Back to this story. I remember that at the start of one of these encounter weekends, we had to interview one of our fellow sufferers to get to know him/her better. My poor interviewer didn’t know what he was getting into. I was in a rebellious mood. I hated giving up my weekends so that I could learn to trust my team. I never trusted anyone enough to fall backwards and ‘trust’ that they would catch me.
So this guy innocently asked me, “What’s your favourite place in the whole world?” “A library”, I replied without having to stop to think. It wasn’t Rome, or London, or Shanghai, or even San Francisco. I had only been to one of them but to me nothing is quite as fascinating and soul reviving as a library.
“Unh, which library?” he gamely asked. “Any of them, in English of course since I am so poorly educated that I have never properly learnt any other language. Guess that eliminates the library in Alexandria,” I laughed.
“Why?” he asked, puzzled. “Because you don’t live in Virginia?” Yes, guys, there is an Alexandria, VA and I assume they have a library – perhaps more than one – but I had been referring to the one no longer in existence in ancient Egypt. I had been joking. You get the idea of why I didn’t fit in as ‘management’.
But I do fit in to the one here about 4 miles from the farm. In fact, I have never fit into any library better. The Kaipura Flats library is a national treasure which only 56 families seem to have ever heard of! This antique building is a private library for 56 families who cough up $10.00 a year to buy a key and unlimited access to a room filled with books, jigsaw puzzles, DVDs, toys for the kids, a window seat, a rocking chair, a small desk holding your checkout card and an immense amount of charm, nostalgia, and peace.
Anybody can join. You can leave puzzles, toys, and books as donations or you can check any of these out and return them when you are done. There is no return date, tho it is hoped that you don’t keep a book longer than 6 months.
You climb the 3 steps to the door and into another world. It is quiet. I mean really quiet. There is no air conditioning. I have never seen any other people there. My whole family is enchanted with the library. My granddaughters play quietly and contentedly in the toy corner while I browse the checkout section or meander through the reference section on local history. Dan never minds driving me there. He loves to just browse or sit and decompress. It’s that kind of place.
I like to check out books based on the title or the illustrations or just a ‘feeling’. Leads to some horrible reads but also to some fascinating finds. For example, I checked out a 1930’s English mystery from an author who had written over 40 books. It was pretty corny but I was interested enough to try the ‘real’ library in Auckland to see if I could get more of his work.
Hugh Cross wasn’t in the catalog. Amazon had never heard of him. Neither had Google. So I am left wondering, how did such an esoteric book end up in the Kaipura Flats library. It is such unexpected adventures that makes a library my favourite place in the whole world. And this library may well be my favourite of all. (I do not spell favourite this way but my spellcheck keeps changing it. One of the downsides of buying a computer outside the US.)
I am currently reading a book I stumbled across in my new favourite place on a family sheep ranch in Australia. I am also putting together a jigsaw puzzle minus one edge piece. Alessia is ‘reading’ a Frances book that was a classic when Dan was a child. I wish all of you could experience the Kaipura Flats library. Just don’t go at night. There is no electricity.
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