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Amy
Had you asked me Sunday morning what my favorite book is, I would have answered with absolutely no hesitation: “Gone With the Wind”. Like, it’s a part of my SOUL. Hello? It was the theme of my WEDDING. But today….today things changed. If I were going to be exiled on a deserted island for all of eternity & I could take only one book…well, I would still take Gone With The Wind because it’s longer but I would sneak this one under my shirt. It’s the most wonderful book in the whole wide world. It’s a FAIRY TALE. For ADULTS. Why did we ever stop reading fairy tales? They’re like a vacation from LIFE. They’re fun. They’re not pretentious. You don’t have to pretend to like them. You get lost & forget to eat or talk to your husband or answer your boss’s emails. I mean… I’ve heard you might do those things. I am ever diligent. And vigilant. And I will probably cry when I return this one to the library tomorrow, even though I have six of his books en route to me right now. Including this one. Here’s a convenient link for you to buy your own: 2nd greatest. Seriously. or if you want to buy me the ultra swanky signed, leatherbound edition, find it here: https://www…
It’s National Library week, & I’m ashamed I haven’t posted anything before now. Some people find solace in church. Some are most comfortable outside. And some of us would rather be in a library than anywhere else. Because, within a library, you can be anyone. You can be anywhere. There’s SO MUCH more to the library than just books. Contrary to popular belief they are not stuffy & hushed—anyone who’s been inside King Family in Sevierville afterschool can attest to that. (Although it can be quite tranquil of the morning or late afternoon). Serving on the board has opened my eyes to all the things we offer to the public AT NO CHARGE. There’s always something going on. There are computer classes for all ages & abilities, craft programs, book signings, even dance classes! They host many activities like movie night, stargazing, planting by the signs, all kinds of stuff! You can rent a classroom for your meeting needs, or research your family tree. You can make a commercial in their green room or print something on their 3-D printer. The library is a refuge. Many children, myself included, never had the option of going to a summer camp. The library offers a summer reading program, complete with snacks, crafts, & group activities. You meet people from all over the county, so you’re bound to make new friends. Through the school year, the library offers storytelling &…
About halfway through making stuffed shells, I remember why I rarely make stuffed shells. The massive pile of dirty dishes. It starts with chopping an onion & garlic. This is where Johnny is lured by the captivating smell & has to investigate what dish is underway. He leans around me & inspects the proceedings. “Got yourself a smelly little pile there, dontcha?” Meaning the onion & garlic skins. I’m more worried about draining all this spinach & note that some has managed to stick to my forearm, giving me the appearance of Sprout, the Jolly Green Giant’s sidekick. Toss onions into the oil, which spatters because I’m in a hurry & have the electric skillet up too high. The stockpot water is boiling away, so I try to add three jumbo shells at a time, as per package instructions, but quickly lose patience & dump the whole box in. Need to dig out the colander before I forget & then I’ve got a pot of noodles al dente with no place to go. Become distracted by grating cheese. Remember to add basil. Check basil plant. It’s been eaten by an unseen pest. Drag dining room chair over to cabinet to peer into the depths for dried variety. Looks a little old…oh well, better than nothing. Mix spinach, cheeses, egg, bread crumbs, & spices in mixer. Retrieve 9×13…
Growing up in the South, you will frequently hear the phrase: “Shit hit the fan.” I don’t think I ever truly understood the meaning until I went to work for Sevier County 911 dispatch. And yesterday, shit definitely hit the fan in Sevier County. Y’all all know Ruby’s burned to a crisp in Pigeon Forge on Sunday, which is hard enough to deal with. It’s terrible when it’s a home out in the county, but when it’s high profile business in the middle of town, you have to deal with all the media, too. And then the helicopter crash yesterday afternoon. You think about that. Phone rings, more than likely it’s someone ABSOLUTELY HYSTERICAL because they’ve watched a helicopter fall from the sky & burst into flames. You can’t believe your ears, you hope it’s someone off their meds but then all the phone lines light up at once as the calls pour in from hundreds of eyewitnesses. You might hear screaming from the victims. The trunk lines fill (that’s 7 phone lines with twelve calls apiece for six dispatchers to answer, if I remember correctly) & roll to the Sherriff’s department. Your first dispatcher starts doing what they do- methodically mashing buttons & maintaining a calm demeanor while in a monotone voice delivers the worst news the EMS world will probably hear all day. And from there, it all goes downhill. And by downhill, I actually mean…
