Actual Pilgrimage!

Possums! I'm here to tell you that I went on an actual library pilgrimage! Well, a pilgrimage in the sense that I traveled a great distance, but in truth, only one library was visited. But it was lovely!

In June we went on a family vacation to Ponta Delgada in the Azores, a wee, picturesque island in the Atlantic.

The Azores are part of Portugal

Although our intention with this trip wasn't solely to visit a new (and European!) library, I will let you know that I confirmed there was a library in Ponta Delgada before I booked our Airbnb. I'm no fool.

Now I could go on and on about the views in the Azores,

or the natural wonders,

the interesting sights,

or the local flora,

but you're not here for all that (yawn!). You're here for the sweet, sweet library talk.

Conveniently, the library was about a fifteen minute walk  from our apartment, which we discovered our first night on the island when we went on a gelato mission. From our favourite gelato shop (we tried many) we could see the library. As it was after dinner, a plan was made to return the next day.

And return we did. The unassuming entrance to the library did not betray the beautiful design housed inside.

There was colour to be found in the library as well.

Tile art on the stairs

Since we had been out walking in the sun, the first stop was the library cafe which had a courtyard (how civilized!) where we enjoyed some cool beverages.

Then we were off to explore the children's area. My older daughter quickly found a book on her favourite topic - didn't matter that it was in Portuguese.

All cats, all the time

My younger daughter was interested in the board games and puzzles that they had, so we grabbed Guess Who and took it to our table.

As we were getting the game set up I noticed how many teenagers there were in the children's area (turned out the library was crawling with teens; I think they were preparing for end-of-the-year exams). "They probably find it so babyish in this section," I thought, hoping the sound of our playing wouldn't disturb them.

After we finished our game, as we were putting it away, one of the teens came over to us, and in broken English asked if she could have the game. She took it back to her table and set it up to begin playing with her friend. Not so babyish after all.

We made our way up to the second floor once the games were done and all the cat pictures had been observed. Here we found more teens, but also some beautiful natural light and wood flooring.

What a stunner!

All libraries should have a sky light

And as we were wrapping up our visit, I looked down to the floor below me and saw a man reading possibly the biggest and oldest book I had ever seen.

I don't know what he was looking for, but it was clear that the history that was being housed in the library was put to good use.

It was a beautiful trip, and a lovely library. I hope to return one day. If you're ever there, stop in and have a peek.

Next-Level Library Accessories

Hellllloooooooooooo (that's the sound of me greeting you from far away because it has been SO LONG SINCE I'VE POSTED!)!!!

All my writing for the past few months has been for the course that I've been taking at work/school (spoiler - they're the same place for me!), but with my final assignment submitted, I'm DOOOOOONNNNNNNEEEEE!!! (sorry for yelling at you so much)

The smaller the bird, the bigger the yell
Photo by Mathew Schwartz on Unsplash

With my final essay submitted, it was time for me to return my research books to the library on campus (shout out to university libraries and their tremendously generous loan times - we're talking months at a time!).

Not my actual books - think what I could have written with these beauties!
Photo by Chris Lawton on Unsplash

While dropping my books off I remembered one of my favourite new features of my at-work library which I am so excited to be able to share with you...

WHHHAAAAAAAA?!?!?!?

IT'S A DING DANG SLEEPING POD!!!!

The front pulls around for maximum serenity, and you can program the length of your nap and the soothing sounds you would like pumped into your ears while you rest. NEXT LEVEL!!!

So modern

It's like the dentist's chair, except soothing and relaxing, not jaw-clenching and anxiety producing. Now the real question is, would I feel too self-conscious to sleep in the library, in front of people who may judge me?

No. I would not. Sweet dreams!

Wine Shopping

Happy New Year readers!

My classy cat, celebrating in style.

New Year's Day seems like a good time to share my wine purchasing story. It doesn't really have anything to do with libraries, unless you consider a wine store to be like a library, except there aren't books only bottles, and you don't borrow the wine, so...nope, this story has nothing to do with libraries.

A while back my boss was leaving our office, so we decided to send him off with some booze (as all good employees do). I was tasked with procuring said booze, so I went to my colleague who knows about these things, and he looked up the LCBO's wine list, found a few good choices which were apparently in stock at the closest outlet, and jotted them down for me.

Off I went, and spent a good twenty minutes searching for the wine on my list. I double checked that I was looking in the right country and not trying to find a red in amongst the whites. All was good on my end, yet I couldn't find the bottle.

This was not, apparently, my wine country.

Finally, probably after longer than it should have been (I'm a bit stubborn), I asked one of the staff at the LCBO if he knew where I could find the wine on my list. He took my little scrap of paper, read the wine, and said "of course, follow me", and then took me over to the section of the wine store that I had always assumed was only for the revoltingly rich and from which I would be swiftly asked to leave should I enter - the Vintages.

So fancy, so classy.

