And the Children Shall Lead You Around the Library

With this my first day off in a week, I had quite a bit planned. First on the dock was a trip over to Westmont. My first stop was the Haddon Township Library to see if they were open. My DVDs could no longer be renewed, and I finished the other books I had out. Nope. They were still dark, and there was still a dumpster in the parking lot. The signs on the doors and book drops still said "closed until further notice." I knew it would take them a lot longer than a month to clean up after a pipe break. I deposited the items I wanted to return in the book drops and moved on.

Oh, well. My day would just require some minor revision. I next headed across the street to Super Fresh and Dollar Tree. Super Fresh had the 12-inch fan I wasn't able to get at the Acme yesterday. The head on my old fan was loose, and it was noisy to boot. I'd been putting off a Dollar Tree visit and needed a lot there - sponges, toothbrushes, and lights for my closets.

Rode home after Dollar Tree, dodging noon traffic on Cuthbert Road and the White Horse Pike. When I got in, I set up my new fan, put batteries in the lights and hung them in the closets, put my toothbrushes in the medicine cabinet, and headed out again. If I couldn't volunteer at one library, I figured I'd just volunteer at one closer to home.

As I headed up to the Oaklyn Library, I saw a group of children in the yard/garden area in the back with two older woman who were probably their teachers. I wondered what they were up to? They weren't holding another volunteer party this year, as far as I knew, and the preschool kids are just about done for the year.

I found out when I went inside...and discovered quite a crowd. A group of elderly women watched Some Like It Hot (good choice) at the tables on one side of the room. On the other, the two teachers were trying to keep their charges together and explain how the library works. The kids were noisy, energetic, and eager to see everything!

To test if they'd been listening to their lectures on the library, the teachers sent groups of children around the kids' area on a "scavenger hunt" to find a young adult (juvenile) fiction book, a picture book, and a kids' non-fiction book. When they were finished, they could read books or read a book to a younger kid, then would go outside and draw bookmarks. I helped the kids find what they needed, then aided some of the younger kids who didn't read well yet. There were two groups of kids. The second group was slightly noisier than the first, with a larger range of older-younger kids. A volunteer helped me put away all of the books after they left.

By the time I got out of the library, it had gotten really hot. The sun was beating down on my bare shoulders (I opted for an olive-green tank top today). I was going to go for a walk, but I decided to curtail it somewhat. I went to WaWa for a turkey hoagie, pretzel, and soda, then walked straight home.

Spent the rest of the afternoon inside, having lunch and cleaning the kitchen. Boy, did the kitchen need it. The refrigerator in particular was AWFUL. I hadn't done the inside since the last time Lauren visited. I had to duct-tape the front of the crisper drawer. I yanked it too hard once too often and it cracked right down the middle. The crisper needed to be scrubbed, too. So did the outside of the stove. Also needed to dust the shelves.