A FISHTOWN FRIDAY AND A FRIDAY VIEW

It was back to Fridays at the Fishtown Community Branch for the fall/winter/spring season.  For those who don't know Fishtown is the sister branch to my home library the Richmond Branch.  During the fall, winter and spring Richmond is closed on Fridays and open on Saturdays.  Fishtown is always a Monday through Friday branch.  So on Fridays some of us from Richmond work at Fishtown and some of us work at our own branch on Saturdays.  The Fishtown people -- some work at their own branch on Friday and the others work at Richmond on Saturday.  Confusing, right?  In any case, both branches are covered for Friday and Saturday.

Fishtown is a very small branch.  The whole thing could fit into Richmond with room left over.  But the customers and people who work there are so nice.  And it's not busy on Fridays, so it's like having a little vacation.

I went in this morning with my blood pressure up again.  What's with this?  It wasn't real high, so I just decided to go to work.  I felt bad this morning, but as the day went on I felt better and better.  I'm sure my pressure must have gone down even though I wasn't able to take it.  I could tell just by the way I was feeling.  Most of the afternoon I had nothing to do.  I shelved books (that took all of 10 minutes) and asked around, but no one had anything for me to do.  So I ended up sitting on one of the computers for a few hours looking at things and reading blogs.  But you know, that was just what I needed to do in order to feel better.

Tonight I made poached salmon, potato salad and squash and onions for dinner.  It was a squash I had never tried before.  I don't even know what it is called.  I saw it at the farm last week and got it.  It is yellow at one end and green at the other.  Pretty looking and oh so sweet to eat.  It was wonderful.  I am hoping they have it there again tomorrow when we go.

Joe went with me to work last night after dinner and then after work we went to Shop Rite.  I just looked at the receipt and we saved $12.62 in on sale items and coupons.  Really good!  We hadn't been food shopping in a couple of weeks and we still kept our bill to under $70.  So proud of myself.

For the Friday View this week I was debating about several different photos, but decided to show you this one.  I bought these cute cloth fall placemats in Virginia last year.  I found them at K-Mart of all places.  I used them last year, found them in the closet this year and put them out.  I love them.

Have a nice weekend everyone.

A QUICK POST ABOUT MY DOCTOR VISIT

I'm getting ready for work in a few minutes, so this will be a quick post.  Just wanted to let you all know how I made out at the doctor's yesterday morning.  Yes, I was going to post last night, but fell right to sleep.  I was really tired.  (Still am for that matter.)

I went because of my high blood pressure that I've been having all week.  Of course when I went in and the nurse took my pressure it was 120/70.  Yeah, that's how it goes.  The doctor said he couldn't treat me for something that I no longer had.  But then he started asking me questions about did I ever have chest pains (yes), shortness of breath (yes), pain in my left arm and neck (yes), nausea (yes).  So he insisted on giving me an EKG.

The girl that did the EKG was so nice and pleasant.  I had no idea that in one of the back rooms they have a whole lab set up.  Cool.
Well, the EKG came back "abnormal".  I could tell something was wrong when she took it twice and then said, "Stay here and I'll show it to the doctor."

He came back in, told me it was abnormal, but hadn't changed any from the one I had two years ago.  It had picked up my heart murmur which I've had since I was a baby.  So he said my medication was working, not to worry, just follow up with my heart specialist in February (my next scheduled visit) and if the blood pressure went up again, to call him.

In a way I felt like it was a wasted visit, but in another way I was pleased that I have a doctor that listens to me and is on the ball enough to pick up on things and order immediate tests.  

A lot of the symptoms that appear to be "heart attack related" are actually left from when I had my stomach surgery.  I now have gas pockets in my chest that mimic heart attacks.  Not fun, but at least I know what they are, am able to take something to break up the gas, and they go away.

Enough of this medical post.  I am off to get ready for work.  I am working today at the Fishtown Branch.  This is the first week I am there in this new season.  Wonder how it's going to be.

WHAT I'M READING

I AM HUTTERITE by Mary-Ann Kirkby (2010)

 

About the book:

As a 10-year-old girl, the only life Ann-Marie Dornn had known was that lived within the boundaries of a secluded but vibrant Hutterite community in southern Manitoba, Canada.  Everything was shared -- food, property... and private lives.  When political tensions became unbearable, Ann-Marie's parents felt they had no choice but to leave the only way of life they had ever known.

Before she left the colony, Ann-Marie (now Mary-Ann Kirkby) had never tasted macaroni and cheese or ridden a bike.  She had never heard of Walt Disney or rock-and-roll.  She was forced to reinvent herself, denying her heritage to fit in with her peers.  Her new life was all about fitting in, but she would never forget the thread that bound her to a childhood that had shaped the essence of who she is.

With great humor and raw honesty, Kirkby describes life on the Hutterite colony, adapting to pop culture, and her family's deep sense of loss for their community.  It is a story about retracing steps and understanding how our beginnings often define us.

My thoughts:

Joe and I first became interested in the Hutterites when we watched the National Geographic show "American Colony:  The Hutterites".  Although the show became controversial, we did learn a lot about this group.  Joe started reading books about them to discover just what they believed and how they lived.  I saw a review of this book online and ordered it from the library for Joe.  When he was finished, I started reading it and couldn't put it down.  Both of us loved this book.

Mary-Ann Kirkby is so honest and open about her life.  Although the Hutterite life wasn't perfect by any means, to a child it was idyllic.  Their life is structured.  Things are done in a certain way at a certain time.  As a commune or colony everyone is supportive of everyone else.  Things are done in groups.  When the family left the colony and went on their own, they really didn't know how to cope in the outside world.

What an interesting, well-written book.  I would love to find another book as good as this one about other anabaptist communities.  I am Amish?  I am Mennonite?  I am Baptist?