Tag Archives: library

Walking, Sharon, Walking, Snowball, Walking, Books, Walking…

Posted on July 25, 2025 by mohawkvalleygirl

I went for a walk instead of a run this morning so took my phone in hopes of making a Pedestrian Post with Pictures. I met with some success.

Lots of blooms!

I was interested to note a Rose of Sharon with a lot of blossoms.  Yesterday I spent some time trying to rescue my own Rose of Sharon from the encroachments of  the wild grape vine which has been taking over my lawn (there may be a good horror story there).  I noticed a few blooms but could not stop to admire them amidst my clipping and pulling.  I must spend more time waging the battle against the grape vines.  Why, oh why, could they not be grapes which could produce wine?

Another healthy bush!

A block or so later, I admired this snowball bush.  I would like one of those myself.  I love how the blossoms turn brown in the fall.  Also you can clip the white ones and put them in food coloring to make colors.

Alas, nothing I wanted to read.

I walked for a while with no more photo ops before seeing this Little Free Library on the road that is really a parking lot between Park Avenue and Church Street near the school.  I continued my walk looking more for shade than picture opportunities.  It was becoming warm, although I thought I had gotten out early enough.  I suppose I am more sensitive to the heat than some.  Back home I went into my own backyard to take a picture of my own Rose of Sharon.

I do love flowers!

I zoomed in.  I tried zooming out to show how tall the bush has gotten, but I had nothing to show perspective.  Another opportunity to miss my wonderful husband, Steve, who would have been happy to stand there looking cute.  But I do not mean to introduce a sad note.  My walks and runs are for my mental health as much as my physical well-being.  Being able to use them for blog posts is merely a welcome side effect.

 

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Two Walks and a Library Visit

Posted on March 28, 2024 by mohawkvalleygirl
Two Walks and a Library Visit

I did not make a blog post early this morning, because I went for a walk.  I brought my phone with me, in case I saw anything I could take a picture of, but, alas, no photo ops.  It was the first time I had walked since Saturday, though (today being Wednesday, although I wonder if this should count as my Tired Tuesday post), so I was glad I made a bit of an effort.  I took another walk this evening (afternoon?  Kind of a grey area) (the sky was grey, too).  This was a walk with a purpose, as I went to Basloe Library to print out my work-in-progress murder mystery, Deadly Night Life.

One of my favorite places.

As I walked down my street, I saw a male and female cardinal.  Steve and I had seen a cardinal couple a few times while sitting on our front porch.  I wondered if it was the same couple.  Steve always loved cardinals.  Whenever I would see one when I was out running, and I often did, I would tell him, and we would speculate about which departed loved one had paid us a visit.  Now I wonder if Steve is the one sending the cardinals to say hello.  It is a comforting thought, anyways.  Alas, I did not think to pull out my phone and get a picture.

The picture of the Basloe sign, by the way, is from my Media Library.  I do like to have some sort of illustration.  It was a pleasant visit to the library.  The kind ladies there helped me get my script printed out.  We chatted about the need to see physical pages for some editing chores.  I did not take the time to look for a book, unfortunately.  Then again, now I have a reason to return to the library soon.

 

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Lame it on Dateline

Posted on January 21, 2023 by mohawkvalleygirl

You know, instead of Blame it on Dateline.  Or have I used that before?  I would not be surprised.  I often fail to post on time, and I almost always watch Dateline  I am a little obsessed.

This was in my Media Library.

Yes, I did nothing useful last night, unless you count the crocheting I did while I sipped wine and enjoyed true crime.  I do enjoy true crime.

If I wanted to rationalize my continual viewing of Dateline (with occasional breaks for Snapped, Forensic Files and otners) (they cancelled Reasonable Doubt, dammit!), I could say that since I write murder mysteries, it falls under the heading of Research.  The problem with that rationalization is that I could get a lot better research done at the library.  Books are way better than television for research, and I know it.

However, I do not feel I need to rationalize my television viewing.  I enjoy it, I do it.  Did that sound a little defensive?  Well then, quit shaking your finger at me (you know who you are).  Shake your booty instead.

Come to think about it, blaming my failure to make my Lame Post Friday post on Friday is also a rationalization.  Oh dear.  Perhaps I should make up a new headline about rationalizations.

