Jones White's Creek Trail

Jones White's Creek Trail is my favorite local trail that I run on a regular basis. Biggest reason? It's about a quarter mile from my front doorstep. It does have some great hills (well, it's all uphill), and beautiful lookout points. Not to mention that I get to run next to a babbling little stream for most of it, crossing back and forth over it several times on the ~5.5 mile section I like to run. I brought my camera along with me to get a few shots of the trail; I started around 6:30 this day (yes, these are about a month old now).

I usually start jogging up the street after walking for a couple minutes to the trailhead, which is also my boys' favorite spot to throw leaves, sticks, rock, each other, and various other "goodies" they find along the trail.

After about a mile, I cross over Thomas Creek Parkway, and the trail starts on the other side of the bridge with a little sign, half of which I missed. It just says White's Creek Trail.

And the most important photo I wanted to share with you is my favorite rock. There are several that I use as mile markers, but this one I am particularly fond of because it was a MAJOR mile marker when I first started running on this trail. If I could make it to this rock, then I felt like I earned my breakfast that day. Of course now I run past it twice as far, but I'm never above wishing it a good morning and hoping it is visited by lots of other people and their pets that day. It is a nice big rock, and very friendly. :) And although it doesn't quite meet all of the qualifications in "Everybody Needs A Rock" by Byrd Baylor, I still like to think of it as my special friend.

I also run past the fire station,

and here is the view of Mt. Rose at my turn-around point. If I don't get a stitch in my side from running downhill, this is the best part of the morning.

I have other pictures that I took as mile markers for myself, but they just don't look as interesting in a photo as they do running past them, so I left them out.

Here is a link to the profile of the route I run on a good day- it shows the elevation, and mileage. Anyway, I just wanted to share a little part of what starts off a good day for me~ and invite anyone who wants to join me for a little tour of this narrow, twisty, rocky great-smelling path.

Reuniting of Team Library Dork

This morning Team Library Dork headed out to UNR for some track work. We did sprints, drills and bleachers. We haven't been able to get together to train or race for some time now, so it was good to see them and get a couple fun photos (not all of which are appropriate for posting here):

Jogging,

And posing.

Me, sprinting (and tiny!).

Coach Dave, with his stogy and beer.

Team photo!

And then breakfast at Peg's Glorified Ham and Eggs~

Thanks guys for the great track workout today! And Coach Dave for workin' us to the ground. :) Good to catch up with ya'll...

Carson City Library on News Carson City! (yup, a little interview of yours truely)

This summer the Carson City (youth) Library has been filled with reading, prizes, programs, storytellers and a fun Summer Reading Party to celebrate our success! We hosted a homemade ice-cream party at Mills Park across the street where we shook, squeezed and jumped our ice-cream into a solid soft-serve consistancy. We also made home-made root beer (with a 10 lb. bag of dry ice in a clean garbage can), painted a variety of creatures on faces, and raffled off the last of the big prizes. And for a special treat for you, here is a little video featuring the reading participants, and even a little Sean and Ashton face time! I did a little interview at the end~ not the best few minutes of my life (makes me cringe to watch myself, but that's just me!), but you get the idea.

Tried my best to embed a video, but I think you'll just have to settle for a link:

Carson City Library video feed

Hiking Mount Rose

This morning I finally got a chance to go for my yearly hike/run up to Mt. Rose summit, and fellow Carson City librarian Abbey came with me to share the morning beauty. It was the perfect morning- we got up to the trail head by 6:45 a.m. just as the sun was lighting up the trail, and we started on a brisk pace to warm up chatting happily. Here is our first view of the lake:

And a view of the canyon as it started to warm up with the sun:

I love this waterfall! I love the shapes of the rocks, all blocked and rectangular that split the water in a dozen different streams on its way to the stream below.

This next picture is from the back (west) side of Mt. Rose, of one of the 4 lakes I don't know the name of, just peeking over the next hill. :)

Abbey and I at the summit! (with Tahoe in the background)

And Pirate too! (This pic came out well, didn't it? Best close up I've ever taken of him!)

Finally, a nice easy-paced run finds us back at the beginning of the trail, showing 10.6 miles round trip. Thanks Abbey for sharing this beautiful day with me!

