Balance at Home and On the Road

Started out today with a rare Tuesday yoga class. Since I was going to go to the Haddon Township Library today anyway, I figured it made sense to do what I had to do in Collingswood, the next town over from Westmont, this morning instead of Friday. It was a bit cloudy and cool this morning; I brought my spring jacket, just in case.

Vicki, who often attends Karin's Thursday class, was the teacher today. She was energetic and fun. She moved faster than Karin, but not as fast as Eric. The emphasis was on balancing and standing poses. Thankfully, the balancing involved standing against walls, which I can do.

Went to the Collingswood Library next. The young girl in charge first put me in the back office, sticking bar code labels on new library cards. When I finished that, I organized the DVDs. I wish I'd been able to come last week. The DVDs were a mess. The children's section was a total disaster, with half of everything out of order and most series not together.

I made some quick stops after leaving the library. I bought a book on women changing careers and the first three James Howe Bunnicula books (Bunnicula, Howliday Inn, and The Celery Stalks At Midnight) from the used book seller. I had a slice of plain cheese and a slice of Red Pepper and Mushroom on Blue Cheese pizza at Cafe Antonio's. I bought a shower curtain from Dollar Depot next to the Westmont Acme.

My next stop was supposed to be the Haddon Township Library. When I arrived, there was yellow tape across the doors of the back end, and they were wide open. Ok. I could run with that. The doors must have been broken. When I walked in, though, there were people bustling around, some wearing face masks. Everything was covered with tarps. A man told me to leave. The library was closed until further notice.

Well, THAT wasn't good. I had DVDs due...and I couldn't even return them. The return boxes were taped over. I asked a guy walking out wearing working gloves and carrying some debris what was going on. He said something about a flood, but didn't know any details; he'd just arrived.

That put a damper on my good mood. I made brief stops at JoAnn's and at Super Fresh for sugar, but I wasn't really up for further adventures. Besides, it had gotten sunny, windy, and very hot by this point. It was too hot and windy for bike rides.

There was a package waiting for me when I arrived. Lauren sent me episodes of the USA comedy/mystery series Psych, a favorite of hers. I hauled them upstairs, along with everything else I bought this morning.

The first thing I did when I got inside was go online to find out what happened at the Haddon Township Library. As it turns out, there was none of the mystery that lingered when the Oaklyn Library closed suddenly in November. A boiler room pipe had burst, soaking the area around the circulation desk, librarian's lounge, book sale area, bathrooms, meeting room, and children's area. According to the Camden County Library's site, they'll be closed through Friday for major cleanup. Bummer. Friday's my only other day off this week, and I'll be busy with the farm market on Saturday. Oh well, no Haddon Township Library volunteering this week. I renewed the DVDs.

The rest of the day was passed quietly. I read my old copy of A Song In the Dark. I made the bed. I vacuumed the apartment. I swept the porch. I'd wait until the fuzzy seed pods were finished coming down and it was less windy, but I couldn't stand how messy my porch looked anymore.

Watched the first episode of Psych during dinner. Psych is a goofy comic mystery on the same offbeat lines as another popular USA mystery show, Monk. The odd detective here is a psychic...or so he claims. He's really a smart guy with a really, really good memory who passes himself off as a psychic so the cops will believe his constant tips to the police force. He and his skeptical pal with the delicate stomach set themselves up as unusual private eyes in order to help the local law enforcement with a kidnapping case.

I went for a walk after a quick spinach-and-mushroom omelet for dinner. It was late, past 7:30, and still windy. It was cooler than it had been in the heat of the day. The clouds that vanished after this morning had returned, though they didn't look threatening. I strolled down to the end of Goff Avenue to admire the view, then headed down past the Oaklyn School (which looked busy - a board meeting, I think) to West Clinton. The dafodils are gone, but there are lots of other flowers blooming - iris, magnolias, azaleas, pansies, dandelions, and the last of the lilacs and tulips. Some yards have so much grass, they're starting to look like sets for the MGM Johnny Weissmuller Tarzan movies.