstice Place.
While there is still a myriad of decisions to be made some details are known. We have a sketch of our new home. We know the exterior colors. A large portion will have horizontal-siding in a rich indigo reminiscent of new blue jeans. The gable peaks will be finished in driftwood-colored shakes (imagine sunlight on silvery gray wood washed up on a rocky Lake Superior shore.)
After several weeks of graph paper drawings using a scale ruler, we know exactly where the in-floor electrical plugs will be set into our slab-on-grade floor. I determined the “perfect” placement of our furniture (everything fits!) I even modified the bathroom layout to ensure we have sufficient space to easily accommodate the turning radius of a wheelchair (should one of us need this accommodation.) We have earmarked two media consoles as possibilities in the TV Room to hold a new 65-inch screen and our existing external sound bar. Between online wish lists and upcoming showroom visits we hope to narrow additional choices quickly and minimize expensive change orders.
As someone who loves to “play in the dirt” and is anxiously awaiting the thawing of my raised beds, I appreciate the imagery and reminders offered by Elizabeth Alexander – poet, musician, composer, and fellow Minnesotan. Her advice to “trust the seeds” goes beyond just the feel of the garden trowel in my hand and extends to good advice for life in these scary, turbulent times.
Trust the Seeds
Trust the seeds, although they lie in darkness, Stirring beyond your watchful eye. Though they may not flower as you dreamed they would, When the planting’s over you must trust the seeds.
Some soon bloom to fill your heart with wonder, Some only after you are gone, You must give them freedom to grow as they should. Give them room to spread their roots, and trust the seeds.
In your heart, you know that some may wither, All you can do is hope and pray. Some will rise up grander than you dreamed they could. There is joy in planting if you trust the seeds.
I am a librarian and unabashedly proud of my lifelong career choices. While I was a frequent library visitor as a child, my passion for libraries began when I was ten. During the summer of 1962, between 4th and 5th grades, my mother and a group of her friends worked tirelessly, under the supervision of Mrs. Berlin (the head of children’s services at the public library) to collect and catalog a new school library. It was cobbled together from eight disparate classroom collections and a generous selection of new titles acquired during a successful parish-wide book sale. When school began that fall, along with my best friends Cindy and Jeannie, I began helping in the library after school. As that academic year ended, the PTA sponsored a school-wide contest. I wrote one of the winning essays about the importance of our new library. And, lest you think there as favoritism because Momma was the new volunteer librarian, the essays were submitted anonymously and judged by the PTA officers. I still have the prize – a hard cover copy of the Indian Ocean Adventure by Arthur C. Clarke.
There are those antagonists who claim libraries are no longer needed because everyone can simply buy their books through Amazon. While admittedly a quick source for just about everything from hoses to vitamins, book buying necessitates sufficient discretionary, disposable income. And, even for those of means, there is the practicality of borrowing from the library in solidarity with the 3-Rs – reduce, recycle, reuse.
With nearly five decades of practical experience, I can attest not everything is available through Amazon.
There was the distance learner who was able to complete her PhD. in nursing while employed in a small-town health clinic because expensive medical resources from the University of Minnesota were delivered to her local library though interlibrary loan. Interlibrary loan services that are at risk because the current administration has deemed federally supported intergovernmental library cooperation unnecessary.
The little ones whose caregivers brought them to the library for pre-school storytimes full of stories and pictures, rhymes and alliterations, enhancing early brain development through language.
The students who avoided the dreaded summer slump in reading scores because summer library programs energized curious young minds with books and reading, as well as thematic games and crafts.
The people who filed unemployment claims or submitted job applications at the library’s public access computers because their home situation did not afford internet connectivity, whether because of financial stress or the simple lack of bandwidth in the more rural parts of our state.
With the celebration of National Library Week drawing to a close, remember the times you have been drawn to the library and smile.
Celebrate your library during National Library Week and every week. Library services enhance your life and the life in your community whether by sparking creativity, offering a safe community hub, empowering job seekers, protecting the right to read, connecting people with technology, or nurturing young minds while continuing to provide a book collection for all ages. Join others under this year’s theme, Drawn to the Library and celebrate.
