The reds and yellows don't look as intense in the picture as they did in "real life". This picture was taken overlooking the golf course at the Oak Brook Hills Marriott Resort in Illinois (outside of Chicago).
The AASL Fall Forum was wonderful. Not only did I learn a great deal, including some cool stuff about TRAILS (information literacy assessment tool for HS) I had a chance to catch up with colleagues and friends. The best of all was time spent with Carol Truett, who had been my advisor and mentor when I completed my MLIS at the U of Hawaii-Manoa back in the mid 1980s. She is now teaching at Appalachian State and I am at East Carolina U. We both ended up in North Carolina. It is a small world.
As much as I enjoyed the Forum I am glad to be home. Didn't really recuperate well from the trip to Savannah and the late nights and long hours of sitting added to the pain levels. I am off to see an acupuncturist here in Lexington this afternoon who works with fibromyalgia sufferers. I have every digit crossed those little needles will help as I am sitting with a heating pad on my back and just dealing with the pain as I didn't want to take anything before my first appointment with him. All I can say is OUCH!!
Was reading People magazine (10/27/08 issue) and had to chuckle over the Books section. I'd like to say that is the reason I subscribe to this pop culture/media/entertainment magazine, but it isn't. I also love the music section and the pics of the celebrity dresses. I tend to live in jeans and T-shirts, but I do love to look at fashion. Anyway, in the Books section there is a 4 star review of Alice Shroeder's biography of the filthy rich investor - The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Snowball/Alice-Schroeder/e/9780553805093/?itm=1 , which I really want to read, and beneath it is a section called Halloween Treat - three children's books. I find it fascinating that both Entertainment Weekly and People both frequently review and address children's and YA titles. That was not the case, at least with any regularity, before the Harry Potter and Twilight series made children's and YA titles "suitable" reading for adults. I love it! And, I need to find a copy of Ghost Files: The Haunting Truth by Eugene Yelchin and Mary Kuryla-Yelchin, which was on of the higlighted books. http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Ghost-Files/Eugene-Yelchin/e/9780061283956/?itm=1. This is a HarperCollins summer 2008 publication so it is readily available. It is all about the Ghost Society and how you can communicate with the other side.
I guess I am in the Halloween spirit (play on words!) since I just finished Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Graveyard-Book/Neil-Gaiman/e/9780060530921/?itm=1 yesterday. I liked it very much and I think younger teens/tweens who like ghost stories will enjoy this. It just didn't have the eerie quality I loved about Coraline http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Coraline/Neil-Gaiman/e/9780380807345/?itm=1 that I so loved. Older teens who enjoy Gaiman's YA and adult novels may well enjoy Gaiman's latest as Bod's encounters with ghouls and a razor sharp knife welding man named Jack will keep their attention.
Staying in the ghost/Halloween mood, I am almost finished with Lois Ruby's The Secret of Laurel Oaks. http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Secret-of-Laurel-Oaks/Lois-Ruby/e/9780765313669/?itm=3 The chapters written from the 1840's ghost Daphne's point of view are quite spooky and I am glad I am reading it during my early a.m. reading time. Daphne had been accused of the poisoning death of the two daughters of the plantation owner and she is trying to clear her name. Lily is the living human teen whose family is staying at the haunted Louisiana mansion, now a bed and breakfast, and who Daphne turns to for assistance in "saving the bebes". However, there is another ghost in the mansion who is determined to stop both Daphne and Lily. I have a feeling I am going to want to read the chapter about how Daphne died after the sun comes out in the morning! You may recognize Lois Ruby's name from another of he historical works Steal Away Home http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Steal-Away-Home/Lois-Ruby/e/9780689824357/?itm=1 set in the 1850's about another house that hides the secrets of a long dead slave girl. Wonderful mysteries for younger teens.
That's it for today.
