Lady Who Lunches

Nearly 12 years ago I left the world of regular paid employment when my princess entered my life. It was the right decision for our family. 

After a couple of years of mommy and me classes and talking about potty training, I thought my head would explode. 

Enter graduate school.

In 2008, with my MLIS I was ready to return to the land of regular employment. Well, not quite yet. That was the time we decided to home school Ashley for first and second grade. A decision I don't regret as it brought us closer, while also providing her with a solid foundation.

That brings us up to 2010. Over the past four years I had a series of job interview for "perfect" jobs, that were only perfect in my mind. Meanwhile, I started a freelance career, substitute taught, and became a "lady who lunches." 

Over the past four years I've been able to reconnect with childhood friends, such as Sylvia; friends from college, such as Robin; friends from post-college, yet pre-kids, such as Meave; and friends from mommy and me days, such as Carin, Laura, and Nancy; and grad school friends, such as Sharon. Most recently Jean and I went to Winterthur together. Thursday I met up with Marlene in NYC. Marlene and I met over 25 years ago in Belgium and often catch up when I'm in Montreal, where she now lives. This week I drove down to Don's office and had lunch with him and a co-worker (Chris) who commutes from (ironically enough) Montreal. I know I'm leaving important people off of this list! The great thing about being online is that I can add more names later. It was not on purpose.

During that same time I volunteered at Ashley's school, with churches, and other local organizations. Anyone who does that will tell you it can feel like you have an unpaid job. On those rare days when I am home, I scrapbook, take pictures, and go for runs. Sometimes I even clean the house. I often make homemade dinners, such as our Meatless Mondays, and am the taxi service.

I recently accepted my first real job since 2002 -- school librarian at Roosevelt Public School (no "s" on the end of school, since there is only one). Next month I will receive my first direct deposit paycheck -- that will be really weird! Meanwhile my freelance work continues and I'm busier and happier than I have been since before the first snowfall this winter. Hmm... maybe my happiness has more to do with seeing the grass and the sun than anything else. Feels good in any case.

Downton Abbey at Winterthur

Last week Jean and I attended one of the most gorgeous exhibits I have ever seen. If you are a fan of "Downton Abbey," or a fan of 1920s costumes, head to Winterthur in Delaware to see this amazing exhibit.

Forty costumes are on loan from Cosprop, one of the world's leading costumier to film, television and theater. The exhibit runs from March 1-January 4th, plenty of time for everyone to see it. This exhibit is included with general admission tickets, but they are requiring reservations for timed tickets for non-members. Members no longer need advanced reservations, so you can try to tag along with us.

Disclaimer: prior to taking pictures, I asked for permission and was told as long as I did not use a flash, I was allowed to take as many pictures as I wanted. Later on I saw "no photography" signs, so proceed with caution. I did see a lot of people using their phones to take pictures.

The idea behind this exhibit is to compare and contrast life in an American manor home of the 1920s (in this case, Winterthur) with one in England (umm...Downton Abbey). Winterthur was Henry du Pont's childhood home. He greatly expanded it to 175 rooms. He opened his home to the public in 1951, and died in 1969. Also included in the general admission ticket is a tour of the house. I highly recommend touring the house while there.

The first difference highlighted was that at Downton Abbey the staff and family members were hesitant to modernize. By contrast, du Pont wanted the gentility of the past with every possible modern convenience -- from electricity to air-conditioning.
 

In addition to the costumes were gigantic pictures of the actors and actresses wearing the outfits. In many cases, hats and other accessories were included in the displays. In a few cases, there were scenes from the show flickering on screens. Ahh...I can't wait until Season 5 airs in 2015.

There was a lot of interesting information to read throughout the exhibit, but not an overwhelming amount. One interesting tidbit was that women did not wear corsets during tea time. 

Some of the dresses included details about how the costumers made dresses out pieces of fabric or dresses from the 1920s. In the case of the one below, dyed a vintage dress to better fit the scene. 

This dress was made from a piece of fabric, with more added to it to turn it into a dress.

This suitcase fit all the clothes needed by a wealthy person for a weekend getaway. We have a similar piece at home that we use for Ashley's dress up collection. I can tell you ours is nearly impossible to move empty without a second person. I can't fathom traveling with one.

These women don't just look tiny on TV, they really are tiny in person. 

