Tag: library

The Value of a Local Bookstore

Yesterday I did tasks and then ran away from home. I went exploring down roads I know and then went further. I found some hidden parks in the hills, covered in the remaining bright colors of the season’s rain. I will need to go back to investigate soon.

Before I went exploring I went to the last local remaining bookstore, part of a chain, complete with coffee and magazines and places to sit. There is a children’s section, music section, audio books, crime and SciFi fiction, manga, and novels old and new. Of course, there is history and politics and travel and nature and art and crafts. Lots of stuff.

I haven’t been in a bookstore for awhile. I tend to head to the local library, and that in itself is a wonderful resource, and ours is especially nice. However, what does a bookstore have that a library does not? A bunch of new books recently published. It’s a feast for the brain and the eye – wandering around and looking at notes posted on the shelves with thoughts from staff and buyers about them, spying colorful titles or interesting titles.

With the onslaught of online buying, the bookstore is facing extinction, whether national chains or locally owned. Libraries are also being challenged with some US states authorizing the persecution and prosecution of librarians who allow books deemed unfit by a few for the delicate eyes and ears of children to be purchased or checked out. School libraries face the same issue.

Nothing like censorship to ruin good things. Some places have also had to ban the Bible, which is funny and ironic, because most of the censoring is being pursued by the religious right. I am surprised that bookstores aren’t being boycotted and persecuted, too. Or Amazon.

So, back to bookstores. I had forgotten how wonderful it is to just wander and look, and think, and consider what is currently out there. Bookstores are a valuable community resource and should be supported. It’s a blessing to live near one as well as to have libraries – cherish them while you can as they could disappear in your lifetime.

Cast Beneath the Trees

In the lands of Covid-19, public libraries are closed, but the grounds are open for wanderers and snoops like me. This is a statue that I enjoy – the pleasures of reading, as passed down through the generations. Reading is so magical as your mind does the work, and imagination creates images and sounds and such that nothing else can equal.

Dry Creek

“Dry Creek” is a landscaping element popular in drought-ridden and dry climes, especially in the area I live. There is a semblance of a creek created with the use of rocks in a form of path or creek bed. It’s really a pleasant landscaping element. Additionally, the use of xeriscape plantings decreases the need for water once the plants are established. This is taken alongside one of the local library’s walls.

Under the Tree

I wandered around the complex – sounds industrial – which contains the teen center, senior center, and public library. Besides the buildings are gardens and a local park, all of which contain native plants and trees. And places for a person to enjoy. Here is one of the many benches under the trees, this one in front of the entrance to the main library. Having read that a good way to determine if a black and white photo will work is to look for strong contrasts . . . I liked the light sparking through the leaves above the bench in particular, as well as the shadows and lines within the frame.