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From: Massage Therapy Journal Winter 2008

Wendy Van de P*ll has answered the call of the wild in her practice. She runs a successful business in rural Sandwich, New Hampshire (....) She has been a licensed massage therapist since 2000.

Q: What inspired you to take up animal massage?

A: I used to be a wolf ecology professor. A group of us were studying wolf behavior in the wild, and one day an alpha male wolf woke up paralyzed. No one knew why. We brought in health care providers including an acupuncturist and a massage therapist. I saw how beneficial massage was for the wild wolf. He survived, walked and maintained his alpha status. At that moment, I realized massaging animals was my calling.

Q: Where do you work?

A: I travel to my four-legged clients...

Q: What are some common animal aliments?

A: It depends on the sport.

I just wish Wendy didn't live on the east coast. I think she would make one heck of an interesting dinner party guest. Can't you just imagine how it would go?

"Oh Steve, Mary...come over here. I want you to meet my friend Wendy. She massages wolves in the wild. Why don't you three chat and get to know each other a little better while I get the dinner rolls out of the oven."

It SNOWED!!!!! And I am IN LOVE!!!!

The view from our bedroom window!

Yup, definitely snow on the mountain tops.

Whew....good-bye 90 degree heat!

Yesterday the temperature dropped twenty degrees in about an hour. Big lightening and thunder activity, and rain all about, and the television kept sending out weather alerts.

When they said that there was to be .6 inches of rain in a hour, and to prepare for flooding, I kinda laughed. Back in Houston we could get .6 inches of rain just from the sweat falling from tall folks walking by on the street.

It was hard to know what to watch: our weather alert or the alerts for Hurricane Gustav, or Houston weather. In the end, it looks like all is well enough on all fronts.

But we got SNOW!!!

I got up early while the rain was still pounding and the morning sky was black with storm clouds from horizon to horizon. A perfect day to get house work done.

A task I have ignored for two weeks; sharing a room with two cats, their litter box and with very little room for our duffel bags, well, cleaning up seemed impossible.

But since the cats are now in a kennel it was time to straighten up.

(Long story on the cats...Tigs was stalking Meowsie, Meowsie lost his nerve and had an accident on Jeff's bed twice, so we decided our two would have to be housed elsewhere until we can move into the view house.)

While I was running laundry and scrubbing up the bathroom, the rain stopped, the sky cleared, and B. called out that there was indeed snow up on the mountain tops.

Naturally I grabbed my camera!

Nice pictures....but I wanted a better shot.

A walk to the end of the street showed me a prune tree heavy with unripe fruit, a green apple tree also heavy with unripe fruit, thistles in bloom and this blue flower.

OK...that was worth the walk for the flower even if there wasn't a better mountain view.

And I saw this little house. I've been thinking we'll paint our new house's shutters black, like this one. Except this one also has a very deep blue grey on the trim. Hmmm....interesting idea.

I took off walking down the street and around the corner.

The mountains hid behind hospitals, high rises and trees.

This was a good peek though.

That's quite a bit of snow actually. Darn, I wish we could drive up there and see it....but B. is more interested in getting in a round of golf. Jeff says it will be too soggy to enjoy the game; I said B. would say it is only too soggy to play golf if you have to shove Shamu the Killer Whale out the the tee box in order to play.

I *think* that is Mt. Olympus.

A pretty Japanese maple had turned color nicely. I am told the mountains will be changing color soon too.

What I want to know is what is with all the unripe fruit on the trees around here.

I saw trees full of rock hard pears, peaches, crab apples and a green thing that looked like an avocado but I know it isn't an avocado. If it was, I would be SO excited...love those things!

I thought the good sized blue cypress berries looked like frosted bells. So I took a picture...

It has been such a good day.

The house is clean, the weather is cool, the Gulf Coast is going to be OK, and I think Sarah Palin totally rocks.

Bernie read me a review that said she had the "bad girl librarian vibe."

The Boston Herald said: "She’s good-looking in that librarian-with-glasses style, hair piled up on her head."

(Why yes as a matter of fact I do know all about that naughty librarian look myself. Any moment now I will pull off my glasses, toss my hair loose and pull a man over the desk and have my way with him....oh sure...happens all the time...)

