For the Love of Books

Last night I was sitting on my porch reading and drinking when my neighbors walked by. Somehow these particular neighbors always seem to see me when I'm doing less than attractive things--taking out the trash, watering plants (which requires me to do contortions due to the air conditioner I have to reach over), or wearing my pajamas. Last night was no different. I was wearing pjs, reading and having a glass of wine. They stopped and said hi, and were friendly, and asked if I was a law student. It took me a little while to figure out how they knew. I figured it wasn't the red wine, or the book I was reading--an autobiography of Kathleen Norris. Then I realized that they could see the book shelf full of books in my living room. I guess it's a compliment.

This morning another interesting experience. We were having devotions in my homeroom, and a cat walked in. Sauntered would perhaps be a better word. Not just any old cat though, her name is Princess Fudge. I guess the kids started calling her Mr. Fudge, only to find out (don't ask me how) that she's a girl, so they re-christened her Princess Fudge. There seems to be a debate split along gender lines as to whether she can be called just princess or just fudge, or if it needs to be both.

So she came in, I scooped her up and took her outside again. She came back. Again she walked back in, and this time the kids said she was looking for this one boy, J, because he sniffed her yesterday....ah, middle schoolers. We let her walk around a while, and she sniffed everything in our classroom. Then I let J take her outside. As he walked her across the field, she took a bat at his face, and when he came in he said "We broke up." Weird.

Tonight, to finish the story sandwich with another about books, I went to the library. Perhaps ya'll are sick of hearing me sing the praises of the library systems, but don't worry. This is a complaint. The library is scheduled to close at 8pm, but at 7:35pm, they started to shut off the lights. By 7:45 even the computers with the card catalog were shut down. We were checking our books out in the dark. How rude! The luster on the San Jose Public Library system is starting to fade.