Above is one of the most famous outfits -- Sybil's harem pants worn in Season 1. One of the shoulders of this vintage outfit tore during filming. The costumers quickly made adjustments and filming took place at an angle where it was not visible. I stared as closely as I could without arousing the interest of the guards, and I could not tell you which side sustained damage.

Comparing the two grand dames: Violet and Isoabel.

I loved the entire exhibit. These are just a few pictures. There is a lot more to see. The Winterthur staff is having a lot of fun tying everything to this exhibit from the food they serve in their restaurant to lectures and teas and dress-up for the children and anything else they can imagine. It is a fun time to be a member of Winterthur.

We have already made plans to return in April. I look forward to sharing the exhibit with Ashley.

Pi Day

In 2010 the Princeton Tour Company joined up with Princeton Public Library, the Princeton Historical Society and other groups for a new event: celebrate Albert Einstein's birthday on March 14, which is also Pi Day (get it: 3.14). Einstein lived at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton for over 20 years and became a local legend, as well as an international personality.

Past events have included Einstein look-alike contests, reciting pi to as many digits as possible, and pie eating contests. In 2013, Ashley and I rode the Dinky with Einstein and his friends.

New for 2014 was "Princeton Light up the Night" -- an evening 3.14 mile bike ride around Community Park in Princeton. Participants wore a red blinking light that was synchronized with each other. Given the miserable weather we have had this winter, organizers were fortunate the event went off without snow and with temperatures (barely) above freezing. Their back up date was July 22- 22/7 is a close approximation to pi (3.14). Everyone was glad it took place on the real Pi Day.

The idea was that together they would look like a bunch of fireflies. 

Here they are when the red lights are dark:

Red blinking lights:

The lights on the back of Don and Ashley's helmets.

I stayed in one place and took pictures, which is not an easy feat with blinking lights. Next time I'll bring a tripod.

Don and Ashley enjoyed the ride. I thought about running alongside, but it was dark and not that warm. Maybe next year they'll do a 3.14 mile run. Next year Pi Day will be on Saturday 3.14.15, at 9:26 will be Pi to seven decimal places. Looking forward to the hoopla associated with that.

Bookends

On my most recent birthday, I started a one-month job as a school librarian in Princeton. It was a challenge, mostly due to the sudden shift from being home full-time to being at work full-time.

About a month later, a one-day-a-week school librarian job came along and I passed on it. I wasn't ready to make the commitment.

A few months passed and I learned the school was still searching for a librarian. I threw my hat in the ring and was offered the position again. This time I accepted. 

My start date? March 6, my half-birthday. 

I'm finding some humor in the timing of both positions.

The new one has different challenges. 

* It is a 35 minute drive (vs. 15 minutes). Don will work from home on Thursdays to be here for Ashley and Sandy Dragon (the dragon has been flipping himself over a lot lately, and can't right himself). 

* It is six 45-minute classes -- five classes in a row, then a break for lunch. There is only one prep period for doing everything else that needs to be done in the library - from the basics of shelving books to collection development, and everything in-between.

* The library shares the room with the 2nd grade class.

* The library is not computerized.

* The library has as many donations waiting to be processed as books on the shelves.

* Most of the books are paperback donations that are falling apart, or hardback books at least 30 years old.

* Other than the school librarian who was there at the start of the year, they have never had a certified school librarian.

On the plus: 

* The principal and school board are completely behind the library succeeding.

* They want me to come in extra hours to set it up properly (and will pay me for that time). 

* They want the library collection available on-line, they want the kids to love coming to the library.

I'm in for a challenge, and we all know it.

Divine Providence

Ashley's religion homework last night was to write about a time you felt divine providence in your life. That might not have been the exact wording, but that was the gist of it.

For purposes of the assignment, Divine Providence was defined as God turning something bad that happened into something good.

We came up with the example of a classmate who broke his arm. Since he couldn't swim, he then joined the drama club and is having a lot of fun with it.

Then we talked about the classmate whose grandfather died, so her grandmother moved across the country to live with her and now they spend more time together.

I tried to come up with personal examples. It is tough to think about bad times in our lives. I thought about the time I was in tears because I did not win the class president election in college. I really wanted to lead the class at reunions (I worked in the alumni office during college). I lost. A couple of years later the school changed its name in a way that was so divisive, even though by then I was on the alumni board, I have hardly ever returned.

More recently I was in tears over not getting a job I really wanted. Still searching for divine providence in those two situations. Certainly, my life ended up going in a different direction. I took a one-month library job that would not have been possible had I accepted either one of those positions. Now I'm planning to apply for librarian positions for next fall.

