A Harvest, and Covering Books

We got these tomatoes from our tomato plant (or, as the British say, "tomahto plahnt") last weekend. Unlike our first harvest these weren't at all mealy and in fact we found them really good. I only wish we had more! I think the plant still has some green ones on it but who knows how well they'll ripen as the weather cools. Dave's co-worker gave him this plant last spring, so frankly anything we get is a bonus.

OK. Some of you asked for details about covering books. I'm going to do my best to make this interesting.

When we add a book to our library -- whether purchased or donated -- it goes first to the cataloging clerk. That person, my co-worker, enters the book into the online library catalog using international library references that guide its placement, within a certain Dewey decimal category, for example. Her cataloging ensures that someone searching for a book about a certain topic or by a certain author will be able to find it. The clerk prints a spine label bearing the book's call number -- usually a sheet of them at a time, for a stack of books -- and then hands everything to me.

If the book is a paperback, I start here. First I attach the spine label, which you see I've already done. Then I use scissors and a plastic smoothing tool to wrap the book in special library-quality book covering. It's an adhesive plastic a bit like contact paper, but made specially for books.

If I do a good job (which I always do!) the book winds up looking like this. It takes a little more than seven minutes (I timed myself) to wrap the adhesive plastic around the entire book, smoothing out any air bubbles with the tool, and to trim the corners and edges. Sometimes books need more than one spine label, if they're for a certain age group or fall into a certain category like a graphic novel.

I also stamp the book with the name of our library, inside the front and back covers, as well as the date it was acquired. I attach a "date due" slip inside the back cover, and that's where I stamp the due date when the book is checked out. (Most libraries don't stamp due dates anymore but we still do. We're old-fashioned like that. It helps kids know when the book is due and helps us see at a glance how often it gets read.)

Hardcover books are a whole 'nother thing. I take the dust jacket off the book, affix the spine label to it, and cut a different kind of book cover to fit it.

This cover is a sort of clear plastic envelope with a paper backing, and an adhesive strip at the top. The dust jacket goes inside it, facing the plastic, then the adhesive strip is uncovered and the clear plastic is folded down and secured to the paper backing to create a pocket around the dust jacket. Can you envision that? Sometimes part of the paper needs to be trimmed away to better fit the dust jacket, in which case the plastic folds down farther. It's basically one-size-fits-all.

Then the corners of the covered jacket are taped to the book using special book tape, which secures the cover to the book itself.

And voila! The book is covered, and after stamping it's ready to be checked out.

I'm sure this process still isn't entirely clear, but I couldn't take a photo of every single step because a) phones are prohibited at our school starting this year, so I had to be furtive about using mine at my desk, and b) I need two hands for most of the steps so I had no way to hold the camera.

If you want more information about the products used during this process, you can see them at library supply sites like this one.

Covering a single book is no big deal, but often the cataloger hands me a stack of 20 books at a time, and covering those can take a few hours -- especially since I'm also dealing with kids and re-shelving and doing all the other things that are part of my job.

Fun, right? Aren't you glad you asked?

Psychic Weight

Yesterday started leisurely enough. I picked one last handful of blackberries for my cereal, being careful to wade into the bushes only after I'd put on my long pants and long-sleeved shirt to thwart any insidious flower bugs. (My itchy arms, by the way, are slowly getting better, but it's been, what, three weeks?)

By the time I got out the door I was running a bit late for work, so I decided to take the tube instead of walking. Problem was, the tube wasn't running. Or it was, but with "severe delays." I got to West Hampstead station and there were about 200 people on the platform and no train in sight. So I texted my boss and said I was walking and I'd be a bit late. She didn't take me to task. After all, I can't control the tube.

It wound up being another incredibly busy day, mostly with re-shelving and numerous classes having library orientation. Some of you asked about covering books and what that entails. You know when you get a library book it often has a clear plastic film over the dust jacket, to protect it? Well, that's a book cover, and that's what I put on. Paperbacks get a different type of clear plastic that adheres to the cover. I'll take some photos the next time I cover books so you can see what I mean.

Anyway, the day sped by, and I walked home in the afternoon just in time to get rained on. We do need rain, so I am not complaining -- well, not too much -- but I got rained on Monday too. Why does it have to rain right at 4:45 p.m. when I'm walking home?

I got home damp, again, and Dave said, "Why didn't you take your umbrella?"

"Because if I had it would have been like the Mojave Desert out there and I'd have been carrying around a 40-pound umbrella for nothing," I said.

"Your umbrella weighs 40 pounds?" Dave said.

(I hate carrying anything as a rule. I will always opt to endure minor discomfort if it means I can leave things at home.)

"It's psychic weight," I said.

(Photo: A newsagent in Soho, on Saturday.)

A Bee Indoors

Yes, I know -- another bee on another purple flower. I'm not winning points for originality here! But what's unusual about this bee and flower is that they're inside the house. That purple heart plant grows by the back door, and the other day the bee leisurely flew inside to check out the blossoms.

