Self-imposed isolation, day 10

Today was cleaning day! It is a small room, true, but cleaning kept me busy most of this morning. We also had to place our grocery order, and getting a week’s supplies always requires some planning (what to cook and when) and even more coordination now that we live in two separate places. Since the pandemic began, we have ordered our groceries and other supplies online. Only when we forget something or they don’t carry a particular item, does my DH venture into the supermarket. We’ve grown used to it by now. The online selection isn’t quite as good and you can never get fresh bread – but other than that, it is convinient. This may well be a permanent change for us, especially seeing how much I hate going shopping for groceries on dark, cold, dreary winter evenings!

As far as shopping in the time of covid goes, I’m afraid I have bought even more e-books than I did before – as I may have mentioned, I am a big fan of libraries, but going there is not an option now. Luckily, e-books are easily available. Rather too easily… 😏

And here is a magpie posturing on a nearby rooftop.

 

 

Self-imposed isolation, day 3

Today was a good day. I got to see my daughter! I know, it’s only been one day when I didn’t actually see her, but we’ve been together very nearly every day for 13 years. She must have been 4 or 5 before I ever spent an entire day without seeing her (we had been apart for a night, but never for a whole day). Now we figured it should be safe if we went for a walk – meeting outside, not getting too close, wearing masks. It was fun, I got to hear about her day, school, friends… but it was sleeting and the streets were icy – so you had to look where you were going but my glasses kept fogging up. Still, that was easily the best part of today! 💗

And there's more! In the hallway, I discovered this bookshelf. For a bibliophile, that was almost like going to the library: a treasure hunt! I do love going to the library and just browsing between the shelves, picking books up randomly. You never know what you’re going to find! You might discover a new favourite series or a new favourite author – and you can try anything at all! Anything!!! This is one of the few areas where I can say I am adventurous. 😁 (In case it’s not clear yet, I love libraries and have actually written about them before here. Now I haven’t been to the library for over a year and it is one of the things I really miss.) So I picked a couple of books, and they’re now in a quarantine of their own. I can’t wait to see what they’re like! 

 

 

Library love story

I remember my first visit to a library. It is one of my earliest memories, if not even the earliest – I was perhaps three years old at the time. My mother took me to this beautiful old building (built in 1900), where the public library of our tiny town used to be (picture from this page).

I remember the hushed halls and the shelves after shelves of books. I was told I could take some books home with me, and when we had read them, we’d return them – and get yet new books to read! I was thrilled: I loved books, I loved listening to stories, and I soon learned to read (I’ve been told I was four or five at the time; I don’t really remember). I got my own library card that day, and since then used it frequently. My mother also sometimes took me to the library for story times for children.

Some years later, a more modern library building was constructed. This new building, which still works as a library today, was also a versatile cultural venue; they organised puppet shows and movie mornings for children (and they still do!). I remember going to those as well, although it was always the books that I loved best. Sometimes I borrowed so many books that as I pushed them forwards on the counter behind which the librarians sat, the librarians couldn’t see me as the tall pile of books hid me from their view. But I needed bags and bags of books when we went to the summer place and stayed there for several weeks (until my mother realised it might be a good idea to get a library card for the library of the closest town).

Since that first visit, I’ve come to know many different libraries: the libraries of every town I’ve lived in, university library (considering the title of this post, I will have to mention that a different kind of love story took place there; the university library was where we often met with my husband, in the early days of our courtship), a couple of public libraries in Vancouver... But then, I’m almost ashamed to admit, there were a few years when I didn’t go to a library at all! I only read books in English – what would I find in a Finnish library? It was the decision to try and write a short story in Finnish that finally lured me back to the library: having read no Finnish fiction in several years, I thought it best to re-familiarise myself with it. 

As it happened, this was the library of my old home town, and since then, I’ve kept going back for more Finnish fiction, non-fiction of various kinds - and I’ve also discovered that they do have a section of English novels! There’s also a children’s play area, where I can leave my daughter for a while and just browse the books and enjoy the quiet (I do love quiet)... and the expectation of finding something good to read.

The beauty of library books is that there is no commitment. I am a little hesitant to buy a book if I’ve never read anything by the author, but if a library book isn’t interesting, I don’t have to read it... and when I return it, it won’t take any space in our already crammed shelves. You can be as adventurous as you like and borrow anything you want. Anything!!! I’m still as immensely excited about that as I was the first time I stepped into a library.

And to ruin an ending I was, for once, happy with… I am aware of the alarming, global trend of closing down libraries. I could have written a different kind of post about how libraries are vital for a community, for they provide people with an equal access to information and knowledge; how they can improve education and preserve art and enrich our lives. But people are not that stupid (yet; however, if we do keep closing down those libraries...) – everyone knows all that. So I did what I so often do and made it personal. This is my library love story. Tell me yours?

Books in Prague, travel stories part 1

During the winter holiday I visited Prague for the first time. The trip was also my birthday gift, but we picked the destination together with my DH. We wanted something that was not too far away from Finland (long flights with a mercurial six-year-old are not exactly a relaxing way to start and end a holiday), that was fairly affordable, and where there'd be something interesting to see and do. I must say we picked the perfect place! I had heard that Prague is a beautiful city, but I had no idea just how stunning it is. Old buildings, narrow streets, bridges spanning the river... we spent most of the time just wandering around the old town because we simply couldn't stop – behind every corner, there was something beautiful to see!

We never make detailed travel plans, but we often have a ”might be nice to see” list. This usually contains some of the ”must-see” sights, especially if they've something to do with history, literature/books, or chocolate.

I had heard that the Prague city library boasts an interesting piece of art – a tower all made of books! That sounded like something worth seeing. So there we were, outside the library, when it opened its doors on Saturday morning. The book tower was impressive – not only is it a big pile of books, there are also mirrors placed cunningly inside the tower so that when you look inside, it appears to go on infinitely. And the best part was, there just happened to be a group of musicians dressed in what looked like traditional costumes performing what we assumed were folk songs in the library lobby, right in front of the book tower! We went in looking for one art experience but got two!

The second book-related attraction was something we'd not even heard of and discovered quite by accident. We took a taxi to the Prague Castle area, and the taxi driver asked us if we'd rather go higher up the hill, to visit a monastery there – it's a short walk down to the castle from the monastery and the view is just stunning. He mentioned that there's a library with beautiful old books and manuscripts... and that settled it!

For me, Strahov Monastery, or rather, its library, was one of the highlights of the entire trip. There were beautiful old tomes and ancient manuscripts – the kind that look just magical. I can't imagine how much patience and painstaking work it must have taken to not only write them but to make the beautiful illustrations! They were amazing.

And there were two library rooms straight from a book lover's dream. Just look at those shelves – they were packed with books, it wasn't just one row, it was at least two. And the old globes with their maps, the frescoes on the ceilings, the respectful silence, the scent of old books... There was no access into these two rooms, which was a pity but perfectly understandable (I suspect you had to book a tour and we hadn't prepared for that), and I was content just stading there and looking in. It was quiet and peaceful, I could have stayed there forever.

If you love books and if you find yourself in Prague one day, don't miss the libraries!