A very hazy morning here. The volcano on Montserrat, south of us in the British West Indies chain, has been very active and the volcanic dust is blowing right at us. American Airlines cancelled about 18 flights in and out of St. Thomas in the last couple of days. The air doesn't smell as bad for sulfur as it did a few days ago but I have been sneezing and my eyes are sore. Didn't stop 3 cruise ships from coming in yesterday.

While moving books around from bookcase to bookcase I found my old copy of Strunk's Elements of Style, which I bought years ago in undergraduate school. It is one of those classics that most people recognize. So when I was reading Wendy Wasserstein's Elements of Style I was waiting for the reference to Strunk. It was there, but Wasserstein has a style all of her own. I don't know as the critics thought her last book as good as her other writings, but I loved it. Her insider look at the rich and disturbed in NYC is a hoot. This is the middle aged woman's version of The Gossip Girls by Von Ziegarsar, that the teenage girls are eating up. The main character is Francesca Weissman, Frankie, who is now the pediatrian to be seen taking your children to. That is, if you can stand the welfare types in her office, as Frankie actually has a conscience and a heart. The tantrums and dramatics of these middle aged drama queens makes my hot flash induced mini meltdowns look like a raised eyebrow! If you want a hilarious beach read for vacation, pick up Wasserstein's Elements of Style. Not only will you laugh, you just might recognize some of yourself, and your friends, in these characters, even if you don't live in the Upper East Side of Manhattan! :-)

I made it through the last shelf of Everybody books yesterday and on to the biographies. Friday is the last day of school so who knows how many overdue books are going to come in that aren't barcoded and in Destiny. This is the 4th school I have brought on board with a Follett automation system and I honestly hope it is the last one! Why did I ever think retrospective conversion was fun?