The bee seemed to struggle a bit with the long, floppy stamens of the flower, holding on to them like a drowning man holds on to a life preserver. But I imagine the flower might have enjoyed it, if a flower is capable of enjoyment. Whatever chemicals and hormones run in its vessels might have sped up a bit, in reaction to finally being touched by a pollinator!

Or not. Who knows.

Once finished with its exploring, the bee bounced futilely off the glass windows for a few minutes before I helped it back outside. When it went back to its hive covered with this exotic tropical pollen, did the other bees say, "Where have you been?!"

Yesterday was wildly busy once again. I covered new books, shelved three or four cartloads of returns -- they're still pouring in -- and we had sixth graders coming in for library orientation. The librarian had them rotate among various "stations" where they learn about the library and how it's organized, and at one of them, they were supposed to write on a poster the place where they most like to read. Most of them said things like "on the couch" or "in my room," but one kid wrote, "on a boat in Croatia." Very specific.

It began raining (yay!) as I walked home from work, so I got a little wet and rode a bus part of the way. I picked up my new glasses at the optician. I'm still not thrilled with them. They're much better than the varifocals, but they still seem a bit over-magnified. I find that I constantly use the top part of the lens and never the bottom, which is supposed to be for close-up reading, and they seem a bit blurry toward the edges. I'm going to wear them a few more days and try to get used to them, but honestly, I wish I'd never started all this and just had my old reading glasses back. (I do have an older pair of readers, and they're much easier to wear!)

Buzzing Bluebeard

Although the weather is getting cooler and there's a noticeable touch of fall in the air, the bees are still out and about. They like our bluebeard (Caryopteris)...

...as do the hoverflies.

I spent all of yesterday tidying up around the house. I did laundry, watered all the houseplants, and mowed the lawn.

The grass is still looking scraggly in areas that we didn't mow over the summer, to preserve the teasels and encourage insect life. But it should bounce back in coming weeks with adequate rain and sunshine.

I sat out on the back bench and read the first 60 pages of "City of Night," that paperback by John Rechy that I picked up at a charity shop a couple of months ago. It's good so far. Very "Midnight Cowboy" in theme. It was published in 1963, a couple of years before "Midnight Cowboy," so it's ironic that the latter would go on to be the more famous novel about urban male hustlers.

I managed to break yet another slat out of the bench. I suppose we'll have to buy a new one. It's almost nine years old and we've refinished it once, so I think it's served its purpose. Now the wood is rotting at the joints and while it will probably get us through winter (when we rarely use it) we may replace it come spring.

Otherwise, there's not much news from this corner of the world. I was glad for a quiet day to let me get my life organized. Today I need to check in with the optometrist on the status of my new glasses. I handed them in more than two weeks ago to get new lenses and haven't heard a peep.

Music and Protests

This is Miuki. More about her in a moment!

I had a very busy day yesterday. I had a couple of social outings in town and, with a little wandering in between,  I was gone from 10 a.m. until about 9 p.m. And then I slept in this morning! So I am still way behind in the online world, but I'll catch up.

First, Dave and I had an 11 a.m. concert of wind orchestra music at Royal Albert Hall. This was part of the BBC Proms series, and it was a fairly long program in print. When we got to the theater and took our seats, I was nervous about how long the concert might turn out to be. But the pieces turned out to be fairly succinct, and we were done in a couple of hours. Composers included Ralph Vaughan Williams (who we heard through the auditorium doors because we were late), Malcolm Arnold, Percy Grainger, Gunther Schuller and Michael Tippet. The Schuller piece was a challenge. For me, I mean.

Afterwards, Dave, his co-worker Carolyn and I went to lunch at a nearby pub. I'd planned to go back to West Hampstead and spend the afternoon at home before meeting a visiting friend for dinner, but we left the pub at 3 p.m. and I was meeting my friend at 5 p.m., so I'd spend most of the intervening time on the tube. I decided to kill those few hours in Westminster instead.

Dave and Carolyn left and headed north, where Dave got accosted on the train by someone wearing a Jesus shirt and asking him why he wasn't on his knees praying RIGHT NOW to save his mortal soul. (I heard about it later.)

I, meanwhile, wandered over to Piccadilly Circus and Trafalgar Square, where I came across multiple protests.

First, there were people from this organization protesting against the mistreatment of cats in China. They stood at the fountain in Piccadilly Circus in cat masks holding posters. Apparently they have a petition which is no doubt available through their web site. Forgive me if I am skeptical that Chinese authorities are going to care about a petition signed by people in London, but hey, I admire their effort. This is where I met Miuki, whose owner let me photograph her with the understanding that I would sign their petition, which I haven't done yet. Must get on that.

I bought a cup of coffee at Pret and took it to St. James Park, where I sat on the steps of a large monument to drink it. Two large families with noisy kids joined me, one on either side, and then a branch fell off a tree behind us and a terrified squirrel shot out of the greenery and scampered directly over my foot! I decided that place was way too chaotic, finished my coffee and got out of there.

