a gathering of book lovers

Back from the American Association of School Librarians conference in Charlotte, North Carolina. The weather there was perfect and Charlotte is a walking-friendly city. Highlights of the conference were being able to talk and have a picture made with Stephen Chbosky, and getting a nice pile of free books from various vendors.

Charlotte has some wonderful restaurants; our favorite was Mert's Heart and Soul, serving good old Southern soul food. Our second time there I had the salmon cakes with cornbread, red beans, and yams. Their cakes were to-die-for and their sweet tea was amazing.


Yesterday we had brunch at a place called Zink, where I experienced chocolate bread pudding

and some of the most delectable grits ever

Texas State Aquarium

Moon jelly fish are mysterious-looking.







Sea turtle has lost a front flipper. He swims straight though, not in circles. All the turtles at the aquarium have been rehabbed but could not be released back into the wild.









A little otter PDA,

debate

Friday – We met at the school at 5 a.m. and rode a school bus (most uncomfortable seats EVER) for seven hours, reaching CC around 12:30. We went straight to the Texas State Aquarium where I took what were possibly too many pictures of the adorable otters. The dolphins were beautiful and the jellyfish were ethereal. The sea turtles were friendly and swam over to the side of the tank where we were standing. That was cool.
Saturday morning arrived too soon. After a little breakfast at the hotel we rode to a high school where the debate tournament was held. I love watching kids who are really engaged in what they’re doing. These students LOVE to debate. They competed in a variety of events such as public forum and cross examination and Lincoln-Douglas style debate. I went and watched students from other schools competing in “dramatic interpretation.” Apparently most consider a dramatic topic to be one involving death/dying/disease: we had two breast cancers, one leukemia, one abusive father, one child-murderer and one actually uplifting piece about Billie Holiday called “Tonight I Saw My Life Onstage.”
Mostly I spent the day sitting in the cafeteria just hanging out with the kids. I did manage to crochet two beanies during the day. Once, in the afternoon, I slipped outside, spread my jacket on the ground, and took a little nap in the sun. A couple of people asked if I was all right (I suppose a middle-aged woman face-down on the grass could be a slightly peculiar sight). It felt good to soak up some sun and just relax for a little while.
Sunday was one long bus ride, with stops for lunch, potty, and too much sugar. I feel like I need a cleansing. At least I walked a lot Saturday, racking up over four miles per my pedometer. It has been a good trip; I’ve enjoyed getting to know the kids better and hope they noticed a side of me they don’t see at school.

Loy Krathong

Last night I attended the New Year festival at the local Buddhist temple with a few students from the Culture Club I sponsor at the high school. It had been raining so I almost didn't go, but I'm so glad I decided to venture out anyway. The field in the temple complex contained several booths where people were grilling various meats and making other unknown foodstuffs. The girls and I shared a serving of tiny Thai pancakes which contained coconut, sugar, and green onion. That's an odd combination to me, but the pancakes tasted pretty good. I also had a skewer of spiced grilled chicken.

We enjoyed watching the Thai dancing and really loved the beauty pageant. There were seven girls ranging in age from 7 to 13. People voted by purchasing balloons which they then gave to the girls. The girl with the most balloons would win the "People's Choice" award and the money raised would go to the temple fund.

After the students left, I took the paper lotus flower that I had bought and went over to the pond. Some girls helped me light my candle and incense sticks. The candle wouldn't stay lit (gusts and light rain) but I set it loose in the pond and enjoyed watching it drift away. The girls told me to make a wish as I let it go.

Frozen Ropes and Dying Quails

Yesterday I drove down to Austin and met up with Emily at Boo’s house. We went out to eat at Galaxy Café, then Em and I went on down to the Continental Club. We were pretty surprised to see a long line of people waiting to get in an hour before the concert was to begin. It was sort of entertaining to listen to people while we were waiting. The folks behind us had flown down from Canada for ACL.

Inside, it wasn’t as crowded as I had thought it might be so we were able to position ourselves right in front of the stage, Wynn-side, brews in hand, ready for some music. I heard someone calling out “Lucy” so I looked and found Nan from Murmurs (who has a major thing for Mr. Buck and had stationed herself right in front of where he would be standing). Nice to see her again.

The concert was a nice mix of Baseball Project, new and some older Minus 5, Steve Wynn songs, and covers. Scott’s voice wasn’t in top form, I thought, but that didn’t detracted from the passion he puts into every song. They all just have such a great time performing together. Of course I’m envious of Linda Pitmon, since I want to be a drummer when I grow up. Alas. There’s no way I could ever have her rhythm and stamina, not to mention I couldn’t assist on vocals.

As the first set ended, Scott encouraged the audience to come visit with them at the merch table. Em and I were just about the first ones there. We snagged all the Butcher Cover CDs that we had agreed to get for others as well as ourselves and immediately asked Peter for autographs. He was very nice and obliging and just sweet as he could be. Contrary to some reports, he did NOT seem to have gained any weight.

Scott seemed to appreciate the spirit of the Scottie mug that Emily brought for him to autograph. What a hoot. He and Buck were both very nice about signing things and having pictures taken.

That's a picture of me with a sweaty Buck, who only looks like an angry axe-murderer but was actually quite pleasant. I found myself wondering if he's off the booze. His face doesn't look puffy and he wasn't drinking red wine onstage. He had glasses of what looked like lemonade but could have been anything.

The show ended about 1:15 I think, with some raucous covers and a bartender dancing onstage.

knots

Something extremely disturbing has happened and I need to talk it out but don't want to actually talk to anyone about it. So here goes, since hardly anyone ever reads this. Initials have been changed.

Y sent me a text last night: "J killed the cat and then tried to kill himself. In hospital for psych eval." Of course I called her for more info. I knew that she had told me that J didn't like the cat and didn't get along with it. They were trying to find a new home for it; she had even asked me. I certainly didn't see this coming, and I feel that anyone who would do such a thing has far greater issues than not getting along with a cat.

N was a work when this happened. She was on the phone with J and he told her that he had hurt the cat. She was going to go home but he told her not to, that he didn't want her to see it. She eventually did go home and found that J had taken pills and alcohol. She got him to the hospital, he didn't want to be admitted but the hospital kept him anyway and will hold him for two weeks for evaluation.

This situation has been preying on my mind all last night and all day today. I've never met J but I feel so sad for N. She must be beside herself. Y said that N was staying with her parents last night.

Anyway, my stomach has been in a knot for 24 hours now. I have a busy early morning tomorrow and need to relax and sleep tonight.

To make matters worse, Tybee is having mouth trouble again. The vet dentist office wasn't open today. I'll call them in the morning and try to get an appt for Friday afternoon, since tomorrow I'm going to Austin (coming back Friday).

Must sleep.