A few steps apart
Someone had already snagged my favorite seat in the library, so I had to scout around for another with as many virtues.  I like: a window; elbow room; solitude; quiet.
As I wandered, I was also scanning the bookshelves, as one does –Â and I spotted a friend!
Which naturally meant that all I had to do was turn around, and shuffle to the left a bit, and:
Hm.  I’m going to have to give them some copies of The Language of Power.   But that would mean talking to someone!  And I rather love my anonymity here. Maybe I’ll mail them instead of handing them over in person.Â
Today’s random quote:
Were I to make the simple statement that I climbed to an altitude of thirty-three thousand feet, that statement in and of itself would mean nothing because I have often gone higher than that. But when I add that I did this in 1937 in a fabric-covered biplane without heating, without pressurization, and without an oxygen mask, the elements of an accomplishment are added.  I nearly froze; the pipestem between my teeth through which I tried to get an oxygen supply from a tank and connecting tube was inadequate for the purpose, and I became so disoriented through lack of oxygen that it took over an hour to get my bearings and make a landing.  The difference between the pressure my body was accustomed to on the ground and the atmospheric pressure at 33,000 feet was such that a blood vessel in my sinus ruptured.
— The Stars at Noon by Jacqueline Cochran, Little, Brown and Company, 1954.
And so to work…
October 25th, 2012 at 8:27 pm
What a great quote. I’ve always thought Cochran should be better known. And what a cool thing she and Yeager did! Thanks.
October 25th, 2012 at 9:47 pm
I am impressed by your restraint that you hadn’t checked the shelf before!
October 31st, 2012 at 8:17 pm
Kate —
Well, this being my local library, I had done my checking ages ago. In fact, the reason they have my books at all is that I donated copies.
Still, I hadn’t looked since the big library renovation, which turned the lovely library that was into the amazing library that is. It was kind of nice to find myself just across from Laurie Marks!