I love this saying on the front of the Los Angeles Public Library directory:
"Think of the library as a convenience store for knowledge"
I would love to see more people excited about books and libraries. I can't express quite how much books have meant in my life. I love a variety of books, but if people would look at what they are interested in, I think they could fall in love with them. I worked in a prison for several years. There were people who went to prison never having been readers. But, prison is quite boring. Because of this I did meet inmates who became readers. I would say they could transport themselves somewhere quite different than the prison. Some men tried this out and did find that to be the case.
So, in Kern County where I live, we have a proposition, Measure F on the ballot to add a 1/8 of one penny to the sales tax dedicated to the libraries in Kern County. There is only so much you can do without an adequate budget and I hope this will pass. As I shared in last weeks blog going to the Los Angeles Central Library made me so excited. We don't have the money to do what they do, but we can do so much more.
We are the least funded library system for its size in California. Fresno County took the the same step in 1998. They have extended the funding because of the wonderful difference it has made for their county. Bakersfield is the worse ranked city in California in literacy and we are third from the worst in the United States. Why would we want to be a part of these statistics? The solution asks so little of us and will have such an impact on our population. With more knowledge, people will be more employable. Their health will improve as they understand what they need to do to be healthier. I think there will be positive affects in areas we aren't even thinking about. There was a nice article in our local paper, The Californian.
So I redid the waterfall, but I'm still not pleased. I also made more definition with the river running over the rocks. And, I attempted to make the picture of a pile of rocks I did stand out better.
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| The Kern River flowing over Rocks |
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| Three Level Waterfall, with Branches at Top, with Caves behind the Waterfall. |
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| Pile of Rocks |
My friend Marykay, who is an artist has put the three pictures I gave her on her walls. It is an honor to me! Here they are.
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| I did a modern design of clouds, with the sun setting over the beach in Pastels The first picture I gave to Marykay. I really do love it! |
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| My Deer and Lion |
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| My Artist friend Marykay made a corner for them |
Yesterday was the ninth anniversary of my husband Paul's death. I have spent this weekend with my step-mom Kate which was very good and lessened the pain I feel when it is around this date. Kate's birthday was April 25.
My daughter Jennifer posted a picture of her, her sister Shelley with their father which I took of them. I know they are appreciative of the pictures I took. I know I annoyed them having the camera in their faces. But now they really mean a lot to them. I love looking at pictures of my husband Paul!
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| Jennifer, their dad, Paul and Shelley several years ago. |
I was with my step-mom Kate, this weekend. We saw Eye in the Sky at the ArcLight Cinema on Friday night. Interesting and suspenseful, but not a family or feel good movie. Saturday was the ninth anniversary of Paul's death. I think because we had a lot going on, I did okay. On Saturday night, we saw the play, You Never Can Tell by George Bernard Shaw at the theatre A Noise Within which is in Pasadena. It was too loud for Kate and me, especially two people who played immature twins, but I saw it as an experience. I really do like experiences as they open me to see things in a different light. We also went to a lovely French restaurant called Cafe Bizou in Pasadena where we each ordered a prix fixe lunch for an incredibly reasonable price, with the base price of $17 with some variation depending on the choices. I had the house Cabernet and it was delicious. And to top it off, our waiter had a French accent! The ambiance was so nice! It was all very special and I want to go back there.
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| Kate and I at Green Street for breakfast this morning before I headed home. |
This is a review by Brain Pickings on a woman's experience with using music to help her grieve:
ainpickings.org/2016/04/14/wendy-lesser-room-for-doubt-music-grief/?mc_cid=9b04fc8c3f&mc_eid=6c84d8101c
That is it for my week. It was good. I really have nothing to complain about. I hope your week went well and I will see you next Sunday. Rachel
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