 

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Running Update

Posted on July 6, 2019 by mohawkvalleygirl

It’s a Saturday Running Commentary!  You knew I couldn’t spend all my time whining about the difficulty of making posts.  A great deal of my time, but surely not ALL of my time (and you KNOW I feel free to call you Shirley!).  Do you get the feeling I am in a better mood today?  Maybe a little.

I have been running every day since Wednesday.  None of the runs has been especially long, but I have gone a little longer each day.  And I’ve been running a few hills.  I feel I am maintaining and look forward to improvement at a later date.

Hmm… now that I am sitting here typing (on a real computer at Martha Canfield Library, so there’s that), I find myself disinclined to give an actual blow by blow of today’s run, or indeed any of my last four runs.  How about a highlights reel?  Or perhaps just a few thoughts that have, you should pardon the expression, run across my mind lately.

When I run at home, I have been getting up, having coffee, and talking myself into running.  In Vermont, I have been getting out of bed and onto the road.  That is actually the way I used to do it on the weekends, get out there before I well knew what I was doing and could change my mind.  In the past couple of months, however, I have been waking up with my mind pretty much made up NOT to run.  I need that boost of caffeine to get me going.

During the past few days, I have discovered that in fact I do not need the caffeine before the run, and that cup of coffee tastes pretty darn good after a shower.  It’s nice to know I can do things differently and still meet with success.  At least, some might think I could meet with even greater success, say by running faster and further, but I say, one does what one can at the time.  When I was running on Thursday, I reflected that I truly run for myself.  I go the pace I want, I go how far I want.  I don’t have to worry about meeting any standards, and I don’t.  It’s nice.

OK, go ahead and start the lecture about how we set goals for ourselves, push ourselves to do better than we think we can, and meeting standards is an intelligent way to go about things.  Full disclosure:  I will probably not pay much attention, and I will certainly not change the way I run.  I am enjoying it.

 

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Please Excuse Mohawk Valley Girl…

Posted on July 4, 2019 by mohawkvalleygirl

Is this great or what?  I am typing in my blog post on an honest to goodness computer.  I am at the Martha Canfield Library in Arlington, VT.  Oh dear, any nefarious persons reading this, do not bother going to rob my house; it has NOT been left unoccupied.  Moreover, there is nothing there worth stealing.  However, if you do not believe me and try, please tidy up while you are there, because I left a mess.  My one regret is that I did not bring my reading glasses and must tilt my head at an uncomfortable angle.  How silly of me.

My other discomfort is that these keys I am typing on are not silent.  I can hear myself thump-thump-thumping on them and can only hope it does not bother any other library patrons.  At least, I don’t know if there are any other library patrons.  The parking lot was empty when I pulled in, causing me to fear the library was not open.  However, I could possibly bother the nice lady behind the desk.

Yes, this is a Wuss-out Wednesday post, which may only be enjoyed by myself, and in fact I am enjoying the ten-fingered typing so painstakingly acquired the summer before 10th grade.  It is quite my favorite skill.  What I really need to let readers know is that due to my being out of town, visiting family for a sad reason, I may not be able to post every day, for the next few.  I know, I know, I should have planned ahead, maybe had a few posts waiting in the wings.  I think we all know, I don’t work that way, more shame to me.

In any case, if and when I can get back on a library or other computer, I make a note to myself: do not forget reading glasses.  My neck does not like all this head tilting!

 

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Good-Buy to Books

Posted on August 2, 2018 by mohawkvalleygirl

This afternoon instead of having a Mohawk Valley adventure I could blog about, I spent some time routing around in the extremely messy room we call our library looking for books to donate.  As a result, in lieu of my expected (by me anyways) Wuss-out Wednesday post, I will give a brief plug to a community event I hope to go to on Saturday, a book sale hosted by the Herkimer County Historical Society.

The sale will also include history books from the society’s gift shop — I KNOW there are one or two of those I want but have not purchased yet — and post cards — regular readers may recall that I love to send people post cards.  The society has been on Facebook asking for donations.  Of course I love my books.  I like to own books and re-read many of them multiple times.  On the other hand, I have a lot of books.  I seek out book sales, used and new book stores, rummage sales, thrift stores, anywhere you can buy books. And sometimes people give me books they’ve finished with that they think I might like (or that they just want to get rid of).  I LOVE BOOKS, there, I’ve said it.

So I gathered a few books to donate.  Some thrillers, some romance novels, a couple of true crime stories… Steven will bring them to the society tomorrow, I think.  The sale will be Saturday, Aug. 4, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Eckler Building, 406 N. Main St., Herkimer, NY.