He quickly found the wine on my list while I marveled that there were wines here that didn't have enough value to put my children through university, that I, with my $30 in coins and small bills collected from my colleagues, could indeed purchase a fancy bottle of wine. I'm sure there were also wines in that area that cost a pretty penny, but they were probably behind locks or up high where my grubby paws can't reach.

I thanked my new friend and took my bottle over to the cashier when it dawned on me; I had never in my life, until that moment, bought a nice bottle of wine. All of my wine selections had come from the equivalent of the dollar store offerings, purchased "off the rack" as it were. 

Armed with this new knowledge about the relative affordability of the Vintages section, I realize I could purchase more wine from there, but I haven't been back since. Partly it's because I don't actually buy a lot of wine, but I suspect that if I were to return to Vintages and peruse on my own, I would find my hands wrapped around a bottle whose price tag comes close to my pay cheque, and it would inevitably be at this moment that my clumsiness would stumble by, and I would be left with a very expensive pile of broken glass. I'll stick to dropping a $10 bottle of wine from the bargain section.

My inevitable future.

Small Town Libraries

Avid readers of The Library Pilgrim blog (hi Mom! hi Dad!) will recall that we visited the lovely small-town Fergus library this summer, and it ended up being one of three small-town libraries that we discovered.

While in Stittsville we walked over to the Stittsville Library, conveniently located right on main street. There we discovered one of my favourite additions to the modern library - the community puzzle.

Cat puzzle

We all found our way to the table, and spent a pleasant half hour trying to fit pieces in. Even my 5-year old was engaged.

Hard at work

We had such a good time with that library puzzle that we started our own 1000 piece odyssey when we got home.

It begins!

The end of the summer took us to the lovely town of Port Stanley where we descended on the beach to celebrate my 40th birthday with a party I called Pineapplepalooza! The day before the party we explored Port Stanley, including a trip to their library. 

The Port Stanley library is connected to the Festival Theatre, creating a lovely little culture hub. We arrived in the space, and my girls immediately settled into the library's offerings; comfy chairs and good books.

Little Girl in the Corner Reading

Speaking of books, the check-out desk is made of them!

Look at the book desk!

The decor is appropriate for a port town.

Cute lighthouse

So for this library nerd, the summer was full of wonderful new discoveries. Who knows what we'll find on our next adventure?

Summer Fun Fergus Library

Every summer we put together a checklist of all the fun things we want to do, the aptly named Summer Fun Checklist. It has gotten a little...unwieldy.

The 2018 edition

And while I admit that the number of things still left to complete is giving me mild anxiety, I love the checklist and the way it shapes our summer. 

One item that makes it on the list most years is "explore a small town," so this year we decided to visit lovely Fergus Ontario. My children's priority was ice cream. Mine was finding the library. Neither of us left disappointed.

The Fergus library is housed in a lovely old building right on the main drag, and it looks like it has been renovated fairly recently. We quickly found our way to the children's area, guided by this beacon.

Slightly misleading ice cream statue

We were all a little disappointed that the large cone didn't indicate that the library housed an ice cream bar, but my older daughter was soon appeased by the friend she found.

Puppy hug

Perhaps my favourite feature of the children's area was the large wall-mounted TV screen that was showing a loop of Kitty Party and Puppy Party, which is exactly what you hope it would be. There was also this neat contraption.

Gear city

Soon I convinced everyone to go upstairs to the adult collection (not to be confused with a video store's adult collection), and it felt like I was becoming a member of the finer things club!

Much flowers, such light, finer things!

Not pictured were the plump armchairs facing a fire place, which looked delightfully cozy. But the best was yet to come. At the other end of the building was...

A reading balcony! Overlooking the river! With beautiful Muskoka chairs! By this point my children had become distracted by the Medieval Faire below us, and the prospect of finding ice cream, so I didn't ask if everyone just wanted to stay and read for the next hour (my preference), so off we went to explore the rest of Fergus which happened to include archery, blacksmiths, and medieval cosplay.

Slowing Down

On my lunch hour from work, I usually use the time to run errands on foot. In addition to getting things done, it has the added bonus of increasing my step count.

This photo is a complete brag, except for my sleep stat which is shameful.

Because the main branch of the Waterloo Public Library is walking distance from my office, it is a frequent destination. They have a great kid's section where I can pick up the next in the Ramona Quimby series to read to my girls at bedtime.

Usually it's just a quick stop to drop off or pick up books before I'm off to the grocery store to get something for dinner, or the drug store to spend a small fortune on sunscreen, but today...today I didn't have anywhere else to go. So I stayed and read.

Possums, it was wonderful.

The experience was made even better by the fact that it was frivolous reading. I picked up a magazine and read it idly.While leafing through the pages (and finding a recipe for a watermelon cocktail that I will absolutely be making tonight), I thought about the future. Retirement, when my kids are gone, and reading at the library could be my day's entire plan.

Idle distraction.

