Sunday wonders - L

L is for Library. 

I can't remember when I didn't get books from a library.  This is the library I can walk to in ten minutes.  I went looking for photos of all the other libraries I had known but could find none.  There were lots of interesting photos, though.  And as usual, I spent a lot of time wandering down memory lane.  But, sadly no old library photos.

The first library where I had my own card was right across the street from me when I was nine.  This was probably the best feature of our new house.  I loved going over to what was really just a big room in the community hall.  I remember that there used to be summer reading competitions.  Naturally, I competed very hard.  I can't remember what the prizes were but I know that I only won once.  There were some ferocious readers - and competitors - when I was a young reader. 

I was heart-broken when they moved the library  but it turned out to be even better.  For me, if not for our elderly librarian.  Being a kid, I never knew the why of the move but looking back it seems curious.  The library moved to a free-standing building a couple of blocks closer to the shopping area.  But this building was much smaller.   Rent?  Politics?  Both?   Didn't matter to my girlfriend and I.  We would visit the library at least every other school afternoon from grade seven on.  Poor Miss Graham...we developed a thirst for Rosamond du Jardin novels.  We'd write up long lists to be ordered from the main library.  I often wonder if they had all the books in stock or if they actually went out a bought them.  In any case, we motored through every one.  And, one summer, the two of us were left in charge of the library for two whole weeks.  That was heaven!

In this age of e-ness, I have added a Kindle app to my netbook so that I can have lighter travel reading.  But I still prefer to have books that I can hold in my hand.  We only have two bookcases now - there used to be at least two more stuffed full.  Now, there are classics that we want to keep snuggled up with  those to-be-read novels which we find at book sales and thrift stores.

The other bookshelf is where all the reference type books are: knitting, birding, gardens and so much more.  They come out less and less, though, as we turn to the internet for more current - and faster - sources of information.  Oh, I forgot the cupboard with three shelves of cookbooks.  Now that is almost a dinosaur. 

But no matter how good the e-books or how many books I have at home, I know that I will never stop visiting the library.  It has changed a lot over the decades since I began reading but I still find - usually - just the book I'm looking for.  

Saturday Stash

Is it spring yet?

 The snowdrops are up and looking around.  I think the groundhog must have whispered encouraging words from his burrow. 

This week, I got tired of red.  So the Year of the Dragon cardi is not quite finished.  Hey!  No fair remembering that I hate sewing up the darn things.  I'm just tired of red...OK?

 
Now I'm seeing blue.  Cool, soothing blue.  I have had this pretty blue yarn for a couple of years.  I was helping another knitting friend with her stash reduction.  Actually, I have  two colors in the bag but one of them is, er, red.  There's a bit of a sparkle to this yarn, too.  Blue Skies is my version of this simple top-down cardi for a baby girl.

Then my eyes kept straying to the other half of frogged BWSweater.  I had mixed the hand-painted yarn with a denim blue hand-dyed yarn.  I had a lovely hour or two with a pile of knitting mags and found the perfect pattern for it.  There's only 800 yards so I think this Transverse Cardigan will do the trick.  Remember I said I wanted a  grown-up version of those sweet little one-piece baby sweaters?  This one is knit all in one piece with a similar style.  See?  Perfect.  And this is just the first sleeve.

The fabric reminds me of those favorite faded blue jeans.  This was one of the first yarns I ever dyed and for some reason I have a lot of undyed places in the yarn.  I kind of like the effect - sort of like spots where the fabric has frayed away in jeans
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And I'm sure you're noticing a little dalliance that I am enjoying.  Yes, I'm having some fun with garter stitch.  Not because it's easy - although it totally is - but because I like how it feels.  So soft and cushiony.  Those baby sweaters got me playing and now I don't want to stop.

Yesterday, I took photos of some kids' artwork on display at our seniors' center.  I fell in love with this one.  Something about the big cat and the tiny bird just makes me smile.

I hope I have a lot of finished stuff for my next report.  Now I'm floating off on a sea of blue...or maybe I'm floating through the air on a sunny day?

Two books

I'm checking in with my first book for the 2012 Birth year Reading Challenge.

The books on my list are all from 1983.  I just happened upon two almost side by side in the library.  The first one, The Piano Teacher by Elfriede Jelinek, I will be throwing back into the book pond.  While I enjoy some of the darker literature, I could not get past the twisted bitterness in this novel.  Not even the idea that this author is a Nobel-Prize winner could do anything to mitigate the ugly taste it left.  If there was a happy ending, I didn't get there.  Somehow I think there wasn't.