At Trafalgar Square I found a march protesting the treatment of the Tamil people in Sri Lanka...

...and a protest against the application of the death penalty in Iran. (I'm against the death penalty anywhere, so that one resonated with me.)

Finally it was time to meet Jesse and Jennifer for dinner. I know Jesse from my years of Zen practice in New York, and I met his partner Jennifer about nine years ago when they last visited London. It was great to see both of them again and get caught up on life at the Zendo. Even though I don't practice anymore I feel connected to that time of my life and I wouldn't say I've turned away from Zen. More like I've just hit pause. Maybe I'll reawaken my practice once I retire.

Remember that New Yorker article about sitcom pioneer Gertrude Berg that I mentioned a couple of months ago? It cited Jennifer favorably as the author of several books, including one about women in television that included Berg. It was fun to hear from Jennifer what it was like to participate in that article. Seeing her name was such a surprise when I read it -- it could be the only time someone I know personally (albeit slightly) has been mentioned in The New Yorker.

Last night I dreamed that I was on the couch in the living room, and Olga was with me, wagging her tail and being her usual goofy self. Dave came over to pet her and for a moment everything seemed so normal. It was such a relief to see her again, and yet we weren't shocked. More like puzzled. I said to Dave, "Is there some parallel universe where she's still alive? How is it possible that she's here?" He said he didn't know. Only then did I become aware that I was dreaming, but I woke gradually, so as her presence faded the relieved feeling persisted a little while -- until it gave way to tears, the first I've cried in a month or so. I suppose in a way that was Olga visiting us from a parallel universe.

Stats and Garden Critters

At the risk of turning my blog into the "flower of the day," here's a picture of one of our dahlias. This dahlia, unlike most of the others, has had a very successful year with lots of flowers -- even though, as you can see on the leaves, it's covered with powdery mildew. Next year I'm going to have to stay on top of that problem better. It's been a real plague in this dry summer.

We continued to get rain yesterday, which was good, except that our school building developed some dramatic leaks including one that closed a stairwell. There's been some construction on the roof over the summer and I expect that created the problem, which fortunately didn't allow any water into the library.

I had another crazy busy day, which didn't permit me to either read blogs or respond (entirely) to comments. I did see Mr. Pudding's recent post about his blog stats, which prompted me to look at mine last night. I haven't checked them in ages and I found, like him and some other bloggers, that my page views have gone up dramatically in recent days. Seven of my ten most viewed posts in the last six months were written within the past ten days, with some of them gaining more than a thousand views, which seems statistically suspect. (Of course, I was writing about ABBA, so there is that.)

The "top referring URLs" were even more of a mystery. Google and other bloggers I expected, but I also got tons of views supposedly from the web sites of Stanford, Northwestern University, NASA and PepsiCo. Now, I know Pepsi and NASA are not linking to my blog, so I imagine this reflects some kind of bot activity -- maybe referral spam. (From Google: "Referral spam involves bots and automated tools, not real people, sending fake 'referrers' to your blog's stats page.") I don't quite understand the purpose -- it could be AI crawlers, or something else, but it doesn't hurt the blog and I'm not that concerned.

Here's my geographic breakdown of viewers within the last seven days. They love me in Brazil and Vietnam -- I have visited and written about both of those places, which could be why, but it could also just be bots. (Vietnam is one of my primary traffic sources, according to all-time stats.) My fellow countrymen and women here in the UK are giving me a comparatively cool reception.

I don't think any of this means anything useful, except that I get a lot of bot traffic like any blogger. But it's interesting.

Finally, this morning I downloaded the videos from our garden cam. Here's the latest garden activity, condensed into less than four minutes:

You'll see at least two (maybe three) different cats, a couple of really good glimpses of our lanky fox, and various birds. At the beginning of the video you'll see the cat and the starlings checking out some food in a plastic container -- that was a piece of Dave's leftover sushi that I left out for the fox. The cat and the starlings got there first!

Rain!

Finally, some rain! We heard yesterday that there were yellow weather warnings for heavy rain in southern England, and at least in our area we haven't had anything that dramatic. But we are getting a long, steady soaking, which is exactly what we need. The plants all look happy.

I made the video above rather hastily this morning. As you can tell, the lawn and garden were quite dry. There are a couple of high points to watch for. First, Nicole the Nicotiana is looking better than ever, with a couple of tall, impressive flower spikes. The avocado tree on the patio is also darker and leafier than it's ever been -- it loves being outside.

You can see it's a little hard to move around on our patio, with the banana, tree fern, avocado and other plants all around, and the coltsfoot and lady's mantle growing right out of the paving stones where we would normally walk! I just don't have the heart to take it out.

Finally, in the borders, the Thalictrum is about to bloom -- it has a cloud of little pink buds at the top -- and we're getting a second flush of roses from a couple of our rose bushes.

Rain! Yay!