My New Library Card

nasturtium

I’m feeling pretty official about my Oakland residency now. My new California Driver’s License just came in the mail (I was able to get my old number back — that’s pretty cool) so I pedaled over to the Lakeview branch of the Oakland Public Library and picked up a brand spankin’ new library card. I checked out a couple of books, including Dave Egger’s new non-fiction piece, Zeitoun.

Outside the library are a couple of things that made me happy. The first was the plantings of nasturtiums that flank the stairway. Nasturtiums (or nasty-urshums, as Justin used to pronounce it) are a very pretty plant, and the flowers are very tasty in a salad. We’ve also added the leaves to salads in the past. I love the way they look, especially after a light rain. The leaves have the same kind of distinctive graphical quality that Gingko leaves have.

The other thing that made me happy was the plaque placed by the door to the library that noted the building’s dedication date. The Native Sons of the Golden West dedicated the building to “Truth, Liberty, and Toleration.” Those values are as relevant to our contemporary society as they were in 1946 (when the building was dedicated).

more nasturtiumsDedication

Thursday February 25, 2010 — Mark —


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