St. Patrick’s Day brings out my inner child. We loved wearing green to school when we were kids and apparently I’ve never outgrown the tradition. Green is my favorite color, so finding the right thing to wear is easy-breezy.
I’m also having fun making Leprechaun mischief in the fairy garden. It’s hard to resist.
Those mischievous Leprechauns have tossed a net over the fairy house
A pot of gold. Is there a rainbow nearby?
Charming fairies enjoy the shade. They were a gift from my friend Kristi.
Succulents tend to like dry conditions, but they sure look green after the rain.
Since joining a Facebook group for Little Free Library stewards, I’ve found myself reinvigorated. Stewards in the group have wonderful ideas, among them setting up themes for their library.
I stocked the library with red-colored books for Valentine’s Day, and offered pink and red bookmarks and stickers.
Last week we celebrated Dr. Seuss’s birthday, which was a huge hit. When I returned from our weekend away, all but one book found its way into a pair of small hands. One of my neighbors stopped by to tell me that his granddaughter was jumping up and down with excitement over one of the Seuss books. That made my day.
Celebrating Dr. Seuss, born March 2nd
If you don’t know about the Little Free Library movement you can read about it on their site. We opened our LFL two years ago. It continues to receive a warm welcome from the community
This week, in honor of St. Patrick’s Day and approaching s*p*r*i*n*g, all the books are green, or green themed. books about gardening, fairy gardening, herb gardening…you get the picture. Once again, stickers and green bookmarks to entice small ones to the library. It’s such good fun.
Little Free Library decked out in green
I’ve been a reader my whole life. As girls we loved our trips to the local library. I came home with the maximum books allowed, devoured all of them, then headed back for more. Having a library card felt special. When my boys came along, reading was a big part of our day. Having this LFL at the curb is a great way to build community around reading and a source of daily joy.
What do you know?
The Little Free Library mission is to:
promote literacy and the love of reading by building free book exchanges worldwide and build a sense of community as we share skills, creativity and wisdom across generations.
The original goal: To build 2,510 Little Free Libraries—as many as Andrew Carnegie—and keep going.
As of January 2016, there are over 36,000 registered Little Free Library book exchanges in all 50 U.S. states and over 70 countries around the world.
Little Free Library: Take a Book, Return a Book
Gardening Nirvana 
What a sweet idea to theme the library – you will soon have folks dropping by to see what offerings are made for special occasions. Now this could really keep you on your toes!! It is lovely to read about the success of this venture – remembering as I do how and when it was set up and how excited I was at the prospect of following along and observing how things went……… You keep the library so beautifully and I am sure there are days when it is a bit of a bind – but you are an example to us all with your commitment and dedication! How your local community must appreciate you!!
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Pauline, thank you for being such a champion of both me and the library. Pulling together the themed weeks does take time but I’m always happy when it comes together. I’ve been meaning to tell you for ages that I divided up the wonderful bookmarks you made among six other local libraries including our own. Every one of them has been snatched up! Your art is tucked into books all over San Jose and Campbell. One of the young teens in the neighborhood will occasionally straighten the books, and several young people add books as well. I’m often at the window when folks stop by with strollers or while walking their dog. I keep a container of dog treats in the garage.
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That’s so lovely to hear! I’ll make some time to put together a few more and pack them off 🙂 Siddy would be stopping by every day if there were ‘t-r-e-a-t-s’ involved. 🙂
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What creativity and love you’re putting into your LFL! Every time I read one of your posts, I’m tempted to start my own . . . We live in the middle of nowhere, though, so it couldn’t be near our house. Hmmmm . . .
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How fun to live in the middle of nowhere. That sounds cool to me.
Some folks built or installed libraries near schools, in parks, even outside shops. Let your mind ruminate on it, and be sure to comb their site as well. Some of the stories are amazing. I would like to get involved someday in sponsoring or supporting a library in an area more disadvantaged. Those areas could really benefit from a library. The movement is extraordinary, isn’t it?
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St Patrick’s Day seems a big thing in the States? Here there will no doubt be much merriment – any excuse for a night on the town – but apart from that there is no real celebration (ie I hadn’t even thought about it being St Patrick’s Day until your post).
Anyway, I love the green theme for your LFL – well, I’m charmed by all the themes. We have a similar thing in my staff room but it doesn’t come with themes 😉
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The schools do even more than they did when I was a girl. Some of the kinder teachers have the children build “Leprechaun” traps, then they “trash” the classroom and blame it on said Leprechauns. That wasn’t something I grew up with. It’s also (here’s my cynic) an excuse for crass commercialism, and for others a chance to drink a lot of beer.
I like the whimsy of the day more than anything.
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Trashing the classroom doesn’t sound the most wholesome of activities! At least you enjoy the more artistic side 🙂
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I know, right? This started when my kids were older, so I can’t speak for it first hand, but the idea of mysterious Leprechauns turn over chairs and knocking things of shelves does seem rather odd. The fairy garden is pretty tame.
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Well, I think it is charming and creative (your garden, that is)😊.
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Thank you!
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What a fun post to read! First the fairy garden and then the LFL! Where do you find the energy? I love that you have themes and color schemes for the LFL. This is all just so playful. Love it. Love it, Love it!!
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Thank you, Marlene. I think the older I get, the more I value playfulness. I really enjoyed the younger years with my boys. Now I’m enjoying the older years being younger myself…or something like that. Thanks for your good cheer.
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Such a wonderful idea and I can imagine the little girl’s delight at the Dr Zeuss books. I think it’s great the way new themes make their way into the library to keep the interest going.
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