Little Free Libraries -- April 17, 2015

Little Free Library at 1527 Airport Heights, the first one that we stopped by. We chatted briefly with the owner who was raking his yard.

Now and then, we find that our books are overflowing, from the bookshelves into baskets, onto the floor, into the corners, and we decide that a few must go. The first choice is generally the local used book haven, Title Wave. But Title Wave takes only about a quarter of what we bring in, and Abe Books (an on-line outfit that buys books for real cash) might take another handful. In the end, the books must go to a thrift store or the library for its periodic sales.

The Airport Heights library.

Now there's another option, Little Free Libraries. They got started in 2009 and there are more than 25,000 around the world at last count. These are usually small boxes on posts, outside a residence, or a business. They have the look of large birdhouses or mailboxes with glass doors. Open the doors of one and you'll find a wide range of books -- novels, history, self-help, children's fare, cookbooks, poetry, and more. You are free to put books in and to take them out. If you don't want to return that exact book, that's fine (unlike the regular library).

This evening we had about 30 books that needed a new home, so we set out with a list of addresses for Little Free Libraries. 2420 Redwood, in our neighborhood.

Inside the 2420 Redwood Library. The range of topics covered in the books is immense and unpredictable.

At Seppala Park, on the west side of Wisconsin Street, near 33rd. This is the largest LFLibrary that we saw, with books divided into categories. What's more, it has pleasant seats to sit in and read, and a nifty playground for kids, plus acres of open space.

Excellent playground structures, and comfortable seats for watching and reading.

A pair of mallards out house-hunting for the season, in a wet spot in Seppala Park.

4121 Ursa Circle, hidden away in the subdivision at the far west end of Northern Lights.

What's on offer at Ursa Circle -- it's deeper than it looks, with a whole other row of books behind the front one.

At 2501 St. Elias Drive in Turnagain, the sign begs for only children's books. Luckily, we had a few.


That was five for today -- we have a list of another dozen that are officially "Little Free Libraries," s o we will continue to seek them out.

Of course, we found other things to remark on:

Wood cut and neatly stacked between a set of spruce trees (Jim says that old adage is that your wood should be stacked loosely enough so that a mouse can run between the logs, but not the cat that's chasing it. What this means is -- be careful when you grab a chunk of wood off the stack, in case the mouse is still there).

Floats for a plane stored in the front yard.

Snow-white lichens on a tree stump.

Pussy willows blossoming; you can see on the upper right-hand one the shape of the seed pods to come.