It’s the last day of Carnival season. One million people are celebrating, eating beignets & king cake & dancing in the street to the music that fills the air from every corner. There’s an ache in my soul because my heart is in New Orleans but my body is at the Co-op. New Orleans (pronounced Nu Orluhns, by the way, NOT New Or-leens or Nawlins, heaven forbid) has no rivals; there are no substitutes. There’s no such thing as “too much” on Fat Tuesday. I’m not sure New Orleans even knows the meaning of excess. It makes no apologies. Anything goes. New Orleans is far too busy living life & having fun to worry about what everybody else thinks. Be like New Orleans. Happy Mardi Gras, y’all…
IThe Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins Book #4: A Young Adult Bestseller I’m not above reading YA. I believe that sometimes people disregard YA novels because they are too juvenile. You could not make a bigger mistake. Generally speaking, YA isn’t full of fancy language. It’s just easy reading & generally captivating. Since I had bought Hunger Games sometime back on the recommendation of pretty much everyone in the world, and I feel like I’m the last person left in the universe to read it, I figured I’d better hop to it. That, and because I’d broken the cardinal rule of all readers everywhere, & watched the movie a couple of years ago. That’s right, before I ever cracked the spine on the book. One of the guys at work, who never reads anything at all, even commented that it was the only book he’d ever read cover to cover for pleasure (not assigned school reading). So it HAD to be good. I found it spellbinding from the get go. I was thankful for the explanation early in the novel of how Panem, their country, came to be because I never understood that from the movie. Furthermore, Katniss’s homeland, District 12, is the Appalachians. So she’s even more near & dear to my heart. “To the everlasting credit of the people of District 12…they take part in the boldest form of dissent they can manage. Silence. Which says we…
Like most people (maybe I’m presuming a bit here), my Facebook feed is filled with memes & links & billboards. Lots of bad news, politics, & sometimes a history lesson. Occasionally it’s interspersed with an antidote or joke. I scroll through lots of hysterical cat videos. There are recipes & makeup reviews. Here & there people check in at restaurants or cool places. Families smiling & laughing & barbecuing. There are plenty of prayer requests & praise reports & pictures of babies. I see tributes to our armed forces. Shared pictures of beautiful landscapes. I read about Vols statistics & what Peyton’s up to. Not just in the fall, but year round.But here my news feed may begin to differ. Mine also consists of eggs for sale by young 4-H’ers. Trophy bucks & ducks. Sausage, freshly ground & ready for your freezer, from hogs I just saw on the hoof a mere week or two ago. I see cows & four-wheel drives & tractors. It’s also sprinkled with book recommendations.I see children & crops grow.And Lord at the horses. Thousands of horses.And Sunday night, I saw my good friend TammyLynn holding a great big crappie.TammyLynn is my newest good friend. Like all the best people, she has two first names. I met her, like I have the majority of y’all, at the Co-op. She bought bookoos of birdseed twice a…
Thoughts I have while walking on treadmill: I should have four miles in about an hour. I can do this. Lalalalala… Should have brought my radio. This would be a perfect opportunity for listening to an audio book. Wonder if I could read a REAL book without falling off? Nah. *Close my eyes & try to envision how it would go* Immediately trip. Regain balance. Wow, the ceiling is really low down here. Wonder what those nails are from? Good thing I’m not tall, I’d be claustrophobic. Guess God knows what he’s doing. These dogs stink. I can’t believe Johnny used to let dogs live in his house. Look at all the dust they generate! Why does he like it down here so much? It’s so drab. Probably because I talk so much. And he can watch what he wants to on TV. (Platoon infinity) How do I turn that TV on, anyway? {It’s a big screen that’s probably as old as I am} Can I Facebook while walking? *Try it* *Become slightly nauseated* Nope. Sigh. How far have I walked? Not even a thousand steps?!? Bull crap! Maybe I could do Instagram. Less reading. Okay. Okay. Okay. Hmm. I’m getting kinda hungry. All I’ve had is coffee…
You ever been driving along, into the sunset perhaps, & thinking how glorious it is? And you wonder if other drivers around you have even noticed the gorgeousness? Or when the sun has those slanting rays through the clouds & it’s like a spotlight to a distant point ahead? Or when the air is so clear you can see the frost on the mountain, & the mountains behind it are a crisp, visible line & you’re sure, just positive, if you had binoculars you could find a deer picking its way along a ridge? Today this hawk flew up out of a holler & right across the highway in front of me & a couple of other vehicles. And I wondered if I was the only one who noticed. Or if they just saw a bird, with no idea it was a hawk. I don’t know, I see deer & turkeys all the time on my commute, I would call it commonplace, but no one else seems to pay any attention. I don’t know what I expect them to do, though. Wave their arm out the window & point…
This was the beginning of my adventure with the Reader’s Advisory for The Sevier County Pulic Library System. I was beside myself with happiness. I don’t know how me and my ego fit through most doors. https://sevierlibrary.wordpress.com/2016/01/13/guest-resident-bloggers-1st-book-of-2016…
