Apple pie

The last two weeks of my vacation were also spent at the summerhouse for the most part. One day we went on a walk in a natural preserve where Skåne's highest waterfall can be viewed. There wasn't much water in it. It's not really high, either. We were really looking for mushrooms but found none. Another day my mother and I went on a shopping trip to Kristianstad. 

Last Monday I started working again. During my absence the library got a new boss. That position had not been filled for over a year and a half. The new boss is a guy, and I actually haven't met him in person yet. During my vacation some other things happened that were not good. I tried to delegate responsibility for a project and that failed for several different reasons. The first week at work was terrible and I rarely have a headache as often as I had then. There was also a meeting from hell, where we disagreed about several issues and it got loud. Remarkable. How difficult can it be to manage a library?

This Saturday there was no electricity in the house (or any of the nearby houses) when I woke up. I'm lucky I don't drink coffee, because the power didn't come back until after noon. Yesterday I drove one hour to visit one of my mother's friends. My mother and her boyfriend were already there when I arrived. We were treated to a very nice apple pie. It was so tasty my mother asked for the recipe. Both my mother and I buy fabric for this woman, so that was the main purpose of visiting. On the way home, we also managed to get to a charity shop just before closing, where I bought books for the library. 

Locally, there is now one more grocery store, Coop. It's not the cheapest one, but they have a nice deli assortment. There were special offers the opening week, of course.

Trip to Österlen

The past few weeks I have been to the summerhouse several times, at intervals that meant my houseplants could stay alive. It has been very nice to be able to jump into the ocean and relax in the sun. There have been quite a few crossword puzzles solved also. The weather has changed recently and now it's about 18-20 degrees with a fair amount of rain. 

This past Saturday it was time for another cemetery tour at Norra Strö church, hosted by me. Eleven people showed up for it, which was a manageable number. This event is one of very few that the historical society can arrange, since it's outside. We had a nice time talking about the gravestones and the people buried there. I also included some tips for keeping gravestones clean from moss and lichen. Afterwards I got invited to my father's place for lunch. 

This Monday my mother finally got her birthday present - a road trip to Österlen. It's the southeast section of Skåne. We went to the S:t Olof church, which is renowned for its decorated altars and murals. The janitor offered to open the church for us and he turned on a sound recording so we could get a guided tour. Very nice place, and outside we found mushrooms on the grass. We continued on to an apple orchard, where we picked fruit and had coffee. The lunch was at a high quality restaurant in Simrishamn. The buffet was Italian-inspired with cold cuts and lots of veggies and cheese. We ended the visit by going to a large flower shop far out in the countryside, made famous through a TV program. There was also a shop with garden furniture and decorations. The prices were high but it was still fun to see it. My mother also got to chat with the owner, to her great enjoyment.

Vacation

The last two weekends I have been to the summerhouse, visiting various family members. There was not much activity but we at least got to jump into the ocean. It's really hot and sunny weather, 25-30 degrees is common. The water is colder, maybe 18 degrees. Great waves.

I actually started my vacation this Monday but had to go to work already the next day for a meeting. This week there are two staff members in the stacks and they are managing because the summer workers are still here. The possiblity to request material was turned on again this week and there has been quite a lot to do. 

Last week I attended two nice lunches; one for a colleagues' 50th birthday (at Grand Hotel) and one because a temporary worker left (at a cafe in the Botanical Garden).

Today my car had to be handed in for service. It's close to the archive center so I spent the waiting time first shelving at the storage for a few hours and then doing research. The research was not for me but still interesting. I transcribed an estate inventory from 1870, where the actual names of this man's cows were listed: Heart, Flower and Star. It is highly unusual to get such details.

This evening I have a large load of laundry to do at my place - the washing machine at the summerhouse has broken down...

Visit to Höganäs

It's still very quiet at work. We are perhaps ten people in the building. Normally, there are 110 staff members. I'm the only one in my department here, so I take care of the interlibrary loans and incoming packages, as well as the internal desk. There really isn't much to do with this. The summerworkers did a very good job at the storage and are now in the main building again. Apart from desk duty, they also exchange old cardboard boxes in the stacks, shelve books and search for missing books.

I have engaged in the reference project recently. We are weeding the reference collection. It has never been done before and since this library is very old, some books have been there way too long. I'm currently reviewing the biographical works. It's my speciality, so I'm familiar with most of the titles. Even so, it's difficult to decide which books to keep there and which should be moved to the stacks. About 10-15% of the collection is moved, generally.

