California Dreamin'

Occasionally while traveling, (ok, almost all the time while traveling) I fantasize about living in the places I visit. Many times working at the local library is a big part of that fantasy. Point Reyes Station, California was one of those places. Located on the fabled Highway 1, this small town is the gateway to the beautiful Point Reyes National Seashore. The library is nestled into the downtown district in an old Creamery building. Even though we were in Point Reyes Station during the week, the library was closed. I was smitten though with what I could see through the windows. "This is the place" I said to husband. This small town has all the amenities what with the ocean and San Francisco close by. I try not to envy others, but I was green with the stuff over the lucky souls who live and work here.

Lockdown

Isn't it every readers dream to be locked up and have endless days to just read, eat & sleep? Well dream on because I'm sure the people who lived at Alcatraz during its days as a federal penitentiary found this less than ideal. The Rock has served many purposes, but is most famous for being the toughest prison in America from 1934 to 1963. But hey, even this place had a library. The only evidence of such is a dusty bookcase and the photo I'm standing in front of, but it was enough to get me thinking about some of those mean guys finding redemption in a good book. This is a fascinating place to visit - not only because of the military and prison history but because Alcatraz was the site of an American Indian occupation from November 1969 to June 1970. The occupation played a big part in the United States changing its policy on the termination of Indian tribes. And then there is always that view of the Golden Gate...

Go Pack Go

Any Green Bay Packers fan will immediately know what Husband & I were doing in Kiln, Mississippi. On our way to Meridian, Mississippi to surprise my oldest brother for his 60th birthday (about 25 of us made the trip from Wisconsin and gathered on his patio in the dark on the night of his birthday to yell "surprise") we decided to take a little detour and pay homage to the greatest football player in the world. Of course we also had to find the library. While Husband was taking a shot of me outside the library, a woman came upon us and exuding that southern hospitality you hear so much about offered to take a picture of us both. It's probably the only libshot that includes Husband. As soon as we opened our mouths she said "oh, ya'll not from here are you, you must be from Wisconsin". We had two more people say that to us in the short time we were in this town. There have been hundreds (or more) of Wisconsinites who have made the trip, and the denizens welcome each and every one. If you're a Brett Favre fan and you get within 100 miles of Kiln, go visit. And be sure and stop by the nice library.

Back to the Garden

Husband's niece got married in Mt. Tremper, New York in September. Woodstock was only 12 miles away so that's where we put down roots for three days. Woodstock "is what it is" as my friend Suzanne would say. The library is housed in a charming wood building. We were there over a long week-end and as luck would have it, the two times we were able to get to the place it was closed. One of those visits was on a Sunday and an "Executive Session" was in progress. It turns out that a vote on the 2008 budget for the library took place on the previous Thursday and failed by a large margin. The budget included a huge increase to fund major renovations. Maybe that's how they do things in the Catskills, but it would never fly here. Well, it didn't fly there either obviously. And FYI, the famous festival did not take place in Woodstock, it took place on Max Yasgur's farm near Bethel, New York. The site is now fully enveloped in a beautiful Arts Complex. Good luck finding it - don't count on the locals helping you either.

Library Gothic

I've been spending a fair amount of time in the small town of Lake Mills, WI with my favorite sister who is recuperating from a broken hip. Lake Mills has an imposing public library. The L.D. Fargo Public Library is a Neogothic Revival structure, built in 1902. It's named after the gentleman who donated the funds to build it - Lorenzo Dow Fargo. A fire in 1980 nearly destroyed the building. The community demonstrated its commitment to the library by re-constructing it to its former glory. I was by myself when I took this shot and no passer-by was available and I had no means of setting up an automatic shot so I am not in this picture. Car Car is there in my place. Car Car is a valued member of our household (low maintenance) and is taking on animate object status as the years go by. With 206,000 miles on the odometer, "she" got us out East and back this summer with no problems.

Leabharlann

On our second trip to Ireland Husband & I made it to the capital, Dublin. One of the many sights in Dublin is Trinity College. The Trinity College Library houses The Book of Kells, an intricately illustrated manuscript of the four gospels created by Celtic Monks in the middle ages. Each day that the exhibit is open only two volumes are on display - one showing an illustration and one two pages of text. The books are on display under glass in a darkened room. It is a very impressive exhibit. The displays are rotated every day to keep damage from light & the elements to a minimum. Our time in Dublin was short and Husband was focused on getting to the National Library for some genealogical research (no photo!). I insisted we stop here on our way there. He thanked me afterwards. That evening we made the wise choice of going on a Literary Pub Crawl. Not only did we have a pint in the pub featured in James Joyce's Ulysses, but we got to see Trinity College at night. It was beautiful.

The Big Apple

I finally got to New York City at age 46. Getting to the New York Public Library was at the top of my list of things to do. Before I could get there my traveling buddy Wendy & I stumbled onto it while walking to the Empire State Building for a nighttime view of Manhattan. The daylight was fading and neither one of us had brought our cameras that evening. Wendy knew I really wanted some pictures of the place so a search for a disposable camera ensued. In the city where you can get anything at any time finding a disposable camera on 5th Ave proved to be a challenge, but we prevailed, settling for one that had no flash. By this time we were running down 5th Ave to take advantage of the little light we had left. After taking the outside shots we attempted to go inside but we were turned away because the library was closed for a private party. (Talk about an event space) I was thankful for Wendy's persistence in finding a camera as we never did make it back to the library. Obviously another trip to New York is in my future.