First Lines

I have started reading The Fountainhead. After Rand's Introduction, I was a little worried that this book was going to be a real chore, but the first line caught me..."Howard Roark laughed." What I like about this line, other than its simplicity, is that someday, I might be asked what that line is from, and I will know it. It has probably already been a Jeopardy question. We are officially reading this title now because Smashler finished War and Peace, 5 days faster than I did, she pointed out. When the International Olympic Committee determines that reading is a sport, I'm sure ALA will field a team. Great Britain will probably sweep the Cozy Mystery events, though. So...The Fountainhead is off and running. If you are joining us in this project, please feel free to begin reading and posting at will. I am already enjoying that I am reading it. I hope to enjoy what I am reading; I think I will.

Teachable Moment

This weekend I went up to Celebration, Disney's master-planned community just outside Orlando for two events. On Friday night the Rotary Club hosted a liquidation sale of merchandise from the Disney warehouse at 70% off! We had read online that the checkout line can last 2+ hours. Having driven after work directly to the sale in the Celebration K-8 Gymnasium, we found ourselves in the "greediest place on Earth" with a tote full of goodies that we probably would not have purchased in the parks. One of the items, however, was a box of leather juggling balls from the France pavilion at Epcot. On my list of 43 things is to teach Smashler to juggle so I picked up several boxes (at 70% off, who could resist?). There was a boy behind me, perhaps an 8th grader, who was interested in the balls, but he said he couldn't juggle. I told him I could teach him. The line was loooong; we had at least an hour to kill. I told him to put the box in his pocket and instructed him how to toss the balls. After a couple of minutes, we moved on to the next step. Our juggling lesson progressed at a quicker pace than our place in line. In a short time, Jordan, was able to add the third ball and was juggling. I juggled along with him. Eventually, his family joined him in line and in an hour we made it to the front of the line. When it was my turn to go to the next available register, Jordan said to me, "It was nice to meet you." What a polite boy. I love teachable moments.