Thanksgiving in Costa Mesa

Since Renata had to work the Saturday after Thanksgiving, we stayed in the area and got to celebrate with the SoCal part of our family. (There are just a few more photos to see if you click on the posting title.)

Catching Up: CLA in San Jose

I always enjoy the annual California Library Association conference learning opportunities, special events, and seeing old friends. This was my second CLA in San Jose (the last one was spent finishing and turning in another set of culminating papers so I could finally get my MLIS!) This time, besides the workshops and speakers, I got to tour the Adobe Systems corporate library shortly after arriving from Tahoe and checking-in Friday afternoon. At the end of the afternoon Saturday, I was treated to wine and hors d'oeuvres and a tour of the Almaden Community Center and Library. What a fabulous place! (These are photos of their TeenSpace.)There were other special events: Brodart invited me to the Friday night Awards Dinner and I attended the State Librarian's Breakfast Saturday morning. After returning from the Almaden Branch Library, I barely had time to enjoy the final hour of the San Jose State School of Library & Information Science Fundraiser at the San Jose Art Museum - a quick bidding time at the silent auction where I got two autographed books, a few more hors d'oeuvres and wine, and a brief look at photos of Frieda Kahlo and some fabulous cardboard and glass art. On Sunday morning, I took part in a poster session about the How I See It: My Place program.
Of course I took lots of pictures; you can see the album by clicking on this posting's title.

Catching Up: Tahoe Trip

With the Veterans Day holiday and two vacation days off before CLA's annual conference, I drove up to visit Sam and Jenn. I got to finally see their new apartment, visit Ingrid and see her new home, AND finally totally satisfy my Fall Colors desire (the Big Bear trip helped a lot but I wanted to see MORE!)
Photos of Sam, Jenn, Diesel, and Tahoe

Pictures of my visit and walk with Ingrid outside Grass Valley

Return of the Red-shouldered Hawk

Just as I was locking up and checking on the pond before leaving for work this morning, this guy flew up from around the avocado tree. I think he might have been drinking out of the water bowl I keep filled for the cats and possums, but I'm not sure he wasn't sitting in the crook of the tree trunk waiting to catch a gopher or something.
At any rate, too little time went between my awareness of the bird and the time it took him to fly up to the neighboring roof. What I was most aware of was the hawk's wingspan - I don't think it was my imagination that made it look like 40".
I looked up information about red-shouldered hawks (University of Michigan and Cornell) and they are described with 37-44" wingspans. I'm glad I had enough time to take his picture before he flew away. Since these hawks are solitary and territorial, I'm assuming this is the same bird we were so surprised to see this summer.
Thank goodness Bob is as huge as he is. He didn't need to be hiding in the tree, but I'm glad he was!

How I See It: South Oxnard

After months of anticipation and weeks of preparation, we finally held the Opening Reception for How I See It: South Oxnard. Some of you know I applied for this grant from the California Council for the Humanities almost a year ago - my first grant application, so I feel quite lucky to have been chosen to take part in the program. I attended a weekend orientation in L.A. for the 21 librarian Project Directors back in May. After completing our Summer Reading Program and recruiting teens for the project, we had our first session on September 16th. We met once or twice every week for the first six or seven weeks, increasing to three - and finally, four - times a week as our exhibit opening got closer. This is a video created by our City of Oxnard Public Affairs folks, Luis and Christina. Watching it on Vimeo.com causes a bit of distortion to the images and sometimes stops to reload periodically, but it does an excellent job of introducing you to some of the teens and their work. Click on the Play button image and you'll see why I'll miss working with this group now that our project is over:

How I See It...South Oxnard Library Photo Project from City of Oxnard on Vimeo.