A busy week

This week has been hectic with starting a new job at the local community college library, dealing with a mom in the hospital, and mourning over the Florida State loss to UF. But it's Friday, and I'll drive down to pick up mom and take her home this afternoon. Her surgery went well, and the doctors say all the subsequent test results came back normal.

My new job is interesting, and I work with some great folks. Hopefully in the next week or two I'll be able to pick up some new things to do on a regular basis. It's already been hinted that I might be able to teach some of the orientation classes this summer, so I can look forward to that with fear and trepidation! In the meantime, I'm spending most of my time at the circulation desk, answering questions and doing routine work. I think I can be an real asset there, since I have my Masters in Library Studies, even though my job isn't technically listed as a librarian position. There are lots of possibilities in the future, tho, so I'll do the best I can where I am right now and see what happens.

Cauldron of Story

I was reading the book From Homer to Harry Potter recently, and was reminded of Tolkien's notion of the "cauldron of story." My memory is that this comes from his essay "On Fairy Stories," but I'll confirm that and make the proper annotation later. This cauldron is where every writer goes (in his mind) to get ideas for stories. It consists of all life experiences, all stories and tales that have ever been read or written. So when the writer dips in the ladle, even his own original stories are infused with the essence of tales that have gone before. So we have Beowulf peeking out from the pages of The Lord of the Rings, and medieval heroism creeping about in Order of the Phoenix. It's why, when a Tolkien fan sees a large crane moving uprooted trees across the quad, the immediate notion is that it looks like the march of the Ents across Isengard.

Anyway, I find myself drawn to this idea - it's comforting, in a way, to know that even the most original and unique stories are part of something deeper and larger. And if I ever write a story or tell a tale, that too will be added to the cauldron - a tiny bit of my own flavor to season some other author's imaginings someday.

Anglican realignment?

hat tip: Stand Firm
J. I. Packer gave a very good address at the Anglican Network in Canada Launch Conference. It does a good job not only describing the current crisis in the Anglican Communion, but defining what "The Anglican Way" (to quote Peter Toon) really is. Recommended reading. (But then, if I didn't recommend it, I wouldn't post it here, would I? So ignore the redundancy!)
Global Realignment

Adjunct Bots

hat tip: JAG
A friend had a link to a very amusing article on the free portion of the Chronicle of Higher Education website. It's titled "Mutiny of the Adjunct Bots" - anyone involved in higher education will either laugh hysterically or weep. 8-)
http://chronicle.com/free/v54/i14/14b00501.htm

Why the blog name?

Well, after much persuading I finally decided to start a blog. About what, you ask? Well, let's call it "a bit of everything." It's about literature (Pooh and Potter being two favorites, as you might surmise from the title), home renovations, Anglicanism, cats, and whatever else happens to float into my consciousness. But like the bear of very little brain, don't expect earth-shattering discoveries or deep intellectual conversations about Aristotle's nature of the soul (I'll leave that to my hubby). It will probably be more simple and ordinary musings, mostly a way to keep in touch with my far-away friends.