The bottom pen lasted two weeks. That’s a personal best. I’m glad I bought a 5 pack, because I’m obsessed with this brown ink.
Pens
Author: Shelly
Snacks
I’ve been trying to do better with taking healthy snacks to work with me, so I stay away from the vending machine. Today it’s a granny smith apple, mandarin orange sections, red grapes, and blueberries. I’ve had good luck with blueberries lately. Often they’re mealy and flavorless, but these are tart and crisp.
Black Walnut Trees
The trees in this little wooded area are all twisted, because invasive honeysuckle vines have deformed them. These are black walnuts. You can see the remains of last fall’s seed heads along the tops of the branches.
The weather was amazing yesterday. Sunny and mid-70sF, with a sky full of wispy cirrus clouds.
Polly
Polly went back to the vet today for another round of bloodwork. She’s hyperthyroid, which is super common with old cats. She’s not quite where she needs to be yet, but she’s better. We’re going to up her thyroid meds and recheck in a few more weeks.
She is the unspiciest tortie cat ever. She just sat there, wrapped up in her little burrito, chilling.
A Cautionary Tale
Death Index Entry from Ancestry.com
Always look at the image, if it’s available. I submitted some edits a few days ago to the memorial for Theresa C. Rogers’ Findagrave memorial. The death date on the stone was 1965, and the birth date matched the Theresa Cecelia Partington I was researching Her parents were in buried in the same cemetery, and if you look at the wider photo at Findagrave, you’ll see she’s in the Partington family plot. Her husband, Frances Rogers, is not buried there. He was apparently cremated and his ashes buried on a golf course.
So when I saw this death index entry, I had a moment of panic. The entry is definitely for her. It includes both her maiden and married surnames. But the death date was 1958. Did I mess up and submit edits for the wrong memorial at Findagrave? That would be bad. I almost messaged the memorial owner to ask them to ignore the edits I’d submitted (they hadn’t been approved at that point). But then I looked at the death index image. Someone had mistranscribed the death date. They’d used the age at death instead. I added a correction at Ancestry.
Always, always, always look at the image, if there is one. The death index is short on details, but it also gives a death location, which I didn’t have. I’m glad I found it and took the time to figure out what was going on.
Cherry Tomato
I’ve been watching this cherry tomato slowly turn into a raisin. Eventually one of the custodians will sweep it up, but I’m not holding my breath.
Pinked
I put a roll of washi tape in an old tape dispenser, and now I’m obsessed with the little pinked edges. I also bought a pair of 3mm pinking shears, for wider rolls. And for everything else, because all the things must be pinked.
Also, it’s been so long since I used my blog that the dashboard and editor have changed drastically. Thanks, I hate it.
ETA: Alsoalso, I changed the blog template. I’m not loving it, but the main column is a little wider. The columns on the old template were super skinny.
Shelfie
Someone on Reddit was trying to figure out how to use a Moleskine notebook for multimedia art journaling. The overwhelming advice was “Don’t.” Several people recommended hand-binding their own books, which is easy and very satisfying. But you can also use cheap composition notebooks, and Strathmore makes some really nice multimedia coil-bound journals. One benefit to coil-bound notebooks is that there’s less chance you’ll overfill the notebook and stress or break the binding. I know people love a nice, fat journal. It’s not a good idea to add a lot of bulk to them, though. I’ve overfilled a few, but I’ve learned strike a balance. Most of mine, whether I bound them or bought them, lie fairly flat.
Exit
Look Up
We have hybrid schedules, since going back to working on-site. I love working remotely, but on my remote days I miss walking in the stacks. This was taken on the 10th floor, where the photography books are kept. Like art books (those are on the 9th floor), photography books are often oversized. Only unlike the 9th floor, which has recently been remodeled to accommodate large art books, the 10th floor stacks aren’t set up for the size or volume of books it houses. The stacks are too close together, and when there are books hanging half off the shelves, because they don’t fit, you feel a bit like they’re going to cave in on you from above.
And no, I’m sure a lot of our stacks aren’t ADA compliant. The building opened in 1970, I think, and the stacks floors are largely unrenovated. You could not fit a wheelchair or scooter between the stacks. I’m not sure you could even fit a walker between them. And people, including staff, leave step stools between the stacks. Every time I walk, I move the step stools out of the way, because the stacks shouldn’t be an obstacle course.
red paper boat 