Cast your vote to name a snow leopard cub

It's time to vote for a name for the baby boy snow leopard! And don't forget to enter to win a cool prize package!

Woodland Park Zoo Blog | Naturally Inspiring: Cast your vote to name a snow leopard cub

"Cardcaptor Sakura" Vol. 1, by Clamp

Card Captor Sakura, Volume 1 by Clamp


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
My first exposure to Japanese manga (or at least the first manga book I've read in years!), and it was a good one! Very predictable, but I still enjoyed it, and might just finish the other 5 books in the Cardcaptor Sakura series. Cute illustrations, as is typical of Japanese manga and anime. And BTW, I learned that it is pronounced Mon-ga, not Mang-a. And this is specifically Shojo manga, meaning a girl story. Shojo manga is typically about a heroine striving for love and friendship (as opposed to Shonen, meaning boy, which are usually about warriors striving for more power), but not lacking in any way the adventure a Shonen book may have. See? I did learn something in my graphic novels class. :) Fun.

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"Cancer Vixen" by Marisa Acocella Marchetto

Cancer Vixen: A True Story by Marisa Acocella Marchetto


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I read “Cancer Vixen” which were very emotional read for me. It got me thinking about all of my family (my grandmother had breast cancer, but is in remission), and the prayers flowing! I had seen this book on the display at the library where I work for quite a while, but I was rather turned off by the cover art. Specifically, her face- her eyes and eyebrows looked mean, and did not at all scream, “Cancer Victim!” But after reading the book, the body language of her in a “falling-on-her-butt” position makes total sense- that the breast cancer she battled knocked her there, and out of the blue (even if I still didn’t like the eyes-on the cover only though). I pictured myself in Marisa's (beautiful designer) shoes, and wondered how I would stand up to this most ultimate of life tests? “Cancer Vixen” was great as an illustrated story, because I feel like I got to hear and see Marisa’s tale through her eyes and ears- this was a wonderful first-person account of a very personal and life-altering experience, and it didn’t need to be super graphic. The bright colors personified Marissa character for me, and I absolutely LOVED her shoes! (If I had the money to blow on shoes, and the personality to match them…) I think “Cancer Vixen” is a graphic novel every woman should read- to know what having cancer can be like, and as an inspiration to get regular mammograms, and know that this cancer is something you can survive! With spiked-heels!

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"Pedro and Me" by Judd Winick

Pedro and Me by Judd Winick


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
“Pedro and Me” faces a very difficult topic: AIDS, and if this novel was told with actual pictures instead of drawings, it might have been too difficult for me to read. As an illustrator, Judd Winick did a marvelous job capturing facial expressions and emotions of the people in his life, maybe even better (in a more dramatic fashion) than a photograph could have. And at the same time, because they were illustrations and not photos, it made the story a more bearable one to read, and to connect with. As for the cover of “Pedro and Me,” I was left wondering who was pictured on the cover- Pedro or Judd. But I was grateful at the same time, to see an actual photograph of the lives I was precariously living through in this graphic novel.

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"Maus" by Art Spiegelman

Maus I: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History by Art Spiegelman


My rating: 5 of 5 stars

“Maus” made a huge impression me- I know my history- I have no delusions of what happened in WW2 and what horrors and evils the Nazi Germans spread to the farthest reaches of the planet. But every time I read a book about the concentration camps, or so much as flip through the book while checking it in, I have to stop what I’m doing. And I cry. Seeing the photos always makes me take an assessment of my life- of how much I have: my family, my job, my friends, my life. And no matter how bad of a day I might be having, reading the stories of Holocaust victims makes anything I might be worrying about pale into nothing. I read “Nacht” by Elie Wiesel straight through from cover to cover because of its gripping narration. “Maus” was a MUCH easier format to read on this particular topic, and yet it still conveyed the emotions and sorrows with as much power as if it was in novel form. And even though it was illustrated and not a photographic portrayal of the events, it still gave a vivid visual to the horrors, and I had to stop reading when Richieu died (pp 108-109). But also because of this format (illustrations versus photos, and its personal storytelling account versus textbook facts), it would make a very appropriate teaching tool in a school setting- it is something that a younger population could understand, and yet maybe not have the nightmares they might get from other formats. Or not comprehend the depth of destruction and genocide the Nazis visited on their victims.

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