Every Day is Different

When we got here a week ago the weather was gorgeous; warm, sunny, lovely balmy breezes. For the last two days it has been like a Southern California July; cool, cloudy, slightly humid. Not swimming weather. Blanket-at-night weather. But this too will change and we will be back to the relentless perfect days.

Three years ago several of us decided that what this town needed was an English language library. We arranged with the internet owner to use his back space to set up our bookshelves, catalog our books, and open for business. This place had several advantages; it was on the main street, close to hotels, and was free for us to use. The great disadvantage was that it had only half a roof. We invested in some big plastic tarps that we had to throw over the shelves whenever it rained, as it does occasionally during these winter months. We started out with about fifty books. Gradually we accumulated more and more donations until we now have over 1000 books, both paperback and hard back, every topic you can think of, quite a few reference books, even some children's books. But during last summer the internet chap decided to move his operations upstairs and he has rented the entire downstairs to another entrepreneur. So that left us without a library. Undeterred, our stalwart "head librarian" searched out another location and came up with one half of the already existing municipal library for Spanish books. The local "mayor" agreed that we could have it, again rent free, and she would have it cleaned and some minor repairs taken care of.

Today was moving day from the old space into our new library. Where the old one was dark and dank, this one is bright and airy. Where the old one had a cement floor and peeling walls, this one has a white tile floor and (fairly) clean walls. We have decided to paint the inside, with the mayor's permission, of course, to spruce it up a bit. It has some missing louvers in the windows which she has said she will replace. The building even has a kitchen and a bathroom. We're planning some chic literary soirees! Seven of us gathered in the old place this morning at 10 AM armed with boxes, plastic bags, rags and a vacuum cleaner to pack up and clean everything. Wht an incredible mess! The books had sat through the heat and dust and humidity of the summer without any protection and were a real mess. We had to throw out quite a number that were simply not salvageable. We packed two big vans full of books and carted them over to the new place, unloaded them, covered the boxes with the tarps, and will go back in a day to two to start the unpacking process. We were through by aobut noon. Once we get our library up and operating it will be very nice. We still need furniture -- a couple of tables, some more chairs (we have two) and some more book shelves. IKt's amazing and rewarding what a lot of determination and a good share of hard work can accomplish. We were all exhausted and filthy when it was over but very pleased with ourselves!