here is a house about a mile away with two curb libraries in the front yard. Who knows why – maybe they have two many books or it’s a husband/wife thing; I dunno. All I know is that they generally have great books for adults (too many of these library’s become dumping grounds for last year’s school primer or half-done coloring books (yes, I’m looking at you, sister-dear)).

Anyway, I generally come across this house without too much trying. I wander past it from time to time and believed it was at the intersection of Finch and Bobolink streets. The other day I passed it and found three really good titles there. Since I’ve got a couple of books read and dead, I figured I’d return the favor and restock their shelves.

Started out on my daily walk, books in hand, re-circulation in my mind. Nice day, a bit gusty. But fine. Walked east and found Finch easy enough – it runs east-west. Now all I’d do is lug my books along Finch until I found Bobolink. And so I walked something like four or five suburban blocks until the road turns to follow the bounds of the subdivision. And what the hell – no Bobolink.

Confused at how I could have missed it, I went north a block to the main drag and walked west, looking for Bobolinks. Nothing. Now I was really confused. Turned into the subdivision at its western end, walked down a couple of blocks, turned east again. This street was the main east-west road through the sprawl – I’d used it on many bike rides. So I walked about 3/4 of a mile to the other end of the division – no Bobolink. How could I have missed this north-south street.

So I gave up. There must have been a shift in real space or something. Began the long trudge home.

En-route, I found a new library. It wasn’t much – a bunch of wormy paperbacks and a crossword book or two. Left one of my books there (as a seed of literature, perhaps). I know of two other libraries along Bumby, ones I’ve traded with before, so I vectored south to them as I headed home, dropping a book in each.

Of course, once I got home I went into google maps to find out just where this dual-library was. The punchline is that Finch and Bobolink both run east-west. Further, Bobolink was a block south of Finch (I don’t know why I thought they crossed). Looking at the route I walked, I think I pretty much walked totally (and obliviously) around Bobolink (where the libraries are). This is like walking into a dark room and not walking into the elephant standing in the middle – I blindly missed it north, west and south.

Well, so I got 4.5 miles in and recirculated my books. So mission accomplished, sorta.

Now I know where these libraries are. And who knows, maybe one of them has a city map.

>>>GET ONE OF MY BOOKS DOWN THIS LINK. READ IT AND SHARE IT!<<<