I liked this joke:

It’s the vice presidential debate.

The moment Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin mentions Hillary, Joe Biden does a Lloyd Bentsen.
“I know Hillary Clinton. Hillary Clinton is a friend of mine, and Governor, you’re no Hillary Clinton.”
But here’s Palin’s drop-dead reply: “Senator, I know your running mate, Barack Obama. And he’s no Hillary Clinton either.”
Bada boom, bada bing.

This link to Youtube clip about Palin as a Naughty Librarian by

Craig Ferguson is a hoot. I mean, really, a mother of five, and she still has got it rockin'.

Silliness aside; I seriously LOVE this woman!

The more I read, the more I like.

This election just got really, really interesting.

And to all my liberal feminist friends out there who want to vote for a woman...don't miss out...this is your big chance to put your vote where your mouth is.

Let's not suddenly start talking about "ideals"...it used to be all that mattered was the gender.

If all that matters is getting a woman elected, I think you should go ahead and make that woman in office be Sarah Palin!

A Cajun Dinner

Knowing my fellow librarian Hope B. is a delight. A Louisiana Cajun, she brings the fun loving enthusiasm and spirit of adventure to all that she does.

One of her most interesting adventures was meeting and marrying an Irish guy.
As in Northern Ireland.
Don't ask...it's complicated.
Some day I'm going to write a novel based on the romantic events that lead to their marriage.

I've even come up with a raft of possible titles for this story.

(A Clauddagh for Mardi Gras or A Cajun in Clover are two of my favorite titles right now...)

Anyway, Hope's husband Dominic is quite a guy. That's Dominic as in Doctor Dominic.
He has a Phd in Political Science and in addition to being a college prof, he also seems to manage to be invited on road trips around the globe where he is asked to contribute his brain power to studying some of the world's more ticklish peace problem.

His last trip was to the Middle East. Yeah, they have a bit of a political issue or two going on over in that neck of the woods from what I hear.

Hope and Dominic invited us over a farewell meal last Saturday. She told me that they agonized over the menu for days before realizing that what we would really enjoy most would be what we would no longer be able to get once we left Houston:

Authentic Cajun Cuisine.

Oh yeah baby! Let the good times roll!

Dominic greeted us with flutes of champagne spiked with a kiss of Grand Marnier. Just perfect to sip while Hope gave me a tour of her newly framed art collection. She and Dom travel extensively, and purchase original art or prints during each of their trips.

I loved her taste in art, especially her sentimental collection of Irish art work, and thought that Dom's taste in Egyptian art was fabulous. They also enjoy wine tasting, and have recently framed prints of a California's winery's labels that they got on their last trip to the California wine country.

The bold modern colors of the labels felt like jazz for the eyes, and were in perfect auditory harmony with the soft jazz/blues that Hope had playing in the background.

While Hope and I chatted about the art, Dominic plated our first course: Shrimp Etouffee.
Good heavens.
Why have I never had this classic recipe served on puff pastry before?
It is a fabulous appetizer concept: Skip the bed of rice and use puff pastry instead.

If all political issues are ever resolved and peace breaks out everywhere, I am comforted to know that with this single dish, Dominic could easily start a new career as a chef.

You know what they say: You should always have something to fall back on...

The meal actually had several courses that I missed photographing: Gumbo, Corn bread stuffed chicken, another shrimp dish, the salad above. I should have had either Hope or Dominic write down everything they served. I was so busy enjoying every bite and sipping my favorite wine and listening to the conversation that I forgot to do that.

It is an important detail: When they come visit us some day I will want them to create the meal again and teach me all their culinary secrets.

Salt Lake City needs this.
I need this.
How ever am I going to survive in Utah without Cajun food????

Everyone please bow their head right now!!! and pray with me:

Dear God;

Please let all political matters be permanently resolved and all world conflict end so Dominic can quit being a Phd of Political Science and become an Irish Cajun chef in Salt Lake City Utah instead.

Amen.

Did you notice the way cool square dishes that Dom served his entries on?

And that he gave me the one with Art Library written in French on it?

Seriously...is this guy a catch or what?