The weekend before last I was asked to go to a seaside town to the northeast, Höganäs. I'm pretty sure I have never been there before, which is remarkable. My sister, her husband and daughter had borrowed the family sailboat and made a stop in Höganäs. My mother and her boyfriend also came from the eastcoast. We had blueberry pie (mother's homemade) at some large benches at the harbor. Then we went on a short road trip north, to a castle. We walked in the park and visited a small museum. Later we found a barbecue place in the forest just by the ocean, where we grilled some sausages. Some family members jumped into the ocean but of course I had forgotten my swimsuit so I just sat and watched the others. In all, it was a very nice visit to Höganäs, and I might have to go back there because I noticed many signs for fleamarkets and outlet stores.

At the summersales I have made some bargains. I got two tops at 70% off, which I think is pretty affordable.

Shelving

The past two weeks the weather has been a lot more chilly and windy. It's only about 16 degrees outside. It's cold for being in July. Not nice for the people who are on vacation but I'm not complaining. The biggest problem now is to find an open restaurant where I can eat lunch. Most of them are closed. I will have to bring my own food most days, and my cooking abilities are not always that marvelous.

I have spent the past two weekends at home. There have been some things going on. I put new soil in most of the pots for my house plants, cleared some things from the attic to give to charity and went grocery shopping.

Last week I brought our new boss to the storage. I showed her around, explaining how we work and what issues we have with the electric shelving systems. I put her to work - she shelved some dissertations, while I shelved books from the old catalog. I'm saying we have been lucky with this recruitment. She definitely is not afraid of work.

This week we are only two staff members in the stacks, plus one stationed at the storage. It was decided earlier that we will not have any retrieval service at all starting this week and until August 10. It has already caused problems and people are wondering why on earth we have done something like this. It is extremely rare that our library (which is by far the biggest in the network) has no service during the summer. With the information we had in April, this was the right decision. But now when I know that we have four-five extra workers, we could have retrieved at least the books in the main library. We can't change it now, these extra workers have other projects to do.

Great waves

Last week it was really hot weather, around 30 degrees over the weekend. I was at the summerhouse, like usual. It was marvelous to jump into the ocean. Great waves and relatively warm water. My mother's 70th birthday was not really celebrated. She wanted a short road trip as a present, we hope to do that later this summer. The residents of Sweden are now allowed to travel within the country, this means that there are huge amounts of holiday makers in Skåne.

This week it's cooler weather, and more rain. At work I have been able to do several trips to the storage. Our temporary workers are vacuuming the floors there. We try to get that done at least once a year. We actually do have a cleaning service but they only vacuum the corridors, not in between the shelves.

Our new boss is beginning to find her way in the building. It's a complicated house because it has been added on several times and not all elevators go to the same floors. We had a long meeting, where I tried to explain what I actually do here. She knew a fair amount of it already but needed more details. She sat next to me one morning when I printed the requests, so she got some insight in that part of the job. 

Yesterday one of the residents of my birth town was laid to rest. We were not related but she was very interested in the local community and always encouraged me to do more research. Especially if it meant that the historical society would get a copy of the results. The funeral was different for several reasons. It was held outdoors in the pasture, in between the historical society museum and her residence. It was broadcast live on the funeral parlor's website. I attended by watching online. Rest in peace, Rose-Marie.

Midsummer

Things have slowed down at work. There are still quite a few returns to deal with but our temporary workers have done a good job of shelving. We now have five extra people here in the stacks part-time. They also man the information desk but it's only open five hours a day. There are always projects to do, for instance replace old boxes with new ones, review collections and move books.

Recently I received a newly produced book where my name was mentioned in the preface. I had helped with references, so it was not a big job.

Last week we had a nice AW under a tree in the botanical gardens. Last Monday our new department head started. We had an online meeting with her (we have to do this even though most people are in the same building). I really haven't seen her much, she has been busy with a lot of meetings. She has a lot to learn about the house and us.

The Midsummer weekend was spent at the summerhouse. It was a quiet celebration. We had the traditional herring for lunch and (very expensive) strawberries for dessert. In the garden there is a nesting box in a tree. It was occupied by a starfinch family. Just this weekend the parents decided to kick their kids out. It was intriguing to see the four small chickens fly for the first time. We watched from the deck only a few meters away. This weekend I went for a dip in the ocean for the first time this season. I'm not saying the water was warm but it was tolerable.

The weather forecast said lots of rain, thunder and lightning but we only saw a little rain. The weather is now sunny and warm. It's the time of year I suffer the most. I really can't stand hot weather.