On this eve of the Fourth of July most of you are thinking red, white and blue thoughts. Parades, sparklers (you'll put your eye out!), and what you will prepare for tomorrow's picnic, i.e. take the easy way out and put some bing cherries in a bowl......or actually execute that MarthaStewarty blueberry/raspberry cakey thing you cut out a few years ago (Barefoot Contessa Flag Cake; just click for recipe if you are so inclined) are filling your head. I, however, am thinking loftier thoughts. I am thinking of another
birthday we should be celebrating, the 279th one to be exact. Seriously, I'm not kidding. I am really celebrating it.
I went to the library yesterday.
Because yesterday was the 279th birthday of the
BRILLIANT idea to form a public library system.
To be specific, on July 1, 1731, Ben Franklin and
some of his cohorts signed the Articles of Agreement to establish this country's first lending library, The Library Company of Philadelphia. I am still awestruck by the sheer magnificence of this idea. I am humbled by the out-of-the-box thinking required to come up with such a wonderful concept. I LOVE the library.
Whenever I go to http://cybermars.mls.lib.ok.us/marsiis to logon to the library website, I marvel at
the literary vastness that is at my fingertips, not to mention that it is at my fingertips. I don't even
need to go there, for goodness sake. With a click of the mouse, I select my tome, and some library
fairy somewhere notifies me when it is available, and I go pick it up. No waiting. No hassle. No
fee required.
What else in your world today works with that kind of efficiency, alacrity, generousity? So go to
your local library, check out Rosemary Verey's Making of a Garden, one of my first and best gardening book loves. Revel in its beautiful pages. Say a heartfelt thank you, Ben for his firecracker of an idea.
I know you have time.
All you did was put those bing cherries in a bowl. :) hee, hee
happy Fourth of July!
And may I ever so meekly ask a favor of you, sweet Reader? If you like my
little blog, would you please forward to someone else who might enjoy it.... or who just needs a little cheering up.....or who might want to know you're thinking of them? Sometimes I feel like I'm preachin' to an empty church. Thank you ever so much, Linda.
Labels: Linda's Library
