Today is the last day of my kiddo's spring break. That means it's also the last day of me "working from home" from my parents place in Florida. While I am stuck during the day, it's been a great trip hanging out with my family. Also, kiddo gets such joy in catching lizards that those moments alone are worth the trip.

Here's what was good about this week:

• Visiting a nature preserve and seeing a ton of birds and gators
• Greek beet salad
• Artemis splashdown and all the moon joy they brought with them
• Bonding with other moms who were also travelling solo
• Not setting a morning alarm
• Taking some after dinner walks
• Fudgy brownies
• Kiddo's strong opinions about her summer wardrobe

Keeping this intro short. Kiddo and I flew to Florida for her spring break yesterday. Whilst she galivants with the grandparents, I'll be "working from home." This is our third year of doing it, and it's working out great! I don't know how long we'll be able to maintain this schedule, but I love the balance it provides our family. Kiddo gets grandparent time. I get focused work time. The husband gets his solo week to do whatever the hell he wants.

The coffee felt extra dark this morning. I don't know why, but it fit my taste buds perfectly. Every now and then, I just want a very strong tasting mug to start the day. 

Here's what else made me happy this week:

• Lots of questions about collaborating with the library after our presentation
• Sunshine
• Prepping for a work from home week (clean all the files!)
• My brother popped into town for a quick visit
• Listening to a podcast while exercising
• Cleaned up my work office
• Pickles
• Kiddo changed the empty toilet paper roll - all by herself - entirely unprompted
• Hubby and I both nabbed Olympic ticket draw slots (and he's going to stay up until 1am to buy everything)

Brimstone
Callie Hart

I'm in the final chapters of this book. While much of the narrative seems to be a set up for the third book, all of that structure makes sense. Also, the marketing summary led me to believe that this story would be different than what it has been. The difference isn't bad, just unexpected. I do love all the tiny world building details that have leant some depth to this. Still too many characters to keep straight though...

In other news, I'm reading two work related titles right now: How to Know a Person by David Brooks and Person-Centered Management in Academic Libraries. Both are centered around the idea of working and understand individual persons better.

*Books shared here are affiliate links for Bookshop.org

Our neighborhood is in full bloom. Some of the plants I know. Most of them, I don't. This week, while on the way to school, the kiddo stopped to ask about a random flower growing in someone's yard. Instead of guessing, I pulled out iNaturalist. I recently downloaded it and we figured we'd find out together. 

After I dropped her off, I logged a few more blooms on my way back home. I also uploaded a picture of a coyote (!!) we saw on our walk to school earlier in the week. That sighting was eventually "confirmed" by another user of the app. When I got the email notification, I ended up exploring some of the community features of the program.

What I hope is that, this first week of use, becomes the start of something bigger.

I’d love for our walks - whether it’s to school or along our local trails - to turn into little explorations. Not in a big, over-planned way, just in a “let’s see what we notice today” kind of way. Maybe we start keeping track of the things we find. Maybe we try to identify a few new plants each week. Maybe we just get a little more curious together.

I like the idea of having something that gently nudges us to pay attention. To stop when we see something interesting. And, maybe, to follow those small questions to learning more together at the library.

And, I'm hoping this gets us (really, me) outside more.

This app feels like a way to connect with nature, our neighborhood, and each other. And if it helps us slow down and wonder at a few more flowers along the way, that's all the better.

It looks like the kiddo loves spring flowers as much as I do. Our neighborhood is in bloom. On our walks to school, she's constantly stopping to look at the petals. We've even used iNaturalist to help us identify the ones I don't know. It might slow us down, but it's made the trip to school more fun.

Here's what else made me happy this week:

• Freshly laundered sheets and towels
• Won the basket I wanted at the school fundraising auction
• Lavender scented everything
• Spotted a bunny in some daffodils
• Sitting in the sun while the kiddo played on the playground
• Simple dinners
• Watching the Artemis II launch as a family
• Teaching a class of super chatty and engaged students

I read a lot of books with my kiddo. Kid Reads is a biweekly look at what we've enjoyed recently. 

What makes a good reference librarian?

There's the obvious stuff - knowing where to look, technical search strategies, and an abundance of persistence. But some of my best reference moments have had less to do with professional training and more to do with my life.

I grew up in Cooperstown, New York - the home of the Baseball Hall of Fame. So when a student asked for help researching rules changes in baseball, I didn't just point them to a database. I practically inundated them with material none of my colleagues would have been able to rattle off the top of their heads.

Then I became a parent, which meant searching and absorbing all things kids. When another parent asked about playgrounds within walking distance of campus, I didn't have to dig. I had a list of options in my head with some opinions to go with them.

Living in DC has been its own kind of training. Local government resources - looking at you DMV! - are notoriously hard to navigate. That firsthand frustration makes me a better guide when someone comes to the desk not knowing where to start.

And then there's leisure reading. When a student came in looking for something like Fourth Wing, that is my wheelhouse. I read a lot of romantasy. I just had to figure out what tropes this reader preferred before I gave some options
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Being a reference librarian is funny like that. You can be professionally trained and educated in all the ways a librarian should work, but most of what you know comes from personal experience. Literally everything I do in life could, one day, turn into a reference question.

I added all of these from one recommended list.

Y​ou can see my complete TBR list on Pinterest.
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*Items featured here are Bookshop.org affiliate links.

The husband likes to, jokingly, give me grief about the typos and grammatical errors in what I post. I do review things before I hit post but, when you've been staring at the same text all week, you miss things. 

Hey, at least you know it's not written by AI! To err is human.

I have thought about popping my text into Claude and treating it like a copy editor, but I simply can't be bothered.

Now, when I made a you're/your error in an exhibit sign I had to hand draw for work... that I fixed. You have to have some standards after all.