When we last left it, the incapacitated bookmobile was camping out under the stars. At the end of the week it was repaired, and the last two weeks have been about as normal as it gets.
This past Friday, a patron told me, "It's not easy getting old," a sentiment that I hear quite a bit. She selected five or six books; I checked them out, and she continued to browse. A couple of minutes went by, then she asked, "Have I gotten anything yet?"
The moral of this story is obvious, yet so often overlooked by so many of us--myself included. As Warren Zevon put it, "Enjoy every tuna fish sandwich."
I hope everyone enjoys their holiday weekend. Happy Fireworks!
The WOWMOBILE spent last night out under the stars, and while it was a clement evening, needless to say this was not by design. As with a bus, the bookmobile has a pneumatic device that "kneels" the vehicle for easier patron ingress and egress. Well, at my first stop on Monday morning WOW knelt but did not rise, and whatever malfunctioned did so to the extent that the wheel well is now resting on the rear tire on the passenger side. To condense the story, when the mechanic finally did arrive, he was--not surprisingly--unable to jack the vehicle up high enough to assess the problem.
And so the better part of my day was spent sitting under a tree reading an old (1948) book by Bernard Devoto, The Hour, a darkly jocular meditation on what does (rye, bourbon, or a gin martini) and what does not (everything else) constitute a proper cocktail. "Darkly jocular" may seem an oxymoron, but I think it appropriate. When speaking, for example, of "The Enemy," Mr. DeVoto (who has quite a way with words) likes to write sentences such as, "I am not concerned with [them]...unless you think it possible to sterilize or massacre them on a sufficiently rewarding scale." Around four o'clock the library got a van out to pick me up.
Today I took said van and did my stops, while scientists studied how to raise and repair the bookmobile. As I write, it remains where I left it. Sleep tight, My Prince.
The June calendar throws a few curves at us as a 1-3 Monday is followed by 2-4 Tuesday, Wednesday, etc., and as much as I'd like to say that that's old hat for me, I'm always confused. As confused as I am, I've never taken the wrong route, but in my early days I certainly missed stops because I didn't know where I was going, and of course I've left my fair share of books behind on the loading dock.
So, what great things have happened this week? Fortunately, no one has ever passed out or died on the WOWMOBILE; which is not such a big deal, you say, but in the same vein while I've never missed a meal, I still give thanks for each one I do enjoy.
At Bookmobile-Outreach Services, we are blessed with a visionary department head who had the idea that in addition to offering traditional services we should also offer programming a la a brick and mortar library. We have just completed a fabulously successful season of "Book Talks," each of which was far better than the initial one that was done by yours truly. "Book Talks" will be on hiatus until the Fall; however, we will close the season with a musical program featuring the Library's own Dewey Decibelles singing selections from the songbook of Rodgers and Hammerstein.
Our library has a number of women with beautiful singing voices; why we don't have a full-time choral group is beyond me. I also strongly believe that, in addition to its regular complement of staff, any proper library should have, if not a corps of, at least a butler or two to assist the patrons. I may be out of step with others in the field here, but I can't deny my feelings.
A sense of humor is useful at any stage of life but of particular value as one grows older. Of course I realize laughter comes more or less easily depending on your particular role in life's little happenstances.Recently my mother was at a family function.To digress, my mother likes to use the word "function" to describe any gathering of people. "The neighbors next-door had a function celebrating the anniversary of Little Tommy's birth.""Oh, a birthday party.""Uh, yes, you could say that."Anyway, at this particular function, my mother encountered a distant relative, someone she hadn't seen for decades, and the gentleman hazarded this observation: "Oh, Sally, how you have changed!" My mother was miffed no little bit but held her tongue.Later, she did not; still smarting, she mentioned the remark to her first cousin. "Well," he said suavely, "you used to be so pretty." Ouch-a-mungo! In football, this would be called "piling on" I believe, and when we're compiling our phrase dictionary it will certainly make an excellent citation for adding insult to injury.The WOWMOBILE, fluid levels checked and topped yesterday afternoon, is resting comfortably in the garage for the long weekend. Happy Memorial Day to all. I have to go up and shave and shower, and then I will pick my mother up and take her to a family func...picnic, Picnic, PICNIC!
Last week I started--online--at what some people call "library school." This week, I dropped my classes--the technology overwhelmed me a bit. As many of you know, "Libraries preserve the integrity of civilization." Naturally I was somewhat disappointed that I wasn't going to become a priest, of sorts, but worse things have happened.I must say that my erstwhile classmates seemed to be, to a man and to a woman, very nice people, although I imagine that meeting them would, initially, be little bit disorientating. As it is with, say, radio, with people you "know" but have never seen, your imagination fills in the details. "No," you think to yourself, "this can't be Holly. Holly is slender and six feet tall and giggles a lot."I did have the pleasure of meeting Dionne--who, actually, was pretty much as I imagined her to be. I will only add, Ladies and Gentlemen, you are going to love Dionne, and ,Dionne, I owe you lunch.So much can happen in a week. I will condense things to report that my aspirations got the better of my common sense, and I've decided to re-enroll for the Fall term.Always leave the audience wanting more is an adage I learned from my high school music teacher. It would have been nice if I had also learned how to play an instrument, but...well, see the bromide at the top of the page.
My name is Russell Rush, and as some of you may know--and one or two of you may care--I am a bookmobile operator. The Words-On-Wheels (W.O.W.) bookmobile presently travels to fifty-six older adult communities (housing developments, assisted living facilities, etc.) throughout Pennsylvania's Montgomery County. This bookmobile was, in August 2008, the last branch of the library to be automated. "Shit on the computer!" was the reaction of one otherwise decorous octogenarian, and a number of patrons shared her sentiment, even if they didn't give such vivid expression to it. With time, I think we have all made our peace with the infernal thing.
Most of my patrons are women. The majority of the circulation is Large Print genre novels; we also do a brisk business in audio books. And, too, we do have our devotees of literary fiction, narrative non-fiction, and legal philosophy and social justice issues. One women gets books the size of tombstones on ancient Chinese art.
I like to think that we all have a jolly time together, and if I have to drop the carbon monoxide detector on my head while changing the battery to get a cheap laugh, well, bombs away!