Special days and focus:
Monday, April 7 – Right to Read Day
Tuesday, April 8 – National Library Workers Day
Wednesday, April 9 – National Library Outreach Day
Thursday, April 10 – National Take Action for Libraries Day, a day to rally support for libraries.
Practicing our right to assemble has morphed from an occasional occurrence triggered by an extraordinary event into a regular activity.
My first rally of 2025 was on a frigid, below zero, February day protesting the administration’s rough handling of local immigrants. It was Rochester’s reaction to an early morning ICE raid which removed two restaurant workers without any communication with their families or access to legal assistance. We eventually learned they were removed to a maximum security, for-profit prison in Louisianna despite being in the midst of asylum-seeking legal procedures.
Today’s demonstration was one of over 1,200 of Hands Øff rallies held around the country. Hundreds gathered in Rochester, tens-of-thousands at the Capitol in St. Paul with nearby events from Austin to Wabasha, as well as in every state capitol. This was about showing up, being seen, being heard, and not backing down. Some participants carried signs listing a range of worries, others held hand drawn poster boards focused on specific uncertainties ranging from Social Security to cancer research, from free speech to reproductive rights, from education to national parks; and, of course, hands off libraries. The list goes on and on as it seems nothing about American life is sacred or safe.
I find being aware of the administration’s latest shenanigans, whether I do a quick check or a deep dive, puts a bruise on my spirit and I must remind myself to look to beauty. Poet Lynn Ungar wrote this verse yesterday as we readied ourselves for today’s Hands Øff rally and the work yet to come.
April 5th
I don’t know how this all turns out, and neither do you, but I have to confess it doesn’t look good. I wish we were headed for a picnic, for a waltz in the park. I wish we were not ruled by broken men who want to damage everything that they cannot possess. I wish I could tell you what we do now. The street is littered with the petals of cherries that bloomed before the big wind came. Tonight there will be frost, and tender buds will burn. But still, the woods are unfolding into green, and just outside my door some frog is bellowing for all he’s worth. Who knows what happens next? All I can tell you is that the fields are ablaze with dandelions who have never known the meaning of defeat.
Depending on the era, librarians and library trustees have not been immune from attacks on library collections. What is different today is the scope and scale of the intent to thwart basic library services.
Within the tsunami of Executive Orders coming from the Oval Office, libraries and museums came under attack on March 14. By Monday, March 31, ALL staff at the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) were placed on leave. And, State Library Agencies were notified that their federally funded grants were terminated, effective April 1, 2025.
Cloaked in sheep’s clothing under the guise of reducing the federal bureaucracy, this is really a wolf huffing and puffing to blow the house down. While local tax dollars fund a major portion of library operations, in big and small communities, the federal funding is the glue that unites libraries into an effective network sharing system.
In Minnesota, these federal funds which “the President has determined are unnecessary” [Section 1. Purpose] fund a wide range of programs and services affecting daily library operations and individual library users. Among those services in jeopardy but not limited to just these:
MNLINK or statewide interlibrary loan and delivery, which ensures that residents have access to the information needed to fulfill their lives, regardless of geographic location.
Minnesota Digital Library (MDL) – a unique partnership with local history centers and libraries to digitize fragile historical items and provide a snapshot of Minnesota life through the centuries with easy online access to over 60,000 pictures, maps, letters, postcards, and objects.
eLibrary Minnesota (ELM) – a broad selection of online research databases for users seeking information for class assignments, improving career skills, or seeking reputable medical information.
The entire IMLS budget, including staffing, offices, and the pass-through funding to each state and territory constitutes 0.00146% of the federal budget. An amount so small within a ginormous budget that were this a science experiment an electron microscope would be required yet huge in meeting the needs of individual library users. Please contact your Members of Congress and urge your Senators and Representative to protect federal funding for libraries by preventing the dismantling of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).
Graphic credit: show up for our libraries – American Library Association (ALA). MNLINK, MDL, and eLm – Minitex.
…it is time for Knit Camp’s 2025 Spring String Mystery Knit-along (MKAL).
The first clue dropped today without any April Fools tomfoolery. The remainder of the pattern will be revealed over the next four weeks. Just like a well-written dust jacket blurb that offers story hints without giving away the plot, the pattern’s pre-release notes provided an overview sufficient to know this will be a triangular shawl, in three colors using fingering weight yarn.
