Meet Floyd Raccoon

Floyd is the new travel mascot attached to the Adult Services Department of Our Fair Library. Whenever a staff member goes on a trip, Floyd is to go along and allow himself to be photographed to document his travels.

Beth T is the person who succeeded in persuading him to accept the job, and he is generally an agreeable companion. However, it's better not to speak of staff trips taken before he came on board--he's plenty put out about missing Iceland with Cathy, Ireland with Beth, Panama with Joanna, and Costa Rica with Brad.

He was happy enough to go along with me to New York City, but grumbled at being confined to the suitcase during the flight. His first outing, shown above, was a stroll down to the Frank Sinatra Park in Hoboken, NJ. You're looking across the Hudson River at the Chelsea  neighborhood of Manhattan; the closest tall building is the Empire State Building.

Next, Floyd insisted on coming along to the Martha Stewart taping, and since her website didn't expressly forbid  rodents, we let him sit by us. He's probably the reason we got shunted to the back row, though.

Next stop was Mood on 37th St, the fabric store where the "Project Runway" designers shop. I tried to interest Floyd in something a little flashier than his usual neutral palette--a flame colored brocade, for example, or a violet satin. But he asked to see "something  serviceable in a pant weight." Oh well--Christian and Chris went with mostly blacks and neutrals too, so maybe Floyd knows best.

Exalted company does not intimidate our intrepid explorer. Here Floyd gets "up close and personal" with one of the stone lions that guard the doors of the New York Public Library at 42nd and Fifth. He also enjoyed the visiting the reading room and the gallery where his new friend Winnie-the-Pooh now resides, but picture-taking was not allowed.

Unlike other some other rodents, Floyd is not nocturnal nor does he keep late hours. He has gone to bed already, resting up for another day on the town.