My only worry now is that I will return from the sale with more books than I donated.  These things happen.  In the meantime, I may try to do something about that extremely messy room, because, you know, removing those books to donate did not help much.

 

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When in Vermont

Posted on June 28, 2017 by mohawkvalleygirl

I promised you a pretty post in the near future , and here it is.  Full disclosure (there’s no colon on this dumb Tablet!  Grrrrr!) I’m typing on Mt Tablet with the stylus.  It is not easy, but I will persevere.

I LOVE libraries!

This is Martha Canfield Library in Arlington, VT, which has saved my blogging bacon on several occasions.  Who knew you could just sit outside a library and get on the Internet, even when it isn’t open?  Oh, you probably knew.

Of course I prefer to be inside the library.  This is a really nice one, too.  I’ll have to take some inside pictures on a future visit.  In the meantime, here are the pictures I took outside.

Isn’t he handsome?

Naturally I wanted to get a shot of my husband, Steven.  We found this spot had the least glare.  It was quite a sunny day.

I don’t know who Jean Woodman is.

This is embarrassing.  I did not get any shots of the flowers, just the plaque.

Not surprisingly, I don’t know what mountain this is either.

When in Vermont, one sees plenty of mountains.  I guess I could have gotten a few more pictures of them.  In my defense, it is not easy taking pictures with a Tablet on a bright sunny day (cue jokes about how the day was bright but I wasn’t).

One last note (again with the no colon!) I have succeeded in typing in this entire post on my Tablet with the stylus.  Once again, I triumph.

 

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We Can’t All Be the Grinch

Posted on December 15, 2016 by mohawkvalleygirl

My house is back online, just in time for Wuss-out Wednesday.  Instead of sitting at Basloe Library (a perfectly wonderful place to be, but I have to wear a bra and shoes ) I am lounged on my couch.  But it is still Wuss-out Wednesday.  My brain is dead.  My body is not doing much better, but my purpose is not to complain but to blog, possibly to entertain.  At least I may entertain myself.  That’s something.

Steven is watching The Year Without a Santa Claus.  Yay, Snow Miser and Heat Miser!  Did anybody here Big Bad Voodoo Daddy’s cover of their song?  An awesome rendition.  However, I have a few problems with this special.  I guess I could do worse for a Wuss-out Wednesday post than mention them.

A friend pointed out that the whole plot is a little shaky.  The two elves go in search of Christmas spirit so Santa will not take the day off.  Then the mayor says if it will snow, he will get all the mayors together and give Santa… the day off!  I gotta say what I say when confronted with a plot hole in a cheesy horror movie:  Waaaaait a minute!

My first problem happens before the elves take off, though.  Mrs. Claus has the wonderful song, “Anyone Can Be Santa Claus,” her first plan being to impersonate the fat man herself.  I quite frankly thought (the first time I saw it, and I still think it) that this is a marvelous idea.  Of course anyone can be Santa Claus!  All you have to do is give somebody something! EVERYBODY should be Santa Claus!  But, no, Mrs. Claus is shot down almost immediately.  SHE can’t be Santa Claus.  Only the REAL Santa Claus will do.

Now don’t tell me it would have been a shorter story if Mrs. Claus had just delivered the toys.  They could have  put in a lot of twists and turns if they had gone with that plot line.  No, I’m not going to write it.  If you can’t think of any twists and turns yourself, just take my word for it.

The biggest problem I have always had with this special is the same one I have with almost all the Christmas specials about Santa Claus.  Christmas = presents.   All I can hear in my head is Boris Karloff saying, “Maybe Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store.  Maybe Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.”

Well I won’t wax philosophical about that tonight (regular readers know that half-baked philosophy belongs on Lame Post Friday).   I’ll just enjoy the fun music and charming animation (so retro), while I ponder the Christmas spirit.  I hope you are all having a lovely December so far.

 

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A Little Fuss, A Little Muss, A Lame Blog Post

Posted on October 8, 2016 by mohawkvalleygirl

Who knew you could sit in a library parking lot and get on their Wi-Fi with no fuss no muss?  I know, everybody but me.  In fact, I think I knew it too, because I often see people sitting outside of Basloe Library in Herkimer, NY on various devices.  So here I am, after some amount of fuss and muss, sitting in the parking lot of Cambridge Public Library, on my laptop, making today’s blog post.  Come to think of it, do I ever do anything without a certain amount of fuss and muss?  As they say, I gotta be me.

