The Hot Stuff and a Cool Story

Here we go. From WBAL TV Weather:

Suggestions from the good folks from the Capital Weather Gang:

Staying safe in the heat wave, Dan Stillman, Capital Weather

Extreme heat kills more people in the United States than any other weather hazard, according to National Weather Service data.

Somewhat closer to home, this notice at the top of the Howard County Libraries web site:

During extreme heat, our library branches are cooling centers. Click this link for a list of additional cooling centers: https://www.howardcountymd.gov/community-sustainability/warming-and-cooling-center-information

The link takes you to this map on HoCoGov.

While you’re over at the library website you might as well check out what they’ve got going on this summer. Right now the May/June program guide is up but that will be changing over soon.

Howard County Library System Program Guide: May/June

Did you know that HCLS is interested in your library stories?

This link will tell you what you need to know: Tell Us Your Story.

A year ago, when we had to leave our home rather suddenly and had no immediate place to go, we went to the library. Our library. The East Columbia Branch. I still remember the relief of knowing we could be there in the air conditioning while we worked out hotel accommodations, insurance, scheduling inspectors, reaching out to contractors…

On a hot summer day it was blissfully cool. We had a comfortable place to sit, access to bathrooms and clean water to drink, reliable wifi, and all the books we could possibly want to take our minds off our immediate distress.

I’ve been thinking of that eventful day a lot this week. On a day when we had no place to go, our library welcomed us.

I guess that’s my library story. What’s yours?

Village Green/Town² Comments

Comments

Teacher Gifts

Today is the last day of school before the Winter Break. It’s a good time to remember the far-reaching nature of our public school system. You may not have children. You may have sent your children to independent schools. It matters not. You will be impacted one way or another. Yesterday I read a long thread on Facebook about several waves of illness in the schools right now. There’s influenza A and norovirus, I believe. And of course there’s COVID. Apparently in some individual schools the rate of illness is high enough for school admin to notify parents. When I was little the acceptable holiday gift for a teacher was one of those lovely floral handkerchief squares. (I don’t know what it was for male teachers. They were rare in my elementary years.) These days the range of teacher gifts is wider and I have fond memories of Target gift cards which I have written about before. I think it’s safe to say that giving one’s teacher Influenza, norovirus, or COVID is not the ideal holiday...

They Can Wait

This is not a typical Saturday post. That’s because, in my community, it’s not a typical Saturday. Oakland Mills High School, after years of deferred repair, needs massive renovation. It’s pretty simple: when you don’t fix a problem it gets bigger. The school system itself said the the OMHS school building was "no longer conducive to learning" back in 2018. 2018 . But Thursday the Boad of Education voted to push it out of the lineup of important projects which will be given the go-ahead to proceed soonest. In my opinion it’s a terrible decision and sets a dangerous precedent. To explain, here’s the advocacy letter I sent in support of Oakland Mills High School. I was rather proud of it. I am writing to ask you to proceed with needed renovation at Oakland Mills High School in the most timely and comprehensive manner humanly possible. I have read the letter sent to you by the Oakland Mills Community Association and I am in complete agreement. You are extremel...

Columbia Chance Connection

Last night, as my husband and I were about to sit down to dinner, our front door swung open and a cheery voice announced, “I’m ba—ack!” We weren’t expecting anyone. Clearly the only people who’d walk right in to our house would be one of our offspring. I had my reading glasses on so I wasn’t seeing too clearly. It seemed too tall for our youngest, but we knew our eldest was at work. I took off my glasses to see a friendly but confused face scanning our living room. When her gaze landed on us we all had a sudden realization. We didn’t know eachother. “Oh I’m so sorry! I’m in the wrong house! My daughter just moved in and she needed hooks for the kitchen so I ran out to get them.” She waved the package. “All these houses look the same and I don’t know the neighborhood yet. I thought this was my daughter’s house.” We were all getting a bit giggly. “That’s okay. For a quick second we thought you were our daughter,” said my husband. I told her our names and said she should defin...

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