I saw someone post a selection of summer themed pictures on their blog. I was looking for one in particular, but this one (actually taken in the springtime about seven years ago) will have to do for now.

At the digitalization internship, I finished up making OCR PDFs of the school catalogs and handbooks. I was then assigned to go through some unsorted scans and sort them into folders based on topic, addressee, etc. It was disturbing to read about the typhoid outbreak at the turn of the last century where several of the girls died. A letter from the North Carolina health board ranted about people being like “quails” and freaking out for nothing. Then at the bottom was a “sorry about the dead girls” (paraphrased). Also I have new respect for the first president, Charles D. McIver. He wrote frequent letters to his “Dear Lula” while he was away from home. They were very sweet and I have a hard time imagining modern males writing such letters.

Since it was a holiday weekend, I only worked Thursday at the museum archives. I transcribed interviews from locals about their experiences in World War II-era Greensboro. My boss then showed me the new exhibit which my work is contributing to (those Civil War scans from a couple weeks ago will also being in the exhibit). Before work though, I was walking around the cemetery which is amazing and overgrown with various plants.

On Saturday, I got to meet Irma Luz Garcia from Buenos Aires, Argentina. She was very energetic and carried the whole party by herself with her translator by her side. She was not what I expecting at all with her bright dress and cardigan, big jewelry, and wide smile. At the end of the night, she shook hands, said “Ciao!” and air kissed people’s cheeks. I’ve never been air kissed before or understood her goodbye speech, so I felt awkward as I nodded. Tomorrow I’m giving a 10 minute presentation which is reducing me to all nerves.

High five~!

Then at the archives internship, while I’m waiting for the six minute long scans of negatives, I draw. I have posted the results of one of my pieces here. So, I’m finding my internships to have some personal rewards amongst all the redundancy of sending the scanner sliding back along the glass for another image.

On the other hand, the air mask looks ridiculous and is hard to breathe while wearing, but I left the library today without a headache.

via albotas

I love Peanuts and smart graffiti so this was an instant win for me.

Dollbaby is resting now. I’ll be out of town for a few days so my roommate will be responsible for her. >_>

So lovely!

via midcenturyjo

My Twitter for those interested.

From this recipe again. If you look hard enough, you might be able to see the secret message inscribed in the icing.

It is the age of social media with Facebook on top of the heap. Through this medium which I obsessively check multiple times a day did I receive notice from another friend’s mom that Mrs. Scales had passed away on Monday. It took me several moments for it to sink in and then I went to the living room. I looked up, up into the perfect blue of the sky with the clouds puffed here and there. The grass is vibrant green across the way now and the buds have been on the trees for a few days. I then sank down onto the couch arm and cried. I can’t express quite what I’m feeling, what I’m thinking, but its akin to a sheer sense of terror that goes into your stomach and eats out your heart.

Next I called my mom and we talked about it.

Then tonight I left this message on the funeral home’s guest book:

It’s strange, but the clearest memory I can form all these years later is coming over to play with Jessica in 7th or 8th grade and Mrs. Scales asks us to help her with something. We ended up sitting at the table folding papers for her church and sticking them into envelopes. Also Jessica’s 7th grade birthday party so everyone was running in and out of the house and another time we were trick or treating in the 8th grade. I came over several times that year though I hadn’t thought about it in quite some time.

On my way to class, I had to capture the amazing celestial view that was happening a couple miles above my head.