It seems I did not get any Likes on my Fake Friday Lame Post, so  I shall feel free to have a Friday Lame Post again today, on, you know, actual Friday.  In an age-old tradition of lame fiction, this blog shall be the tale of how I came to write this blog post.

Steven and I are in Vermont, enjoying a lovely long weekend with family.  We are staying with his sisters, who are not online. However, a very nice niece lives close by, and she is (we’re Facebook friends).  With her permission, we went to her house this morning, while she was at work, for blogging and email checking purposes.  I found where she had nicely left the password to her Wi-Fi.  I opened my laptop and clicked.

And soon realized I did not know what I am doing.  I had the password but I could not get the computer to ask for it.  More computer savvy readers (is anyone on the planet LESS computer savvy than I?) are probably shaking their heads and thinking, “What an idiot!  All she had to do was…”  I don’t think that is a very nice thing to say, however accurate it may be.

Moving on to Plan B, Steven and I made our way to the Arlington Public Library.  I knew libraries had Wi-Fi, and even if they don’t, they have computers you can happily get on.  That might be a better thing to do anyways, I thought.  It might have been, too, if the library had been open.  Rats!  You see, I did not know then what I know now, or I forgot that I knew then what I remember that I know now.

In any case, Steven and I drove on to Cambridge, NY to do some touristy-type shopping we had planned to do in any case.  As we made a purchase at Cambridge Food Co-op, I asked the lady if she knew of any place that offered free Wi-Fi.  She said the library but thought it did not open till six — even later than the Arlington library!  However, she said we could park in the parking lot and use their Wi-Fi.  She even told us the best place to park in order to do so.

And that is what we are doing.  And this is my Friday Lame Post about it.  At least I know where I can get Wi-Fi to post on Saturday.

 

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Scattered Saturday

Posted on January 25, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

I rarely post this late in the day on a Saturday, but these things happen. I shall go on to do what I often do on a Saturday. That is, list the activities in which I indulged other than writing a blog post.

This morning I went to Coffee and Conversation with a Cop at the Baptist Church in Herkinmer, NY. I mean to write a blog post about it, but I wanted to do something better than composing at the keyboard and hitting Publish as soon as I complete at least 200 words. I don’t know when I think I’m going to do that, as I am entering that bear of an exciting week in the play I am in, Production Week (it doesn’t have to be capitalized, but I wanted to make it seem important) (which it is, but mostly to the people involved with the play).

Another problem which has been exercising my mind is what to write about for an article for Mohawk Valley Living, the wonderful magazine which has been so gracious as to publish my writing. As I drove the Cop event, I remembered Guitar Group at Basloe Library. I love Guitar Group! I have not gone to listen to them in a long time. That might make a good article. If not, at least I would cheer myself up with some good music and get a blog post out of it.

I gassed up my vehicle after the Conversation (I mention it because I am listing my activities after all). I purchased a Sobe vitamin drink as well, because I had neglected to bring a bottle of water and I was thirsty.

Imagine my chagrin when only one gentleman showed up for Guitar Group. The librarians did not say it had disbanded, but apparently nobody showed up last week either. I purchased five paperbacks at their sale (five for a dollar, can’t beat it), so the stop was not a total loss, but I was quite disappointed.

When I got home I realized I had a dreadful sinus headache. I called my Mom (no, not to tell her I had a headache, although that did come up in a conversation), looked at Facebook, did some puzzles in a puzzle book and waited for Steven to come home for lunch, which he did around 1:30.

After he went back to work I took a nap. I slept for over three hours. What a bum! I feel kind of bad even admitting I did such a thing. I’m sure many people would huff, “I wish I had time to take a nap!” Then again, those people probably don’t have time to read a silly blog either. I think I needed the sleep.

I felt pretty terrific when I got up, which is unusual after a nap. Usually I feel sluggish and groggy until coffee makes it all better. After I was up, drinking some water and thinking about my blog post, I realized I have that vague, sicky headache that means a cold or worse. SAY IT AIN’T SO!! Fight it, Cindy, fight it! I’m drinking an Airmune (that’s the generic of Airborne) and hoping for the best.

I hope I have not rattled on for too long, but I wanted full disclosure. I warn you, this blog might be All Busybody All The Time for the next week (that is the play I am in) (I did mention that I’m in a play, right?). I hope you are all having a lovely weekend.

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