There are pleasant surprises in life if we pay attention to them. One lovely pink blossom unfolds on the houseplant in the foreground of this photo. My daughter sent the plant to me as a cheer-up gift nearly two years ago. It has gladdened my heart that it has survived let alone that it is blossoming again, because I'm not much of an indoor green thumb and it reminds me of her love. There is a small bunch of garlic sending up green shoots just behind this pot of flowers. I smiled when I found the garlic sprouting in my cupboard. Next to the garlic is the remainder of a hyacinth that needs to find a new home in a flower bed outdoors. Further back in the photo is a geranium that I rescued from our backyard last fall before the squirrels could finish feasting on it. It looks a bit spare right now, like a bit of bonsai. This little collage of greenery inspires my sense of hope.

Learning to build a website also makes me feel hopeful. Although new skills are frustrating to attain, they are so pleasing when they begin to fall into place.

I have had one too many part-time jobs in my life. But the most demanding ones by far have been in education where a half-time job easily equates to full-time work and a full-time job usually means time and a half. At least, I have found that to be true for teachers who are new to their positions. Also, it is highly possible to be a veteran teacher who has changed grade levels or schools many times. Each major change means a major learning curve for the teacher and many additional hours of work.

That said, I care deeply about my students, and that is what keeps me going when I begin to feel like there isn't enough time for me and my family. Juggle, juggle, juggle, and try to think up clever ways to get things done faster! Like a boogie man, federal No Child Left Behind laws chase educators during daylight and in their dreams no matter how hard they work.

Many thanks to Rhymes with Orange cartoonist Hilary B. Price for permission to reprint her cartoon.

Hmmm! I've been publishing online for about a year now, so I'm not quite at square one trying to build pages and content. But the word-processing aspect of this site isn't as smooth as I had expected. I guess each day will bring a discovery. Anyway, I lost my first posting (written on April Fool's Day!) on this page. It was a sort of mission statement, which said "Library Mix exists to celebrate and support the bounty that public libraries and reading bring into our lives. It is also is intended to focus on the problems and promise of literacy education. I hope that it will inform and entertain and that it will be useful to readers of many ages as well as to librarians and teachers."

So onward!