No Cajun/Creole meal should ever end without the flaming dessert known as Bananas Foster being served over vanilla ice cream.

Dom is a pro with a kitchen torch. While Hope had a fit because the recipe called for brown sugar and at the last moment it was discovered that the pantry was bereft of that ingredient, Dom just stirred up a new version of the classic treat.

Tasted good to me...heck, EVERYTHING that was served tasted good to me.

Great food, great wines, and great conversation followed the meal.

I never did hear the end of Dominic's story of how an Irish lad came to be married to a Louisiana girl, but I do mean find out one day.

Hope plans to celebrate her 40th birthday in Ireland in two years.

I plan to be there.

If only to hear the rest of the story.

Thanks for the wonderful evening you two!

(And don't forget you promised to take the rest of our opened and therefore unshippable liquor bottles. We'll call and bring them over just before we leave. I know you'll be glad to help us out. After all, what else are friends for, right?)

Final Day at Work

I have worked at North Harris College as an adjunct Reference Librarian for the past three years. Usually I was at work less than ten hours a week, with an occasional 19 hour week as needed.

Mostly I worked evenings.
Often it hardly seemed like work at all.

That's the way it is when you love your job and have great co-workers to work with.

I almost didn't take the job when I realized the college was a 45 minute drive from my house. But I decided that doing the drive only twice or three times a week wouldn't be too bad.
I can now say I'm glad I did decide to take it despite the drive.
It turned out that the scenery on the way was often quite interesting.

Each time I commuted to work, it took me almost 15 minutes to get out of Kingwood, then about ten minutes more on the 59 freeway to 1960, past the mall and then into rural areas that flanked the Houston airport.
On this last drive to work I was amused to see three turkey buzzards perched on fence posts. Off in the distance you can see the airport control tower.

A turn off from 1960 led to a bumpy road with nothing but prairie on either side. The clouds often are beautiful in the distance and I enjoyed seeing the seasons change in the meadow. Right now small sunflower are brightening up the roadside...merrily disguising the purpose of the land: It is designated for emergency crash landings.

Thankfully it has never has served it purpose, and I hope it never will.

Once I got to work, I was surprised to see Virginia at reference desk wearing the hat I had made for her. She has come through her cancer treatments and is now in remission! Hurrah!
She never actually needed the hat for anything other than a fashion accessory. No hair loss on her head, and she looks just great.
Don't you just love a happy ending to a cancer treatment?

Once I headed into the back I saw Norma our technical librarian also behatted. She looks adorable in a hat...I think she too should add additional initials to her titles: MLS, HFP.

(HFP: Hat Friendly Profile.)

Karen, our collections development librarian was even wearing a hat! She has firmly resisted all my attempts to convert her to the hat wearing, but wore a hat in my honor on my last day.

Hope, the Super Librarian, needs little convincing to wear a hat. She was always eager to give my newest millinery creations a try, and would LOVE to own more hats herself. Despite being quite brainy, she wears a smaller hat size, which is hard to come by.

Olia was under the weather but nevertheless made the effort to show up for the "going away" party. She and my boss Predeep went together to get me a book of poetry written by our next national poet laureate, in honor of my campus Poet Laureat program that I created for the school.

Have I mentioned how really thoughtful this group of ladies are?
They think of everything!

A group portrait.

Yes, librarians have fun AND look good wearing hats!

So it was my farewell appearance at ref desk. The students at the computers by the window didn't bat an eye to the fact that I was wearing an enormous hat.

My last look at the pine trees surrounding the school. It is a beautiful campus in a beautiful location.
The first campus poet laureate David Bell won his title based on this three line haiku on the theme "Achievement":

Achievement

North Harris College,
pine-nestled symposia
Aspirations Soar!

The refence desk is on the third floor; usually I took the elevator to get there, but the stairway gave a great view of outside.

The reference collection, only a small part of the two story library.

The library's circulation staff were greatly appreciated by me. If a book is in the correct place on a shelf, and the library user's records are in order, you have a circulation staff member to thank.
Plus they usually had better goodies to eat than we librarians did upstairs...and Terry was always good for a smile and a cheery greeting as she mange the second floor crew.