Colors: Farmers Market, Pumpkin Spice & Macrame
The yarn for Postcard from the Edge is a lovely selection of hand-dyed, organic Merino from Heather Best at Sew Happy Jane. And, with a move to a new house always on the fringe of my consciousness, there will be three fewer skeins to pack and move as I did a “stash dive” for this project.
While every cemetery holds hallowed ground, the rolling green hills of Arlington National Cemetery go beyond the grief filled quiet found in other places. The space, the land, the very air holds that which is holy knowing each white marble headstone, row upon row, represents an individual braver than I am. Whether volunteers or draftees, these men and women were willing to pay the ultimate sacrifice for our American way of life.
The Washington Post recently revealed that the sweeping efforts to exclude any reference to diversity, equity, and inclusion by the new administration’s Department of Defense has resulted in information about notable African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and women buried at the Cemetery being unpublished, altered, or hidden. My librarian’s heart and my American soul hurt knowing that DOD has blocked or removed information about these brave Americans simply because their stories have been deemed too “woke”.
I am not a military strategist. But it seems to me that with a growing list of global hot spots potentially threatening national security, DOD staff time would be better spent focusing on today’s threats rather than obscuring historical information on its various websites. The valiant efforts of the Tuskegee Airmen or the stories of brave women pilots who flew planes from manufacturing centers to the front in WWII should not be hidden simply because the individuals who performed those tasks were not white males.
Photo details – While laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier occurs frequently, I have only ever known one person who performed this ritual. I was invited to attend the ceremony when my dear friend Margaret retired from senior service at the Pentagon. I regret my decision to stay in Minnesota to manage some long-forgotten library task. I wish I had followed my heart to Washington, D.C. when she performed this honorable act on January 6, 2012.
This photo captures the moment she presented a wreath to the honor guard. Her husband Tom, a retired Air Force Colonel, stood to her left and her two sons stood at attention. (Edward in the Marine uniform and Peter in AirForce blue. He is still on active duty as a Lieutenant Colonel and Squadron Commander.)
The first snowfall at our newly purchased house – November 1985
Even as we excitedly peruse electrical, plumbing, and tiling websites to identify possibilities for the new “villa” at 5314 Solstice Place, we recognize we will experience daily “lasts”. Our last Christmas is already a memory. And, while the garden is still being planned, we did not realize when we planted the garlic cloves last fall that we were beginning our last gardening season on First Street.
For a majority of our lives this has been our home – 40 of 42 married years; 40 of my 72 and 40 of Richard’s 78 years. It is tempting to simply look towards September, to focus on the myriads of decisions in an effort to make this shiny new building project and the move as easy as possible. Conversely, it would be easy to get lost in the memories. To reminisce about late nights spent with the steam gun and a putty knife as we removed seven layers of smoke permeated wallpaper in the dining room; the residual nicotine so heavy that the house smelled like an old-time beer bar. To laugh at the number of times we washed and moved buckets and buckets of river rock around our lot – raked from one garden path to another. Maybe, just maybe, we can manage a blend of something old and something new. But today, after yesterday’s blizzard, I will be happy to pack away my last memory of snow shoveling. Fingers crossed that winter weather cooperates.
The winter wait between the last Formula 1 race in Abu Dhabi and the new season in Melbourne is over. The first three free practice sessions of the 75th anniversary year are complete with qualifying and the race yet to come. The winter dry spell was made slightly more palatable as we watched three days of pre-season testing in Bahrain, the release of Drive to Survive – Season 7, and the recent discovery of @CadenceBraking, a well-informed female TikTok influencer with a passion for racing, especially F1.
I am pleased with the results of these three practice sessions – McLaren papaya and Ferrari red were fast and, unexpectedly, Williams blue joined the quick queue, although poor Ollie Bearman, in Haas white, crashed not once but twice.
P.S. After qualifying – McLaren locked out the front row with Lando Norris on pole and Oscar Piastri starting second for his home race.
P.P.S. On the podium – Lando Norris as winner, Max Verstappen, second, and George Russell in third.
Knit+ Librarian 