Night Lighting

Night Lighting, a photo by susanvg on Flickr.

I love it when care is taken to light up the architectural details on a building. This used to be a fire station. It was converted into a library / community centre. The recorder orchestra I play in rehearses there.

Recently it was in the news as the borough was looking at cutting the adult division of the library to save money. It got a last minute reprieve, but citizens of the area are working to ensure it stays open.

Ready for Children

Ready for Children, originally uploaded by susanvg.

I volunteer at the Montreal Children's Library one morning a week. In the mornings local daycare classes come to the library. They listen to stories and then come into the library to look at books. This table is ready with some books ready to tempt some inquisitive minds. It is so delightful to see the children - to watch them turn the pages, explore the pictures and talk to each other about what they see. It's a step on their road to literacy.

The teachers go off each week with a new pile of books to share in their classrooms. The books in this collection are well used.

Up to the Door

Up to the Door, originally uploaded by susanvg.

I was at the Westmount Library for a lecture. I love the idea of libraries, but I am an inveterate book buyer. I love to own books, and like a librarian, every so often I painfully have to weed books from my collection. I have stacks still unread. I know I should join a library. I'm actually a member of the provincial library (BANQ), but mainly use some online databases. It's just that I'm not good with reading to a deadline and if a book is good, I like to see it on my book shelf reminding me of the treasures lying within.

Daily Shoot: Make a photograph with a triangular composition.
I got out too late - so the triangle is somewhat obscured by the darkness.

Day 55: Westmount Library

Day 55: Westmount Library, originally uploaded by susanvg.

I'm giving a workshop tomorrow on Language Arts, so what better photo to represent this than a library. This one, Westmount Public Library, was built in 1898. It has undergone several renovations since that time. I am an avid reader, though I am not good at frequenting libraries. I like to buy books, and have many in my house. A neighbour, when I first moved in, looked through the window and saw all the book shelves in the family room. A child at the time, he thought it was going to be a library.

I dread the time when I move and have to part with many volumes. How can I part with the stories that have sustained me. I do "weed" the shelves from time to time and take solace in the fact that those stories will bring to others the gamut of emotions that have swept through me as I have turned page after page.