I usually made one trip downstairs each shift just to check out our display of our newest books. It was tempting to kick back in the reading area, plus... just beyond that...there were periodicals, which included Vogue and other fashion magazines.

Always good for flipping through during a slow night at desk, and of course for finding new fragances samples to rub on. That was fun too.

Libraries should be fun in my opinion.

The second floor also had an interesting collection of framed photographs of people from other cultures. I thought this girl looked so happy and relaxed that I would find myself smiling just by seeing her.

On the other hand, this little Mennonite lass always made me wonder.

She looks so very unhappy; maybe scared, maybe defiant. What was going through her young mind as the photographer focused upon her and took her picture, forever capturing the complex expression under the great big hat.

I wonder how old she must be now, and what she would think of seeing her photograph presiding over student engaged in learning at a library so far away.



I so enjoyed working with all the staff over the years at the NHC library. Each of them had distinctive personalities and interests, and I think all of them were interesting people to get to know.

In my next job I will be a solo librarian for a fourteen college campus system, with schools in eight different states. I will manage the libraries remotely, ordering books and collecting materials to support the curriculum needs and the student's success.

I know I will miss swinging into work and chatting with other librarians about ideas and activities as I did at North Harris. By the time I start at my new job on September 1st, my old library pals will be doing without both me and Hope, as she has accepted a position at another Lone Star College district campus. Things will have changed there too...it is true, nothing really ever stays the same...

Thankfully we will be able to stay in touch through email, blogs and maybe even professional conferences or two along the way.

And if all else fails, maybe they can make a trip to SLC, see the mountains, and me, and get an massage as well.

(More about that option later!)

Thanks everyone!
Best of luck in the new school year!

Gifts in the mail (Or: Kindred Spirits in the Library)

Something wonderful is going on up north and most people don't even know about it.

A year long celebration is happening in the tiny Canadian province of Prince Edward Island.
I've never been to Prince Edward Island, (commonly referred to by it's initials PEI), but have often sighed over pictures of the place; it is a jewel box of a place from what I can see.

When I returned to Houston after my time in San Diego I found a box had been delivered to my house from Canada.

The many colorful stamps with a red haired lass and other stamps depicting a house with green gables provided a clue about what was inside.

A closer look at the girl on the stamp filled in all the details: This year is the one hundredth anniversary of the publication of the children's book "Anne of Green Gables", written by the prolific and highly regarded author Lucy Maud Montgomery.

Montgomery's books about the adventures and misadventures of a young red headed orphan girl living at the turn of the last century has entertained at least four generations of readers. PEI was the setting for the story and when the book later was made into movies and television series, the lovely landscapes of Anne's world became familiar and beloved by a population much larger than the 14,000 inhabitants of the island today.



Inside the box was a book mark and an inviting bag of tea. The package was a gift/reward from a fellow blogger/ school librarian/PEI resident "Kathie" who writes the blog Island Sparrow . A month or so back she had a prize contest for people who would send her the names of their favorite children's books.

Kathie also had a mystery: One of her favorite books that she had read as a child was about a boy who had been taken captive by Indians. The boy was not accepted until he learned to hoot like an owl. Kathie said she could remember clearly the illustrations, but had never been able to find a copy of the book today, nor could she remember the title or author of the book.

She offered a "super reward" to anyone who could solve her mystery.
I read her post at reference desk, ( s-l-o-w night....) and pounced on the chance to win.
Using a myriad of highly sophisticated proprietary databases, and my own brand of "thinks different" approach to the problem, I soon had the title, author and illustrator of the work, as well as the name of the nearest public library with a copy in their collection.

Ta-da!

I won!
(The title? "Hoot Owl". The illustrator turned out to the be same illustrator that Kathie has been writing about in her post. No wonder she remembered that book's illustrations!)

Anyway...good to her word, Kathie not only sent me a bookmark and tea, she upped the package content with a honest-to-goodness Anne of Avonlea/Anne of Green Gables signature straw hat with Anne style red braids attached!

How sweet!

Then she put some mustard on the gesture:

"We want to see a picture of you wearing this in your library!" Kathie added.

