Multitasking

A few days ago I was multitasking (translation:  watching Jeopardy and trolling through Pinterest at the same time), and I came across this photo of the Bookmobile in Spartanburg County.  It seems the county bookmobile had been given a facelift (aka, a new paint job).  Although this bookmobile doesn't look exactly like the one I remember from my childhood, this photo did trigger a flood of memories.

How I looked forward to those trips to the bookmobile!  It parked on the corner of our street, in a location that interestingly became home to an actual bricks-and-mortar library building many decades later.  Ours was the third house from the corner, and out the front door we would go, Mother and I, to walk up to the bookmobile.  And then we would walk back home, my arms loaded with all the books I could carry.  It was an absolute delight!

Eventually we got our own branch of the Spartanburg County Library.  It was a very small building, not much larger than an average bedroom, and was open two afternoons a week.....Tuesday and Saturday.  Mrs. Christopher was the Librarian.  She sat behind a table by the door and stamped due dates onto that little white flap glued into the back of the book.  The Children's Section was just to the right of the front door.  It was there that I formed friendships with Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden and the Bobbsey Twins.  Where I got to know people like Florence Nightingale and George Washington Carver and Julie Lowe and Clara Barton and Benjamin Franklin.  Where Louisa May Alcott became a favorite author.  It is quite likely that  I read every book on those shelves at least once! 

I also spent some time in Mysteries and Westerns.  These were for my granddaddy, who lived with us part of the year.  He was confined to his room as a result of multiple strokes, but he loved to read mysteries and westerns.  Twice a week I went to the library and got our books.  If I ever made the mistake of getting him a book he had already read, I was in big trouble!  The town now has a beautiful library building, full of wonderful books and magazines and computers.  But my memories of the Landrum Library always go to that little building from my childhood, and even earlier to those trips to the bookmobile.

Over the years I have had opportunity to spend time in many libraries.  When I was a little girl I often visited my second cousin Anne Sevier, who taught English at Winthrop College (now Winthrop University).  While Anne was teaching, she would drop me off at the college library and leave me in the care of Miss Schinn, the College Librarian.  That library has moved from building to building over the years, but my memories take me back to what I think is now known as the Rutledge Building......to quiet whispers, big library tables with uncomfortable wooden chairs, and to a children's section on the first floor, back corner on the right, with more books than were housed in the entire Landrum Library!  I remember sitting in the floor, surrounded by books, complete oblivious to anything that might be going on around me.  That continues to happen to this day when there's a good book in my hand!

One of my favorite things about libraries, and book stores as well, other than the obvious - books! - is the smell.  I love the smell of that many books all in the same confined space.  Call me crazy, but there it is.......I love the smell of books!  I love the feel of a book in my hand.  I love the sound of pages turning - quietly, mind you.  I don't like the sound of pages being "flipped"!  It seems disrespectful to the book.  (Again, go ahead, call me crazy!)  But the smell is my favorite......I love that!

The thing I love even more is the combination of smells at Barnes and Noble.  Books and coffee together.  Two of my very favorite things.  An absolute delight to my senses.

Today is a very cold day here in these mountains.  Across much of the country, in fact.
Not a good day for being out and about, but definitely a good day for some multitasking.  With two of my favorite things.  Coffee and a good book.

This one came in the mail yesterday.  I had it on pre-order from Amazon.  This is how I plan to spend my day.  Multitasking.  Good coffee.  A good book.

If you need me, you'll know where to find me!





"I cannot live without books." - Thomas Jefferson