But the second, I did read and enjoy.  Although I'm not a huge fan of suspense plots, this one kept me interested.   I was also motivated by the liner notes which indicated that Brian Moore was 'one of the greatest living novelists'.  A big claim and even bigger to me since I'd never heard of him.  And I'm not sure I would give him the title based on this work.  But he did help light my first candle. 

Then this book stumbled into our house.  The Bobbsey Twins were my constant reading companions from the time I could read 'til I was ten or eleven.  Quite a while since I can't remember a time when I couldn't read.  I thought I would just have a peek between the covers and see if it still had its old magic.  Sad to say, it didn't.  Of course, the times and I are quite different and I now see the writing for what it was: a formulaic telling of unrealistic scrapes which always turn out for the best.  

My seven-year-old granddaughter enjoys reading, too.  I was disappointed to learn that she had tried a Bobbsey Twin novel and didn't care for it.  Because I had enjoyed them so much at her age, I was disappointed for the fun I thought she was missing.  I'm not any more.  And I completely understand why Becky rejected them.  The setting is so far back in a different society that the stories - and the characters too - just aren't relevant.  When I was her age, I could relate to the times better.  I wanted to live there and have those adventures, too.  But my life and the adventures that I did have were much more like what went on in the books.  The roles of parents, kids, and even servants was better understood by me.  Stereotypical immigrant characters' speech and actions made perfect sense because we had little experience with people who didn't look and act like ourselves.  Of course, they were different.  But reading it now was shaming.  In fact, everything in the book was a stereotype including the Bobbsey family itself.  Nothing is real and my long-ago self thought it was.  

Times change...

Chattin'

I can smell spring!  I really can.  I took some photos of snowdrops yesterday but I didn't download them until this morning.  They weren't totally out but I thought they would help with the spring feeling.  Apparently my hand shook each time I snapped so they were a bit too soft focus.  Kind of hurt the eyes to look at them, actually.  And this morning it's a little damp for the camera.  Later.

So, instead of a bouquet of snowdrops, I'll grab a few carrots and speed off to Patrice's place to catch up with everybody on the porch already.  I see that there will be a nice cup of hot tea waiting for me.  Whew!  I made it and there seems to be a break in the conversation.  I'll just throw my question in, OK?

Stephanie asks, "What kind of competitions do you prefer to watch? Dancing, singing, or cooking? Hands down, for me it's cooking.  I used to watch American Idol but after Simon left I had nothing to keep my attention.  So, you can tell it wasn't the singing I was there for.  I don't like to watch any kind of dancing - I'd rather do it.  But cooking competitions?  They get me every time.   I especially like the mystery ingredients or a basket of weird ingredients.  These competitions inspire me as well as entertain.  I'm not bored yet.

My Kid's Mom asks, "Do you work? Are you retired? Are you a stay at home mom?  Retired.  I volunteer in the community but mostly I knit and play with fiber.  I am slowly getting back to my rug hooking and I hope to use more of my quilt fabric stash that has been waiting, waiting, waiting.  Then there's the spinning wheel...and the pile of books that want to be read.

Empty Nester asks, "What's your favorite thing about winter?  When it doesn't snow.  Hmmm, no, there must be something better than that.  It's nice to be able to wear all the wooly knits that I produce.  But, probably,  the best thing about winter is that my favorite season, spring, follows and sometimes quite closely.  


Homeschool on the Croft asks, "What do you love most about where you live?"  I love my home because it is a haven from the world and because it's packed full of everything I enjoy doing.  Plus I share it with the person I enjoy being with the most.  This part of the world - Canada's west coast - is one of the most beautiful places to live.  So, big picture or small I'm happy right where I am. 

Did you or your children(grandchildren too) ever have a dollhouse?  I did have a dollhouse.  It was painted metal with two floors.  I don't remember the furniture or the people but I'm sure they were there.  For some reason, I associate with Dick and Jane and Pleasant Street so I guess I had it when I started school.  Oddly, I don't remember my daughter having a dollhouse - she may correct me - but my grandkids have them.

Wendell asks, "If horses have blankets, why don't they get a pillow too?"  Good question, Wendell.  Wouldn't you rather have a carrot than a pillow? 

It's been fun but now I have to run.  I've got a busy day today...off for my piano lesson this afternoon and I still have some theory to catch up on.  If you'd like to visit on the porch, just come over to Everyday Rurality and sign in.  Thanks for the tea, Patrice.