Back to Ashley. The best we could come up with was the time we had a mice infestation. The exterminator took care of the mice. We adopted two cats (Charlie and Ariel), who give us a lot of amusement.

When have you seen God make lemonade out of lemons?

Grounds for Sculpture-Winter

The Grounds for Sculpture in Hamilton, NJ (according them, only "minutes" away from Princeton) is beautiful all year round. Often crowded with school groups and families, it was a rare treat to have the place to ourselves.

Grounds for Sculpture is located on 42 acres, on the site of the former State Fairgrounds (former as in long before my time in Central Jersey). The feature 260 outdoor sculptures, including many by J. Seward Johnson, the founder of the sculpture garden and visionary behind it. 

After many years of debate, this year we decided to become members. One of my goals was to visit the grounds at least four times -- once in each season. We joined in August, I returned in October during the peak of fall foliage, and returned in January and February to take pictures in the snow. 

Wear boots if you plan on going in the winter as only some of the paths are plowed. There are also two indoor galleries and a cafe where you can go to warm up on a cold day.

Here are some of my snow pictures from Monday's storm, before the ice took over on Wednesday. Enjoy!

Life Lesson #2: What to do when it is not your turn

Last Halloween I was handed Life Lesson #1. With yesterday's ice storm I had a revelation that I decided to turn into this blog.

What to do when it is not your turn

We are taught to take turns early in life. When on the playground we have to let our friends go down the slide, too. Kids who don't learn how to take turns we quickly learn are no fun to play with, so we move onto playing with kids who do take turns.

In this case, though, I'm talking about those not-so-fun times in life. The times when you are the one who is facing something bad, be it a car accident, an illness, the death of someone close, or, in yesterday's case, storm damage.

Fortunately it is not always the same person's turn to suffer. Sometimes it might feel that way, but it is not. I promise you. When it is not your turn, you have a few options. You can sit back in your cozy warm house while others are without power, you can read a book and tune out the rest of the world, or you can help those whose turn it is.

After spending a couple of hours snuggled under my blanket next to a roaring fire (so glad the gas fireplace worked when we lost power!) reading a fun book, I decided to toss on a sweatshirt and take a walk to survey the storm damage. (Amazing how my definition of sweatshirt weather has changed -- in this case it was above freezing and not windy.)

The people in the Woodlane section (homes build about 10 years before ours) got their power back at 10 AM. By 3 PM we were still without power and would be for the foreseeable future. On the other hand, they had a lot more storm damage than we did. I helped a woman take branches off of her sidewalk so people (like me!) could walk on it.

I kept on walking.

I popped on over to another section of the neighborhood. These homes were built 10 years after ours. They, too, had power (so not fair!). A husband and wife in their sixties were trying to yank a half of an elm tree off of a cedar tree they wanted to save. I could tell from a distance they were getting nowhere! I helped them tug and saw and within a few minutes the trees were once again apart. I accepted their offer of warm water to wash the dirt off of my hands.

I kept on walking.

Then I stumbled upon Tony and Carol, neighbors I have never before met trying to cut a tree so that it was no longer in the middle of the street. I went home. Grabbed my clippers and joined them. Together the three of us attacked that tree and a project Tony thought would take him years, took about an hour to get into shape. When Tony brought out a saw, I went across the street and trimmed the branches of another neighbor's tree so that they were no longer sticking in the middle of his driveway. They have been here less than 2 years and have already lost 2 1/3 trees.

While helping Tony and Carol we cheered when we saw the power return! It was about 5 PM and still light out. A part of me wanted to go home and check emails and Facebook, but I stayed until the branches were too big for me to cut with my pruner.

It felt good to help someone when it wasn't my turn to have storm damage. It was a lesson I learned after Superstorm Sandy when Jim (a neighbor I did not know before then) came over with his chainsaw and saved us from having to hire a tree company to take down our willow tree.

This winter we have had 9 storms, with a 10th in the forecast for the weekend. I've tried to clear the ramp and driveway for our next door neighbors, sometimes before I have finished our driveway. 

You do what you can when it is not your turn. Even though my arms are sore, it still feels good. After living in the neighborhood for 14 years, I'm finally feeling like I'm getting to know my neighbors. Rather than focusing on what took me so long, I'm trying to focus on how else can I help my neighbors.