(You should never trust a Canadian. They are a sneaky bunch who will always slip a twist into an activity whenever possible. I personally think this is why they have two official languages in their country, English is for everyday use, and French for when they are plotting ways to tease Americans. They usually do their plotting and planning in those Provinces that we Americans can never spell correctly and therefore never visit. If you can't spell names like Sasakawa (which even spell check in blogger isn't sure is the correct spelling) Manitoba and Saskatchewan, you can hardly book a flight to the place, let alone go about asking for directions, right?
And don't get me started about that provinces with that they ambiguously referred to as Northwest Territory. I mean really, what exactly is it? Is it a territory or is it a province? Why not just call it a "state" or "Vast Desolate Cold Unpopulated Area" and be done with it?)

(B. and I even had to have a discussion about what Canadians call what we call "states"...it took a bit and we thought they were called "providences". I used that spelling in my original posting and have since corrected it after Lovella pointed out that actually they are called "provinces". I wondered what Vince did that made everyone be so in favor of him so I looked it up. Sure enough, it was from a French word, which as I noted above, is the language Canadians use when they want to be tricky....)

Where was I?

Oh yes, the hat.

Being a really good sport, and because I too LOVE Anne, I decided we here in Houston should also take a moment to take part in PEI's celebration.

With the cooperation of my fellow librarians, we declared "Anne of Green Gables/Avonlea/Lucy Maud Montgomery Day" at North Harris College.

Hope was on board, naturally. She is a kindred spirit of the finest kind. Cajun girls like her welcome fun whenever and wherever fun can be found.

Oh yeah...Let the good times roll!

New on staff Librarian Norma (who speaks with a native Spanish accent,) was also willing to be called "Carrots" for a bit.

(I think she preferred to be called "la zanahoria" though.)

Librarian Karen was good for a moment of channeling Anne to Texas.

Our Olia, the librarian with Ukrainian ancestry, was game too.
I wonder if the Anne books have been translated to Ukraninian? And if Canada would consider naming any future provinces "Ukraine" because it is also tricky to spell?

And here I am, as promised, decked out in a white summer dress, feeling decidedly "Anne-ish" as I go about my duties.

(Note to Lovella: About your haircut today: Have you considered going with a nod towards Anne's hairstyle, to show solidarity with your country's stylish icon? They can do amazing things with hair extentions now you know. It would only have to be that way until the end of 2008...that's only four more months, and you could enjoy wearing a hat every day to boot! I know you are proud to be a Canadian...this is your chance to prove it!)

(Tiggie, the Faithful Orange cat declined to participate.)

~

Party on, PEI!

We here in Texas salute you!

Thinks different.

Awhile ago I had someone point out that my URL: http://jillthinksdifferent.blogspot.com/ was grammatically incorrect.
I was informed it should have been entered as "jill thinks differently."

(My cat Hart's toes on one foot.)

Grammatically speaking, it would have been a correct phrase had the word "different" been replaced with the word "differently."
Now I do not profess to be a grammarian as anyone with even a passing interest in the subject will notice if they read my blog regularly.
I let word fly freely, and they don't always fall in grammatically perfect order.

But...actually I did mean "different" and not differently.

You see, I am a reference librarian.
I am not a cataloguing librarian (although I can and have done cataloguing in the past; I even catalogued an art collection using a modified Getty classification system, a fact that only a fellow librarian could fully appreciate.)
Reference librarians DO think "different."

The other day at "ref desk" (as we casually refer to the space where we librarian sit and play "stump the chump" with anyone who feels like pitching us a question) my fellow librarian Virginia noted that she always notices what is different about each item that she encounters. The other librarian, Margaret, had worked as a cataloguing librarian, and said that she generally notices what is similar when confronted with a collection of items.

It was a "BINGO!" moment for all three of us.

(Hart's other foot. Cute toes, different from his other toes!)

I always initially analyzed thing by how they are unique.
Later I may try to find ways to say how a thing is similar to other things.
But it is a uniqueness that interests me most.



Hand me a bowl full of tangerines, and I can probably find a way to create individual identities for each piece of fruit.
Ditto people, place and things; ideas and experiences; sounds, views, and textures.
And cat paws. I love it when cats have different colored toes.
It makes them more special, and show how they are unique.
(Thanks to Adan for showing his toes and sparking this post!)

