Connecting the Curated with the Untamed
The library I work with has recently undergone some staffing turnovers. For us, this is unusual. Most of our staff, even part-time, have multiple years under their belts. It's always hard, for multiple reasons, when someone leaves.
For me, other than the feelings involved when someone you have worked next to for years leaves, the difficulty lies in the work associated with finding their replacement.
Buckle up. This is going to be a ramble.
My favorite part of the day is the early morning hours. I like to wake up around 5:30 and have a bit of quiet time to myself before the spouse and kids wake up. I'm an introvert. This is my recharge time before I have to face whatever the world will throw at me that day.
If it's during the week, I use this time to get ready for work, drink coffee, read the Atlantic, or local news. Then, I like to fiddle with a crossword or the Wordle.
Microadventures abound! I had to work this past Saturday. It was one of those slow, draining days, that makes you question why you even bothered opening. Needless to say, after a day like that, I was pretty tired when I got home, and didn't feel like doing too much. My spouse had other ideas though.
As mentioned in my About Page I used to work in the trades before going to school and becoming a librarian. Blue-collar work, as they say.
Back in December, I was talking with my spouse about my ideas of giving blogging another go. We were kicking around different blog name ideas. We had tons of them, most of them terrible, but before I settled on the name, Librarian in the Wild, my spouse actually recommended calling this blog The Blue-Collar Librarian.
I very recently stumbled across the term microadventures during one of my internet rabbit hole dives, and I instantly fell in love with the concept.
If you're not familiar with the term, a microadventure is, according to the coiner of the term, Alastair Humphreys, “an adventure that is short, simple, local, cheap – yet still fun, exciting, challenging, refreshing, and rewarding.”
The family and I have had a few microadventures since stumbling across this term, but I wanted to write about our most recent one that took place in our very own backyard. We didn't even have to get in the car and go somewhere! That's how cool microadventures are.
The wind is literally howling outside as I sit down to write this. It's one of those nights where you want to curl up next to the fireplace with a hot cup of tea and a good book.
Sadly, I don't have a fireplace, and I just finished my most recent read, so I must settle for comfy blankets and, of course, that cup of tea I mentioned.
Now, I want to be perfectly clear. I have no intention of turning this blog into a book review site. I like books, I read a lot of them, but I have no desire to be a book reviewer. However, every once in a while I may not be able to help myself.
This is one of those times. Mostly because it's relevant to what I like to write about.
Gray Days. You know the ones I am talking about. The days when mist hangs all around in the air encompassing the leafless trees in a hazy crown. Limbs stick out of the mist like arms clawing for something better. Reaching for light that's not there. Everything is wet. The ground muddy from days of rain, but no sunshine is available to dry things out. Sweater weather.
The kind of day where you want to stay inside, sip warm drinks, eat soup. Stay in bed. But you can't. You're an adult. You have to drag yourself up by your bootstraps and leave the house earlier than normal because the wet, fog ridden roads will slow your commute.
I love days like this. I think gray days lend themselves to introspection. They make us, well, me atleast, want to draw in. Yet, at the same time, days like this make me want to hit the woods. Have a twig fire. Make cowboy coffee and read a book or journal while sitting under a tarp out in the woods.
Unfortunately, it's a Thursday and I have to go to work.
Plans. They are always good in theory, but sometimes mother nature has a way of forcing us to reconsider.
This past week, thanks to the three day weekend, the family and I made some last minute plans to go camping at a local state park.
It has been quite a while since we have gotten some tent time as a family, so we were excited by the prospect. Sadly, the day after we booked our campsite, we learned of the impending weather changes soon to sweep across the country.
So, we made the tough decision to cancel our weekend plans of outdoor adventures and settled in for a long, cold weekend indoors.
In our neck of the woods, we spent 4 days in below freezing temps with some light ice and snow. Very atypical for our area of the country. Could we have survived a night or two out in the cold? Probably. But sometimes it's best to hedge your bets and play it safe, especially when one has children involved.
While I love being out in nature, I also love a chance to settle down in a comfy spot with a book and that's precisely what I did over the long, cold weekend.
I hope you all stayed warm too.
We will plan an adventure for another day.
First, I would like to thank you for stopping by my messy little corner of the Internet. It's not much, but it's mine. I like it here and I hope you will too.
I have blogged off and on for years on a variety of topics. I've had personal blogs, homesteading blogs, video game diary blogs, but nothing stuck, or rather, I didn't stick to them. I am hoping this will be different.
This blog, Librarian in the Wild, if you haven't figured it out already by the name, is primarily about my adventures, musings and experiences as a librarian. However, I have no desire to write about work all the time, so I will be throwing in pieces that cover the outdoor adventures I have with my family. I'm sure some other topics will find their way in as well.