It's going to be fabulous.

Writer In Residence

While a good chunk of my library use is the traditional borrowing of books, I also frequent the many programs and resources on offer. I probably check the library calendar once a week to keep up to date with all the opportunities (for free!).

The KPL calendar

It’s through this calendar that I discovered the library’s Writer-in-Residence program which brings in an established writer to give lectures, presentations, and also offer one-on-one manuscript appraisals to a few lucky writers. I was especially thrilled this year when I discovered the WIR would be Camilla Gibb whose writing I enjoy and admire. When I got the email telling me I’d been selected to sit down with Ms Gibb to discuss my writing I was excited, but also nervous. You see, this wouldn’t be my first trip to the WIR rodeo. My first trip had also been through the KPL, a few years back, and it had not gone well.

When I’d been on maternity leave with my daughter I decided to write a young-adult novel. It was written mostly in half hour chunks while she napped in her swing behind me. It was about a high school production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and the main character was a student who was crossing over from the athletic world of jocks to the land of the drama geeks. When I saw that the library offered consultation with a professional writer, I submitted an application.


I got the email that I’d be meeting with the author and I submitted an excerpt. Now, because the Internet is forever, I’m going to take the high road and not name the author, but please know how much self-control that is taking. If you see me at a party (and particularly if I have a glass of wine in my hand), know that I will dish freely if you happen to be interested. Suffice it to say, our genres were very different, perhaps (as I would find out), not even compatible.

Sadly not my glass of wine. Also not my hand.

The day arrived, and as I sat clutching my work and waiting for my turn, I gave myself over to grandiose dreams. Perhaps this writer would put in a good word with a publisher. Could a movie deal really be that far behind? I was feeling good, is the point. The feeling did not last.


Given that I was an inexperienced writer, and this was my first novel, realistically I knew it wouldn’t be great work. I didn’t think (and I still don’t) that it was Nick Miller zombie novel bad, but it absolutely needed some work (but come on, Nick’s book sounds amazing - I would totally read the heck out of it). The consultation started off badly when I realized I’d made a mistake. The application told me to send an excerpt if my work was longer than 2500 words (which it was), so I selected a part from the middle that I quite liked. It was a moment when my main character was feeling defeated, but finds an unlikely ally. Apparently, though, I was supposed to send the beginning, because that’s what the author assumed she was reading. I quickly told her that I hadn’t submitted the beginning, but rather a part from the middle, thinking that we would have a good laugh and continue, but...I don’t know, maybe she didn’t hear me? She kept right on telling me that I was presenting characters without context, that there was no build up to the story. I kept agreeing with her, that this would have been a strange place to start a story, but it seemed that once she had made her notes she wouldn’t deviate from them.


But I soon saw that even if I had sent the beginning of the book, this evaluation wouldn’t have been any better. She hated my writing. She told me repeatedly how boring my premise was, suggesting I turn the beloved drama teacher character into a sexual predator. At one point she asked me “why would anybody write about this?” I have no idea if this was a rhetorical question or not, but I certainly didn’t have an answer. On and on it went while I pretended to take notes but really just tried not to fall apart. Near the end she looked down at her notes on my work and said “wow, these comments are a little harsh.” Meaning that the evisceration I had been experiencing was the gentle version of her thoughts. I knew at that moment that I would never read her notes - I needed to preserve some self-confidence.

Actual photograph of my withered self-confidence.

Our meeting concluded with her handing me my pages with her “harsh” notes scrawled all over them in red, and her parting words of “good luck” which have never been delivered so unconvincingly. I stuffed the notes into a drawer at home and have not looked at my book since. It was a remarkably discouraging experience.


So I was a little nervous about going to another Writer-in-Residence, but the university that I work at was bringing in writer Pasha Malla (who I’m happy to name here), and the timing coincided with a creative writing course I was taking. So I went to see him and it was fabulous. He gave me great advice, was encouraging, and even suggested I look at submitting the story for publication. My streak continued with the next WIR, Emily Urquhart, who was also incredibly generous, provided great notes, and invited me to read at a literary event held on campus. Writerly fame and fortune had to be close behind! (In spite of everything, I have managed to maintain my self-delusions.)


Bringing us back to present day. My confidence had been restored somewhat by these positive experiences, but I was still nervous about meeting Camilla Gill to talk about a new short story I was working on at the same site as my previous humiliation. Thankfully, right from the first moment, she was supportive and positive, the word boring never once leaving her lips. 

Encouragement from Camilla Gibb!

She had questions for me and she actually listened to my answers. Her suggestions took what I had already written further, rather than trying to change the path of the story. She laughed at the parts of the story that were funny. She liked my ending. With three good experiences now under my belt, I was able to see my first trip to a WIR as, perhaps, the anomaly, at least in tone. I was encouraged to work harder at my writing, rather than give up. And so, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go now to edit my story. I don’t want to disappoint Camilla Gibb.