Thursday, April 7

Up at 7:30 and did a treadmill session and weights exercises after breakfast. Once I was ready for the day, I did this and that around the house, while Hubbie ran a few errands. Mother opted to stay at her house today.

After lunch, Hubbie and I went to the college library to help sort books for a book sale this weekend during the Scottish Festival. We arrived shortly before 1 p.m., as agreed, but found that the job was already done. We were told that there was a lot of help available during the morning (probably students), so the task went faster than expected.

But we were invited to browse the books and buy any we wanted. I found a couple of audio books on CD, along with several novels. Hubbie found a John Grisham novel he hasn't read before.

Back home, we didn't accomplish anything the rest of the afternoon. Around 5:30, we went back to the library to attend a champagne reception for the Friends of the Library.

The reception was held in what's known as the Tornado Garden. Its name derives from a large cross that is its focal point. The cross once graced the steeple of the chapel, but was wrenched from it's place by a tornado in 1973. A professor salvaged it, and later donated it back to the college.

The garden is a renovated courtyard in the center of the library building that once only featured a picnic table. Now, the garden has stone walkways between white rock areas, concrete benches and wooden chairs and tables, a small fountain, and Japanese maple trees and other plants. It's a recently renovated space, and one that I had not seen before tonight.

This was the first Friends of the Library champagne reception hosted by the library, and folks came dressed in a variety of ways, as is the case for most events we attend. There was everything from suits to blue jeans. We dressed up...Hubbie in a suit and tie, and I in an animal print blouse with sheer sleeves over tan slacks, accented with a necklace of strands of brown beads centered with small ivory colored elephants.

We didn't feel particularly overdressed, since the college president and his wife wore suits, as did the director of the library, and other men and women. The theater director wore a reddish suit jacket over a chambray shirt and blue jeans, as befitted an "artsy" type.

Refreshments, besides champagne served in plastic stem glasses, were hot mini-quiches, small squares of a type of pizza...crusts spread with cream cheese and topped with raw veggies, a variety of cheese cubes, and mixed nuts.

After we'd visited for a while, we returned to the book sale, where I found and bought several more novels. We were back home around 7 p.m., and spent the rest of the evening watching TV.

Funny: at the book sale tables, we browsed alongside the president's wife and her mother. In a few minutes, we were joined by a college staff member. She remarked to the president's wife that she was supposed to attend a juried art show tonight with the president, but she wasn't sure how long he planned to stay at the reception, and she wanted to get to the art show before a piece that she wanted to buy was sold to someone else.

The president's wife advised the lady not to wait for the president, because she'd learned over the years that, "you should only go with my husband if you like to go places alone." Apparently, the president is not a slave to time and events.

However, the statement was no sooner out of her mouth than here came the president. He obviously hadn't heard the remark, though, and as he left the library, we all broke into laughter.