#714 Volunteering in our National Parks

We love to volunteer in our national parks.

When working full time, we would spend two weeks of vacation working in a national park library.  It is a win-win opportunity that provides the library with the help they need and gives us the chance to spend time in a beautiful place. 

In 2000, we volunteered at Rocky Mountain National Park library. (A photo of our work in the library doesn't exist, but I like this one of the Enos Mills cabin.)

In 2002, we volunteered at Apostle Islands National Lakeshore library.

In 2003, we volunteered at the Mount Rainier National Park library.

Life got busy after 2003, but we promised ourselves that we would commit a WHOLE MONTH to a national park when full-time work was behind us. I saved this 2006 article about the Yellowstone Research Library so I wouldn't forget.  We're thrilled to have the opportunity to keep our promise this year at America's first national park and to have my copy of the article signed by the two authors.

Volunteers in Parks are called VIPs and they sure make you feel special.  If you commit to working four days per week for a month during off-season, then Yellowstone will put you up in park housing - just like a VIP.  What a fabulous deal!

Are you interested in becoming a VIP?  Then find out more at Volunteers-In-Parks!

Yours in loving my VIP status,
Mary Jo

#713 Yellowstone reading

When I visited the Air Capital of the World last week, I read The Chaperone by Laura Moriarty, a novel set in Wichita.  I loved the look into the life of Louise Brooks, the airplane industry's impact on Wichita, and the happenings there of the 1920s, 30s, and 40s.   

So now that I'm here in Yellowstone, what novels should I next read?  Lucky for me I'm hanging out with park librarians. 

Jessi is an expert on the fiction books held by the Yellowstone Research Library.  (See Romance in Wonderland.)  So using my new Yellowstone library card, I check out some of the best: Bachelor Father, Letters from Yellowstone, and The Discovery at the Dragon's Mouth.  I'm particularly eager to get lost in the story of hunky Zeke Lonetree, the "independent, loyal, reserved, kind, idealistic" park ranger and hero of Bachelor Father.

Kelly's reading choices today are slightly more, shall I say, fact-based. 

Yours in Yellowstone reading,
Mary Jo

#712 Yellowstone commute

What a nature-filled commute we enjoy as volunteers here in Yellowstone!

Kelly and I have been lucky enough to experience two fabulous commutes during our working lives: walking to work in downtown Indianapolis and walking to UVA in Charlottesville.

Here at Yellowstone, we drive 6 miles losing 1,000 feet in elevation to travel from our park housing in Mammoth Hot Springs inside the park boundary to our work place at the Heritage and Research Center in Gardiner, MT.

Instead of seeing springtime azaleas in bloom, here we see bison strolling through snow...

while following the Gardiner River downstream...

north of the 45th Parallel...

until we see the Heritage and Research Center through the historic Roosevelt Arch.

After we finish our work day, we drive back through the Roosevelt Arch,

and retrace our steps up the mountain past the big rock. 

Sometimes we must slow down through the congested areas and...

take time to photograph the bison and...

wish the elk would come a bit closer...

 until we've reached our Mammoth home.

Yours in loving a good commute,
Mary Jo

#711 Yellowstone or Bust!

After 1,500 miles in one week, we've arrived in Yellowstone National Park!

Along our route, we visited two Frank Lloyd Wright buildings, two libraries, two art museums, and many hospitable friends.  We saw a handful of tumbleweeds and too-many-to-count hawks, antelope, bison, elk, and mule deer.  (Our trip photos are here.)

My favorite part of the drive was the Wind River Canyon in Wyoming - a scenic canyon made from tectonic plate shifting not carved by the Wind River.

We are now at home in our Yellowstone housing at Mammoth Hot Springs.

This morning, we awoke to more snow and a few bison wandering around the neighborhood.  After Missouri's non-existent winter, we're enjoying the Yellowstone winter and all that comes with that.

Tomorrow, it is back to work for us as we begin volunteering at the Heritage and Research Center in Gardiner.

Yours in transitioning from one cool library (at Crystal Bridges) to another,
Mary Jo

#710 Heigh-Ho Heigh-Ho

Heigh-Ho Heigh-Ho

It's back to work I go.

Since November, I've been working as the interim librarian at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, AR.

Librarianship has been very good to me - taking me around the world (as in my previous job) or as in this case, opening doors to the world of art.     

The Crystal Bridges library is in an amazing setting on the top floor of a Moshe Safdie-designed masterpiece overlooking the pond created by Crystal Spring.   

Even in winter, the view from my office window is magnificent.   Through my floor-to-ceiling windows, I can see a Frank Lloyd Wright house to the far left, Safdie's museum spaces in the foreground, and the Arkansas woods and water connecting it all.

This is a place where magic happens. 

Yours in enjoying the magic of librarianship,
Mary Jo

#709 Reading 2016

According to Business Insider, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is the most famous book set in Missouri.

Having already read that one some time ago, I opted to read these more recent Missouri books and loved each one.

• Mrs Grant and Madame Jule (2015) by Jennifer Chiaverini. 
• Bettyville (2015) by George Hodgman.  
• The Whole Town’s Talking (2016) by Fannie Flagg. 

 
In addition to books about Missouri, I also find myself reading literary adventures, books about books and booksellers.  According to Katarina Bivald, "you've got to be something of a dreamer to enjoy books."  She may be right.  These are my favorite literary adventures in 2016.

• The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry (2014) by Gabrielle Zevin 
  
• 84 Charing Cross Road (1970) by Helene Hanff  
• The Little Paris Bookshop (2013) by Nina George 
• The Red Notebook (2014) by Antoine Laurain
• The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend (2013) by Katarina Bivald
• The Bookman’s Tale (2013) by Charlie Lovett
• First Impressions: A Novel of Old Books, Unexpected Love, and Jane Austen (2014) by Charlie Lovett
  

Some books aren't categorized so easily, but I love them all the same.  Well, maybe I love that last one just a little bit more.   

• The Revolving Door of Life (2016) by Alexander McCall Smith. 
• Underneath the Lintel (2001) by Glen Berger.
• An Ideal Husband (1895) by Oscar Wilde.
• Love and Friendship: in Which Jane Austen’s Lady Susan Vernon is Entirely Vindicated (2016) by Whit Stillman.
• Eligible (2016) by Curtis Sittenfeld, a modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice, Book #4 of the Austen Project.
• Enormous Smallness: A Story of E. E. Cummings (2015) by Matthew Burgess.
• Britt-Marie Was Here (2016) by Fredrik Backman.
• The President’s Hat (2012) by Antoine Laurain.  
• All the Light We Cannot See (2014) by Anthony Doerr - my 2016 favorite!

Yours in reading,
Mary

#708 Drama 2016

We witnessed plenty of drama in 2016 and a lot of it was on the stage!

We love seeing live actors performing for an audience rather than a camera.  And in 2016, we were lucky to catch 19 live performances - more than any other year.

Yours in the theater,
Mary