Friday, July 15, 2016

Peaceful

Having a very peaceful day today. Yay!

It started off well, when I woke up to the sound of the rain falling. I brought my vat of coffee back to bed this morning and sat there flipping through the latest issue of a couple of magazines that are available for checkout in digital format through our library.

They must've recently expanded their digital magazine selection because when we first got our Donegal library cards I looked and they did not have any that I was interested in. That has changed. I used to love checking out various craft magazines from my libraries. I rarely follow patterns, but would find interesting stitches, small bits of something that I might want to adapt for my own use, useful tips, and lots of inspiration. When we got to Ballinrobe, we found that the Mayo system had neither print magazines nor any digital books, magazines, or newspapers. Donegal had all of those digital things and they have expanded since we got our cards a year or so ago.

In January they went to a nationwide e-book system, which was great. Killybegs has no local branch and the nearest one to us was in Donegal Town, but it is only open 1 1/2 days a week, so requesting things was sometimes a hassle. Not so with the e-books, which I could get right from my bed--and I often did. I have really enjoyed having a library a few steps away from our home since we have moved to Moville. I also love having access to these magazines now--there is quite a good selection. Back issues are there as well as the latest issue. You can have email notifications sent when the new issue becomes available and have it automatically downloaded. I was thrilled to see several knitting, crochet, cross-stitch, and other magazines ready for checkout. Most of them I just flip through, but Piecework is one that has plenty to read--it is all about textile history.

The latest expansion to be happening is a step towards a nationwide system so that we now have access to libraries across the country. The system was down as they were getting things ready, but I checked back and when it was up and running I wasted no time in searching for a few books I wanted to read but had not found in the Donegal system. I am in the queues :-) I am quite sure they have already noticed a spike in the number of books being sent to Moville in the past few months since we moved here. I hope they have new tyres on the transport vehicle, because now that I have access to so many more libraries, they will become very familiar with Moville! I picture some person in Dublin going, 'Where's Moville?' as they prepare to send off the books. It is great that they're all cooperating like this. Our library is very small and there really is no room to expand physically.

It used to be open 6 days a week and then that was cut drastically to 2 days about 7 years ago, I think. It is well used by many people in the community. It is an important community resource and I am very grateful that it is here. It definitely enhances my life.

I am sitting in my studio/study this afternoon doing a bit of crocheting. Inspiration for a new project hit this morning, so after we went out between heavy rain showers to pick up some milk and a few other groceries, I settled in with Lyric FM, another vat of coffee, my bamboo hook--size E-- my design notes, and some yarn scraps.

What a wonderful Friday! Hope your Friday is wonderful too, and that there are little things around you that make you smile.

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