Good question

I got my Secret Pal! I shall spoil her silly. I'm full of ideas for little things that will make her laugh or say "ooh." Just reading her list of favorite blogs has made me giggle almost uncontrollably. And dig her tag line: "If you don't like my viewpoint, do us both a favor and Google yo' ass outta here." This is going to be fun.

I sent her a little e-mail ("hello stranger", and she replied, asking just how strange a stranger I am. Excellent question. How do we perceive ourselves? What is strange? (And how can I get that song out of my head now? "Ooh, yeah yeah, love is strange, oh yeah...") My profession would tag me as strange only in the sense that the public thinks a librarian is either a cloistered mouse or a prunefaced harpy, eternally shushing people with her bony finger to her skinny lips. Mice and harpies are strange. Funny that I don't know a single librarian who fits either stereotype. And thank heaven for that.

Are my politics strange? I'm a radical progressive feminist member of the ACLU, Greenpeace, Habitat for Humanity, and PETA, but so are millions of other Americans. Do I like strange music or books or clothes or food or .... ? I don't think so. I don't have to slink into specialty stores to buy my provisions.

Is my general style strange? I like to write with fountain pens, my grey hair is 2 feet long, I'm short, I wear grandma shoes so that I can walk, I knit and read and write real letters on paper, I hate onions, I don't eat meat, I don't own a pair of socks that doesn't have piggies or teapots or cows on them, I only own one watch that doesn't have some cartoon personage on its face, and I hum a lot.

Strange? Your call.

I started to jot down ideas for a "100 things about me" list, since I enjoy reading those lists on other blogs. #1 may be "I never owned a Barbie doll." (If anyone knows of a Barbie dressed like Emily Dickinson, please let me know.)

I'm working on the eyelet scarf slowly, slowly. The silk absolutely intimidates me. The pattern, although simple, is not yet in my fingers. The pattern is great, though - it really does form a diagonal.

As for Mrs. Dalloway, what can I say? I'm posting like mad on the forum. I love Virginia Woolf madly. I find more to love about Clarissa with every page. For example, she's mad about gloves. So am I. I still mourn for the wrist-length velvet ones (dark green) that I didn't buy in Harrod's 10 years ago!