About now you are probably saying to yourself:

"But Jill, what has all this have to do with MILLINERY? Focus, woman. We want to know more about millinery!"

Well, what it has to do with millinery is this:
People who think like cataloguers look at hats and say things like:

"Oh, it's green...it's a Robin Hood hat!"

or

"It is a stewardess hat"
(just because it is a rectangle shape sitting low on the forehead without a brim.)

or

"It would be perfect to wear to a funeral!"

(Just because it has a black veil? Never mind that it is sparkling with sequins and rhinestones, and the hat has a jaunty feather bobbing over one ear, and is actually a cocktail hat...)



People love to relate hats to movies:

"Gone with the Wind!"
(any wide brim hat with a flower)
"Cigarette girl!"
(any small round brimless hat)
"Annie Hall!"
(Fedora...as seen by one age group)
"Katherine Hepburn!"
(Fedora...as seen by another age group)
"Waltzing Matilda!"
(One side of brim turned up)
"Shriners!"
(A fez)

Those kinds of comment used to bug me a tad.

(I love how this hat stumps people until they finally decide it is a saloon girl hat. Like they have been in so many saloons!)

Now I really do appreciate people with cataloguer minds. They make my life easier in many ways. For instance, I appreciate that when I go to the grocery store, each aisle has been neatly catalogued for my convenience.

I don't have to hunt all over the store for apple juice, grape juice and pineapple juice.
They have all been catalogued as "Juice" and sit close together in one area.

But it is my "think different" mind that helps me make my selection.

I notice a clear sweet golden yellow juice is "apple juice"
The dark opaque brown juice is "prune juice"
The cloudy yellow tart juice is "grapefruit juice"

Each juice is indeed "different."
And to me, the differences are critical when I make my selections.
A gulp of grapefruit juice as simply "juice" when actually I was wanting "apple juice" is a very unsettling experience!

A good cataloguer knows how to catalogue so you can find each kind of the juice by it's description.

But first they have to notice what is the biggest "same" about anything.

Liquid: Consumable: Fruit: Clear: Sweet

(That would do it for apple juice)

As a reference librarian I spend a lot of time working with people who think "same" in order to determine specifics, or "different" to provide them with what they really need.
Sticking with the juice example, it goes sort of like this:

Someones comes up to me and says the equivalent of
"I need a liquid."

I have to ask:
"What do you want to do with the liquid? Drink it, wash with it...?"

They say:
"I want to drink it."

I say:
"Do you want water or a flavor?"

They say:
"I want a flavor"

I say:
"Sweet, sour, bitter, salty?"

They say:
"Sour"

I say:
"Sour like lemon, or sour like grapefruit"

You get the drift here I am sure.

A cataloguer mind (at it's lowest level) goes to an art gallery and comes out of the art gallery and thinks: "I saw a lot of pictures."
If you take them to another art gallery they will think "I saw more pictures."
If pressed, the cataloguer might state: "I saw pictures of flowers in one, and pictures of boats in the other."

Sigh.
(I don't like going to art galleries with those kinds of people.)

I guess it takes some effort in order to see the difference between two painting.
It takes a bit of concentration to observe, for example, that one painting is of daffodils in sunshine, while another is of sunflowers in the shadows.

It does take a bit of thinking to go beyond an acknowledgement of a canvas, paint and frame creates more than just a "Picture"

And to see that every painting of sunflowers really isn't "just like" van Gogh's sunflowers."

I'm here to say that each hat, (or cat for that matter) is a unique creation.

Each hand made hat is different, and enjoyable in and of itself, even if it does have elements that are similar to other iconic hats.

Do yourself a favor: Look at a hat to see how it is different.

Then try doing that with everything you encounter in your day.

I think you will find it enjoyable.

Well, I think that is enough for today. I want to thank Laura for taking such great pictures of Hart's toes, and thank Hart for providing visual interest to this post.

Bonus material:

If you managed to look at these two pictures and pushed past "top hat" and "riding hat" to really look and enjoy before you scrolled down, I think you are "thinking different" now too!