Friday Free Day

Betty Ammon, Sandy Craft and Ann Nichols.  Betty and Sandy work at the Coeur d'Alene library while Ann is a staffer in Sandpoint.  Sandy coordinated the Idaho State Librarians' Fall Conference. 

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I'm free, and it's Friday. Now, don't get the wrong idea.  No loose woman sitting here at the keyboard, just one who's been liberated from "The Dread."  

"The Dread"  is not a rock band with shackles and chains, although I think that would be a good name for any aspiring music groupies out there, especially with Halloween coming up.  

"The Dread" in my book occurs every so often, usually for at least a week before having to give a speech.  And, that's what I had to do yesterday.

I've known about this speech for more than six months, and it's about my  fifth speech this year and fifth attack of "The Dread." And, these have occurred after declaring publicly last year that there would be no more speeches.  

Guess I'm not a woman of my word, except for when I weaken and mistakenly say "yes."  Then, I have to be a woman of my word.  And, by golly, one more time, when "The Dread" officially ended as I stepped up to the podium, the speech was a lot of  fun.  

This time the audience consisted of librarians from around the state of Idaho.  It was their fall conference, and the venue was the probably exactly the same room where Willie and I spoke in June to the Idaho Delta Kappa Gamma convention.  That would be the Red Lion in Post Falls.  

Anyway, once "The Dread" aka "anticipatory paranoia" ended, all those people out there in that audience seemed so nice and so kind and so responsive.  Heck, they even laughed a few times at my speech, which was entitled "Overdue:  Wanda Hickey's Night of Golden Memories and Other Disasters."

Only a few hands went up when I asked how many had heard of Jean Shepherd, the Indiana author who's writes a lot like Patrick F. McManus.  So maybe my speech took some of those librarians into some new territory.  Of course, if I had asked if they have ever seen the movie The Christmas Story, based on Shepherd's work, I'm sure many more hands would have gone up.

I sincerely thank the Idaho State Librarian Conference attendees for being so kind and so friendly.  Post Dread time yesterday was a pure joy.

Now, if I could ever figure out a remedy for "The Dread," I'd go on the road giving speeches cuz it's a lot of fun when people seem to enjoy what you've written and how you present it.   In this case, the librarians loved hearing the story about that Jean Shepherd book I checked out from my local library and neglected to return for 15 years.  

By the way, as of yesterday, our local public library now has a brand-new copy of Wanda Hickey's Night of Golden Memories and Other Disasters, but wait until library staffer Ann Nichols gets home from the convention if you're gonna check it out----and be sure to return it!!!! :) 

Now that "The Dread" has passed and that no vegetables need to be pulled from the garden and the lawn won't get mowed cuz of all those leaves falling and cuz it's wet outside and since it's not a great day for riding a horse and because of a whole lot of other reasons, I'm free today to do what I wish.

I haven't figured out yet what I wish to do because it takes a while to get used to being free.  You kinda have to think it over for a while, and that's what I'm doing right now as I type.  

Maybe a visit to the museum, for sure a visit with my mother and maybe a trip up to Bonners Ferry to drop off some books at Sharon's Country Store.

So many choices and a whole day for selecting.  I love it!

I guess I'd better leave Slight Detour blog behind and see about my getting started on my Slight Detour from having a day full of "must do's."    

Happy Friday.